The 2012 summer Paralympic Games in London, UK were the highest profile Paralympic Games in history. Reframing Disability: Media, (Dis)Empowerment and Voice in the 2012 Paralympic Games edited by Daniel Jackson, Caroline Hodges, Mike Molesworth and Richard Scullion brings together 15 diverse chapters that analyze the central issues surrounding the 2012 Paralympics in relation to the media, disability, impairment and sport. The book’s aims are threefold: to identify the primary narratives used by the media while broadcasting and presenting the Games; to analyze how the audience received the media’s presentation of the Games; and to ask whether these narrative inspired changes in attitudes toward disabled people and for disabled people, in congruence with the stated overall goal of the 2012 Paralympics. The chapters are divided according to these aims into three sections. The first section of the book provides an overview of how the Paralympics was framed by the media in the United Kingdom. The emphasis is demonstrating how the media attempted to present the 2012 Paralympics as not only an elite sporting event but also an avenue to alter public perceptions surrounding disability and disabled people. What is illustrated through these chapters is the media’s failure, or perhaps inherent inability, to use the Games to promote equality and social change. Chapters worth highlighting are E. Anna Clayd’s analysis of body representations in print media surrounding the Paralympics and the ways in which both the Olympic and Paralympic ‘body’ is used to reinforce social inequalities in relation to gender and class as well as disability. Jenny Alexander also provides an insightful contribution debating how neoliberalism underlies the nationalistic and consumerist messaging promoted by the Paralympics, ideologies that simultaneously promote Paralympians and their achievements while devaluing the lives of other disabled people. However, the weakest chapter of the book is also in this section; Channel 4 executive Alison Walsh’s chapter reads more like a lengthy advertisement promoting Channel 4 programming, frequently whitewashing the complexities and criticisms of how the media uses misrepresentations of disabled people to serve other interests, namely to increase ratings and feed existing stereotypes and tropes.
The second section of the book examines how the general public, through the media’s lens, experienced the 2012 Paralympic Games. These chapters analyze the media’s attempt both to expand the profile of the Games and to alter existing stereotypes and incorporate what they labeled ‘groundbreaking’ and sometimes irreverent discussions of disability – such as Channel 4’s The Last Leg, a comedy program which aims to invite the public to discuss disability and disabled sport openly. This section includes some valuable research for Disability Studies scholars to utilize in debates on media representations of disabled people. However, outside this theme is the most dynamic chapter in this section: Filippo Trevisan’s research on the efficacy of the protests by UK disability activist group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), during the 2012 Paralympics. He examines the protest tactics used by DPAC, which capitalized on the increased media attention during the Games to draw focus to the fight for social, economic and political rights of the ‘average’ disabled person in the United Kingdom. DPAC also aimed to expose the Games hypocrisy in having ATOS, a controversial ‘benefit analysis provider,’ as a sponsor. Trevisan’s work is informative for disability activists or disabled people’s organizations who are interested in looking at specific protest tactics and how the media responds during the Paralympics.
Chapters in the third and final section look at whether or not the 2012 Paralympic Games was a catalyst that changed attitudes towards disabled people as well as whether the Games had any positive impact on the lives of ‘everyday’ disabled people. These aims are broad and complex in scope so it is not surprising that the four chapters within this section are unable to address these questions with sufficient depth. Editors Hodges, Jackson and Scullion conducted research with disabled people to ascertain how they engaged or connected with the Games. The authors quickly discover the complex and sometimes contradictory ways disabled people (like the rest of the public) engage with media and representation, finding that the ‘disability connection’ is insignificant for many disabled spectators. Also in this section are two chapters that seek the perspectives of Paralympic athletes, one that discusses goalball, a Paralympic sport for visually impaired or blind athletes, and an interview with famous Paralympian Ben Rushgrove. What emerge repeatedly are the complexity and frequently contradictory views and perspectives of disabled people, which cannot be lumped together or used to make broad conclusion regarding the Paralympic Games. Also, as Rushgrove points out, the aims of the media in framing and promoting the games and the athletes within it are incongruent with the politics of the Disabled People’s Movement and the study of disability.
Perhaps the most disappointing element of Reframing Disability is the paternalistic statements made in regard to incorporating disabled people’s voices and views as part of the central debates the book presents. The editors seem to suggest there is an inherent separation between academics and disabled people’s voices. While the inclusion of non-academic viewpoints and Paralympic athletes is an asset, the language used to incorporate this inclusivity seems to suggest an assumption that none of the academic authors either are or could have been disabled – a statement many disabled academics would take issue with. However, there are a number of dynamic and interesting studies presented within this book, which do debate the complexity of issues that surround the Paralympic Games, including its influence on public opinion towards disability and disabled people. While chapters vary in their engagements with central debates in disability studies, overall this book contributes to important debates raised by the Paralympic games, which are vital to explore as the profile of the Games continues to grow.
Sociology and Social Policy, Centre for Disability Studies,
University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
[email protected]
© 2016 Lesley Ellis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2015.1129123