A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

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I didn‟t start noticing them until I started looking for examples, so I wouldn‟t even
have noticed them before I knew this interview was going to take place… so I can
only say that… erm… there‟s a sort of insidious creeping into the unconscious mind
of negative characteristics of disabled people, going into… our common culture, our
wider culture… (l.2:297ff)
While popular cultural stereotypes of disabled people abound, it is not until we focus our
attention that they become apparent. It is worth comparing Rose‟s list with a list produced by
Biklen and Bogdana in 1977. In their terms disabled people are stereotyped as: pitiable and
pathetic; objects of violence; sinister or evil; punishments for the sins of parents;
atmosphere; supercrips; laughable; their own worst enemies; burdens; non-sexual; incapable
of fully participating in everyday life (Rieser and Mason 1992:1998).
The supercrip is the „hero of assimilation‟ (Riley, 2005:1), recognisable in Susan‟s First
Snowfall, or in the disabled celebrity of Ade or Tanni. Given Dill‟s apparent inability to
recognise this stereotype, I would suggest it is at least possible that during her fortnight‟s
viewing Rose may have seen such images but did not consider them stereotypes. So heavily
ingrained in cultural representation is this image as a positive representation of disabled
people that its function in terms of invalidating the experience of impairment goes unnoticed.
Charles Riley asserts that „traditional emphasis on the physical aspect renders the „sadcrip-
supercrip‟ two sides of the same coin‟ (Riley, 2005:4). While the narratives of pathetic
victim and plucky struggler appear superficially to be doing different things they are part of a
single discourse identifying impairment as tragedy. Before concluding this chapter I consider
these two stereotypes along with a third, the „unattractive and asexual‟ stereotype, in order to
demonstrate the way in which, even in what are represented as being empowering and
enlightened portrayals, stereotypes are currently used in popular culture to naturalise an
oppressive way of thinking about disability.
The supercrip
Talking about his enjoyment of the TV coverage of the 2008 Paralympic Games, Ali says:
...it was just incredible, it was like... woah, this is amazing... and it was, like, wow...
and you admire people like that, and you think... wow, if someone could... it makes
you realize how lucky you are... to have those legs that other people might not
have... and to think that they‟ve put 110% into it while you‟re sitting at home...