The BBC reported today that Tessa Jowell, the government's culture secretary has backed a call from viewers for greater representation of disabled people on TV.
Well that's fair enough I suppose, but any portrayal of disabled people usually falls into the usual stereotypes.
Anyway, it appears that 61% of viewers believed "there should be more portrayals of disabled people in a wide variety of roles - including as presenters."
Right on! I think the news should be read by quadraplegic deaf mutes.
For gods sake, give the job to people who are best qualified for it, disability shouldn't come into it.
grrr!
From a questionairre on a website of a media company:
The Disability Discrimination Act defines a disabled person as someone who "has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities". Do you regard yourself as having a disability within the terms of this definition?
---
If there is an issue of disabled and ethnic representation in the media why don't they just get the demographic stats and make their output match those?
Not surprising. We have the same kind of mindset here in the US too - people demanding immediate equality of results rather than focusing on equality of opportunity.