The image of people with intellectual disability in Taiwan newspapers

Abstract

Background There is limited research on the development of newspaper analysis about the images of people with ID in Chinese newspapers. The purpose of this study was: (a) to understand the general image of persons with ID presented in printed newspapers in Taiwan, and (b) to classify the various images of persons with ID and to measure the relative proportions among these classifications.

Method Articles from 2008 from the media databank UDNDATA were analysed by content analysis.

Results Three main images were portrayed. The greatest number of articles revolved around the “dispirited” image (44.5%), followed by “needy” (32.7%), and “affirmative” (22.8%). Articles focused on families with a member with ID made up 20.8% of the total articles, and 81% of these stories had a negative theme.

Conclusion The pessimistic portrayal of people with ID is popular and newspapers may create stigma for people with ID in Taiwan.

Keywords:

• stigma
• intellectual disability
• social image
• newspapers
• social representation

Acknowledgement

We appreciate the English language editing and writing suggestions from Tom Bensman.

Declaration of interest: The author report no conflict of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.