LESSON 2.2e - in the Media

Learning Objectives:

Unit 2: Disability Community Identity

A. Exploring the historic and changing attitudes related to the Disability Community B. Exploring the role of media in how society perceives people with C. Exploring the influence of an emerging

Materials:

• Observations Worksheet (older students) • Paper, crayons, markers, and other art supplies • Chalk board, flip chart and writing utensils

Time:

Two class sessions with additional homework

Setting:

Small and large group

Directions:

Lesson Preparation

Working with Younger Students –

This is an in-class activity without the use of a preparatory homework activity. Prepare art supplies for classroom use.

Working with Older Students –

Explain the homework assignment. Using the Inclusion Observations Worksheet, review the various types of media such as movies, television shows, PRIDE: A Curriculum / Elementary School Unit 2 39

advertisements, books, records, video games, cartoons, etc. Review positive language, hidden vs. visible disabilities, and other Unit One concepts that may help students in completing this assignment. Give students a specific number of days to complete the worksheet at home before bringing it to school for the in- class part of this activity.

Lesson Implementation

Working with Younger Students –

Facilitate a large group discussion about people with disabilities the students know from television, books, movies, and other media formats. As students name people, create a list on the board including the person and his/her disability. Allow time to describe the person if he/she is unknown to some students in the group. Encourage students to think of examples who are children or teens. If they have trouble coming up with peer group examples, instructors may want to consider how this impacts a young student. The lack of peer group examples may increase the sense of isolation for students with disabilities since they seldom have the opportunity to “see themselves.” Likewise, students without disabilities may not think about inclusion and access issues for their classmates with disabilities because they do not have media examples as references.

After the list is complete, talk with students about positive and negative images of people with disabilities. Ask questions about which people/characters seem realistic. Ask about which people seem angry or sad compared to others who are happy with their lives. Keep the students focused on observations of environmental and attitudinal barriers. For example, if a person/character is angry or sad, is it because of an external barrier?

Distribute paper and art supplies. Have students select one of the people from the list and create a picture of that person.

Working with Older Students –

In a large group, facilitate the students sharing the information from their worksheets. Ask a few students to list some of their examples.

Discuss any noticeable patterns. For example: What messages are they getting from the media about disability? Are these messages accurate or stereotypes? Are there certain types of media where disabled people are not represented? Perhaps there are several examples of people who were Blind or had low vision, but the characters are all adult men. Or, perhaps there are several examples of people with disabilities in television commercials, but no examples in books.

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Discuss patterns related to the types of disabilities, the age of characters, the genders of characters, etc. It is likely that there will be noticeable stereotyping such as athletic young men using , attractive women using sign language, few children with disabilities represented, few disabled people who are also ethnic minority group members, and only older adults using walkers or canes.

Facilitate a discussion bout the meaning of stereotyping. It will be important to point out that stereotyping in the media occurs for people of many different groups not just people with disabilities. However, because there is so much diversity within disability, there is also a tendency to stereotype based on various types of disabilities. For example, television characters may make disrespectful jokes about people with psychiatric disabilities, but it would not be acceptable if the characters made disrespectful comments about a person using a . It is important for the students to recognize that people with all types of disabilities have the same civil rights and should be respected equally.

If the students found very few examples of disability in the media, it may be difficult to notice any patterns. However, if there are very few examples, this will also lead to an important discussion. Why do students think there are so few people with disabilities in the media? How can people with disabilities work to have more representation in the media? Why might it be important to see more disabled people in the media?

Conclude the discussion by having students identify how they might create a non-stereotyped television commercial, music video, movie, cartoon, etc. using disabled and non-disabled characters?

Have students in small groups or individually, create their vision of a magazine advertisement that portrays people with disabilities in a respectful and positive manner. Instructors may give students prompts on the type of product depicted in the advertisement. The product may or may not be something that is designed for people with disabilities. Remind students that people with and without disabilities use everyday products like detergent, automobiles, and toothpaste. Instruct the students to draw their advertisements and share them with the class. Distribute drawing paper, and crayons or markers. Allow a third to half of a class period for students to share their pictures with the class.

Lesson Wrap-up / Follow-up

Assign homework as needed depending on the lesson implementation schedule.

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Supplementary Activities:

A variation on this activity is to have students create their vision of a television commercial and act it out for the class. Other variations could occur through students developing projects representing other examples of media such as a cartoon strip, or a television news report.

Notes:

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