''...Most portrayals of people with disabilities in the media are not truly representative of people with disabilities in the real world. They convey messages about people with disabilities which distort the picture.'' (Advanced Studies in Media - Nelson 1998). How far do you agree with this statement?
             ''Awh look at them'', ''Aren't they so brave'', These are usually the type of things that come into our mind when we think about people with disabilities, but just because they're different, does that make them sick or someone we should have pity on? Because of the influence of the media, we don't realize our actions can be quite patronizing to disabled people.
             For example, if you were in a wheelchair and someone came up to you and told you how brave you were and how they could never live like that, would it make you feel good? The media has a big influence over what we base our opinions on and how we view others. Society's view of disabled people is often that they are sick, helpless, pathetic, dependant and bitter. They don't realize that they could easily end up like this from common things that do happen to ordinary people like car accidents, and would they like to be stereotyped as a bitter, angry, dependant person just because they lost a limb perhaps or were in a wheelchair?
             They are many types of disabilities, many you may not even have considered a disability, e.g. Diabetes. There are also more serious ones that we wouldn't usually come across in everyday life like Quadriplegia, Paraplegia, Down's Syndrome, Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Drawfism and Parkinson's desease. There are many, many more, infact so many it would be very difficult to list every single one.
             The definition of Stereotyping is a way of representing individuals, groups, lifestyles and other aspects of our society in very limited and generalized ways. Many of the stereotypes can be offensive to someone who has a disability. Disabled people do...