Un/recognisable and dis/empowering images of disability: a collective textual analysis of media representations of intellectual disabilities

Abstract

This paper introduces a framework of five consecutive but potentially intersecting tropes of representation of intellectual disabilities. The framework was developed in a post-qualitative manner by a researcher collective of people labeled with and without intellectual disabilities. As many existing disability media analyses have been reproached for being un-nuanced, elitist and reductionist, our approach and framework offer a more layered, ambivalent and complex interpretation of media representations of intellectual disabilities. More specifically, we unpack representations that (1) patronize people with disabilities, (2) consolidate, (3) deconstruct and (4) reconstruct the hegemonic order on dis/ability and (5) impose an ableist normalcy. Although the framework was developed by means of a collective textual analysis of a specific case, i.e. Tytgat Chocolat, a Flemish television series on people with intellectual disabilities, we argue that it also serves as a valuable starting point for further analysis of media texts on (intellectual) disabilities.