Disability Portrayal in MediaChris Keck, M.A., CRC Caity McCandless, M.A. Kera McClain

Manley, M.A.Disability Advisor Assistant Director CoordinatorColumbus State The Ohio State University Otterbein University

INSERT 3 min intro video

Past Presentations

Former colleagues at OSU - share resources, collaborate

FYSS – considered a diversity session, so students got double credit for attendance. FYSS is not a venue for discussing/promoting ODS; raise awareness in other ways.

What didn’t work? Low Attendance/Participation Lackluster presentations and titles▪ Disability Awareness▪ Disability Jeopardy▪ Most students signed up because they had to

A New Concept

Outreach – met with someone from the Multicultural Center on campus who hosted well-attended, successful diversity events with engaging titles.

Collaboration – ODS counselors developed a PowerPoint presentation with clips from popular television shows and movies

Unrealistic and exaggerated clips

Hand out of The Ten Commandments of Communicating with People with Disabilities

What’s in a Name?

Low attendance and interest showed the need for a name change

Counselors had to explain the need to relate to students by meeting them at their level and using their language as a segue to raising awareness

New title of our presentation and use of the term “retarded” caused speculation and controversy

The Results

Intrigue – renewed interest in our presentation, max. capacity enrollment numbers

Connection – students could relate because topics were of shows currently trending and popular among the age group,

Social Relevance – shows and actors involved

Recent Controversy regarding some of the actors in the clips

Medical vs. Social Model

The medical model of disability views disability as a ‘problem’ that belongs to the disabled individual. It is not seen as an issue to concern anyone other than the individual affected. For example, if a wheelchair using student is unable to get into a building because of some steps, the medical model would suggest that this is because of the wheelchair, rather than the steps.

The social model of disability, in contrast, would see the steps as the disabling barrier. This model draws on the idea that it is society that disables people, through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people who are not disabled. There is a recognition within the social model that there is a great deal that society can do to reduce, and ultimately remove, some of these disabling barriers, and that this task is the responsibility of society, rather than the disabled person. More inclusive

Key points in discussions of clips and consideration in why we chose our clips – heroic people trying to be cured, amazing feats, society’s need to change vs. the disability’s need to change; victims, pity, heroes, stereotypes perpetuating misconceptions, etc.

Questions to Prompt Student Participation and Feedback

What was your first reaction to the video clip? What are your thoughts about the terminology

used? Have you ever heard or used these terms? What is the message in the description of

disability? How was disability depicted?

The impact of us- who we were as presenters

What We Did

Clips From Our Presentation …

The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show

Why this clip? Answer to a problem with which he struggled for a long

time Supportive, successful parents Looks like it could be a cure

Student Feedback/reactions to clip – relief at finally finding out what is wrong, some students thought they may be upset upon finding out, parents were well-educated but still had misconceptions about Dyslexia, the diagnosis was made out to be an excuse for Theo not being smart enough

South Park & Family Guy

South Park & Family Guy

Why this clip? Current and very popular among the students Offensive Extreme Is it okay to laugh Blatant comments regarding disability

Student feedback/reactions: irony in the cripple fight; this show doesn’t just pick on disabilities, it picks on everyone; it isn’t making fun of it, it brings it to light

The Office

The Office

Why this clip? Disability in the workplace Exaggerated version of naiveté Reaction of man with actual disability Brings to light language and

conversation

Student feedback/reactions: compared apples to oranges, condescending

Cymbalta

Cymbalta

Why this clip? Psychiatric disabilities are rising Clash between risks and benefits Commercial designed to accentuate the dark days

with dim lighting, somber facial expressions, etc. and brighter light and happiness upon taking the medication

Student feedback/reactions: picked out the contrast, seems like it’s a cure-all, but there are really good days and bad days, the side effects are ironic

Overall Student Feedback Student feedback to other clips:

Lost – easy solution to disability, quick fix, cure, people assume they know what’s best

The Ringer – inappropriate, obvious that he crosses the line Clip with the card game – students would not address the issue of a

blind guy when our colleague who is blind gave the presentation The ADD Song – 2 ends of the spectrum, people totally offended

because it’s on the radio and others thought it was really funny, some said it was not a true portrayal of ADD

Problem student who said his parents worked with SWD’s, d/b’s are over-diagnosed & over-treated, wouldn’t understand the other side, more vocal, thought everything was funny

One student apologized for comments and said he was not trying to be disruptive but wanted to express his opinions

Some students took them more seriously while others thought the clips were funny, some said they would be more aware of language, students always spoke about laughing AT vs. laughing WITH, expressed not realizing invisible disabilities, the stigma media puts on disability, appreciate different POV’s

Suggested more media, more news articles

Ideas for Future Presentations

New Slides:

Keep in Mind

What are your thoughts about the clip/media?

Why would you choose the clip/media?

How do you think your students would respond to the clip/media?

The Hotline

Parenthood

Switched at Birth

Band of Brothers

How to Bring a Media Presentation to Your Campus

Obtaining Video Clips

YouTube (streaming from)pros- easy to search and ID clips and edited clips,cons- may not be captioned/ subtitled

DVD (playing from)pros-good quality, may be captioned/ subtitledcons-have to cue video, $$$

Downloading/ Rippingpros- you control the contentcons- may lose image quality, Fair Use, learning curve for some software/ hardware

Software / Freeware

www.download.com (safe and virus free) to download and install free programs or try programs such as Free YouTube Downloader DVD Rippers Video Converters

www.giveawayoftheday.com (safe and virus free) to download and install free programs or try programs such as DVD Rippers Video Converters

Captioning (A few we have used) Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/)

$300 before educational discount Phenomenal program Video editing, screen capturing, video captioning/ subtitling You control output file type

Camtasia Relay (http://www.techsmith.com/) created accounts with ITDL dept. ($$$) Instructors can upload and caption their own videos Videos are streamed online via weblink

CPC Caption Maker (http://www.cpcweb.com/) Needed captioning key ($$$) Professional grade (may need) an array of electronics to produce final

product They can caption your materials for you for a hefty fee (not to mention

sending, turn around time, etc…)

Suggestions for Clips

LIST

THANK YOU!