Percepción de las personas con discapacidad sobre su representación en los medios de comunicación

Abstract

An extensive literature has been dedicated to the framing of disability-related news but not to the perceptions of people with disabilities regarding their portrayal in the media. This article presents the results of a research study in which three discussion groups were held with people with disabilities in October 2019. The objectives were to gain knowledge regarding the perceived media frames and the causes that explain them and suggest proposals for the media to address disability in an inclusive manner. The results reveal a consensus regarding the fact that journalistic coverage has increased and that people with disabilities have gained prominence in the news. They state that they have achieved the objective of visibility but consider it necessary to improve media treatment to achieve normalization. They perceive the information regarding disability as biased, sensationalist, stereotyped, depersonalized, and presented in a way that portrays people with disabilities as a homogeneous group. The solutions they advocate consist of incorporating disability into the media agenda in a way that is pluralistic, diverse, and transversal, while remembering that a disability is a condition that a person has, not what defines them. They also consider it essential for the media to use appropriate language that avoids discrimination and paternalism, as well as euphemisms. Specific training of journalists who cover such news would be a good approach according to the participants in this study, to orient the information more toward the reality of the facts and thereby enable the media to carry out an important social function in helping to normalize disability among citizens and make it part of society.