Little Britain – This programme consists of a number of comedy sketches, one of which stars a disabled man in a wheelchair and his carer. The general idea is that the protagonist in the wheelchair gets whatever he asks for, even if it isn’t a very responsible or reasonable choice. This portrays the disabled as needy and incapable, whereas a lot of disabled people are capable of a lot of things and aren’t reliant on other people. At the end of each of these sketches the ‘disabled’ man gets out of his wheelchair and does something amusing whilst the carer has his back turned. This suggests to the audience that the protagonist is simply just lazy and uses the wheelchair as an excuse to get what he wants. This implies disabled people are generally lazy and don’t want to be independent. Therefore this programme conveys the disabled in a negative, patronising way. However this is used for comedy so their intentions aren’t to disrespect the disabled community but it is a very stereotypical view point.

Disability Portrayed in the Media

The Undateables – This Channel 4 programme tries to match single disabled people with other single people. The name of the programme in itself is very negative towards the disabled society, suggesting they are incapable of having a relationship. The show suggests it has good intentions by trying to start relationships but the truth is that the majority of people watching will be watching for entertainment purposes. People want to see disabled people on TV because they are characterised as ‘different’ and this quality paired with comedy creates two aspects that audiences want to see. The main feature of the programme is showing disabilities and how their dates react to them which is shown for comedy and entertainment purposes. But they also praise the disabled people who have a successful date which is positive. However this makes the audience act condescending as it is surprising which makes them look down on the stars of the show and characterise them as “cute”. Again stereotyping as inferior.