Thanks For The Coverage, SocietyGuardian, But…

A new report from the University of Glasgow, which finds that there has been a significant increase in the amount of negative reporting of disability issues in the print media. Commissioned by disability equality organisation Inclusion London, the report – Bad News for Disabled People: how newspapers are reporting disability– looked at newspaper stories from 2004-05 and compared them with coverage of disability issues over the last year. It found fewer articles “which describe disabled people in sympathetic and deserving terms”, while the number of reports on disability fraud had risen. Researchers also hosted focus groups, at which the frequency of stories of “benefits cheats” was highlighted. Anne Kane, policy manager at Inclusion London, said:

The findings of this research will strike a deep chord with disabled people who have to live with the daily reality of offensive, hate-filled and false media coverage – coverage that is becoming more offensive in rhythm with the savage impact of government spending cuts on disabled people.

The researchers at Glasgow University have done a great service by analysing the disturbing way in which bad government policy finds its reflection in pejorative language and an increasing portrayal of disabled people as ‘undeserving’.

The disabled people questioned in the study said they felt threatened by the changes in the way disability is being (mis)reported and by the planned cuts to benefits – with these two assaults combining and reinforcing each other. This points to the action that needs to be taken: a stop to cuts that threaten more isolation and poverty and a stop to media coverage that stigmatises and breeds fear.

 

Next time, please tell me something I don’t know. Although I really wish I didn’t have to write that. My sarcasm is aimed at the issue, not @SocietyGuardian who is very sensitive to disability issues.