Disability in TV Drama

Disability Stereotypes

1. The first stereotype of people who are disabled are pitiable or pathetic. This is the most common stereotype of disability. This is when disabled people are shown to be faced with prejudice or difficulty so are given pity. It is used a lot on TV drama because it is the easiest stereotype to use. This is because it is easy to make people feel sorry for the people who are disabled because it is already naturally in us. It is the way people present people who are disabled when they do not fully understand.
2. Another stereotype is the object of curiosity or violence. This is when disabled people are presented as unusual. It is when disability is seen as something that should be observed and viewed as their difference is highlighted and presented in a way that people have to pay attention to it. It means that non-disabled people and disabled people are viewed as being different when they are not at all.
3. The next stereotype is called the 'super cripple'. This is when people who have a disability are in the position of admiration despite them having a disability. This is seen as patronising in some ways as people are admiring them more because they have a disability.
4. People with a disability are also sometimes used for humour purposes. This is because people may have pleasure in the misfortune of others. Disability has also been seen as a source of humour since the Ancient Greeks.
5. Another stereotype of disabled people are that they are sinister or evil. Scarring and disability are used as short cut for evil. This means that it is the easy option and people may already presume this anyway which is also because they do not understand. Scarring or disability are also often used to signify violence and anger.
6. One of the stereotypes that are presented of disabled people are that they are a burden. They are made to look as though people have to look after them and this makes their life hard. This is an extremely negative stereotype of disabled people as it will make them feel a lot worse than they may already do. This may be shown in a way that means that the family of the disabled person has to look after them and do a lot for them and it is having a negative affect on their life.

The Street- Representation of Scarring 

Camera Shots
Metal Fence- There is a close up on a metal fence at the beginning of this clip. This may be used to show how the characters disability has trapped him and how he feels like a prisoner in his own body. As it looks like we are on the outside of the fence and looking in this may be trying to show that he is alone and everybody is on the other side of the fence so therefore not trapped and not debilitated by his scarring.
Two Person Shot- There is a shot that shows two characters, the main character and the man in the van. This is where the camera is moving from behind one person to the other but keeping both of the characters in shot. This is so that we are able to see the conversation but also see the faces of the two characters. Here, we are able to see that the main characters has a little bit of scarring on his face but are unable to see the full extent of it. This may be trying to show that his scars do not matter to the person that he is talking to and he still sees him as the person he was before. 
Close Up- There is a close up of the main character where we see the scarring and how bad it is. This shot may be used to allow the audience to see this in detail before the rest of the drama happens. This may also be used to show that the character that he is going to talk to does care about his scars and he is going to treat him differently because of it. This is the shot that happens before the main character goes on to ask for his job back. This may be trying to show that the man does not want to give his job back, maybe because of what he looks like. This shows how people with scarring get treated a lot differently to other people which therefore leads the audience on to pity the main character.
Woman chasing man- There is a shot where the female character is chasing Nick, the main character, up the street to try and explain the real reason why she screamed. As the street is on the hill, he is shown to be higher than the woman. This shows that, in this moment of time, Nick is more powerful than the woman which is backed up by the fact that she is chasing him. This is because she screamed and feels terrible for doing so so was trying to explain why this happened. As Nick feels as though it is because of his scars, he walks away and doesn't want to hear, what he thinks are, the excuses. This shows the she feels different about him because if it was someone who did not have any scarring then she would have just said that they frightened her and that would have been the last of it. The camera is also very shaky as it is being hand held. This is trying to show how they may have had a good friendship before but now it is shaky and facing difficulty because they do not know how to react to each other now that Nick has bad facial scarring.
Strangers- When Nick is walking down the street, there as mid-shots of strangers looking at him and staring. These shots are to show how people feel the need to look at him and make him feel different to everybody else. This shows that he is being shown as a object of curiosity as people will probably be wondering how he got such bad facial scarring.
Hand Held Camera- When Nick is talking to the Sargent the camera is being hand held. This makes the shots shaky and a little chaotic. This may be trying to show the fact that other people would not agree with him and say that he is ugly or tell him other things that may hurt his feeling and make him feel worse like the Sargent does. The shakiness would therefore be trying to show the audience unease with what he is saying and the fact that this is not what we expected to be said.

Sound
'It will be less than you were on before'- This is a part of the speech where Nick is asking for his job back and this is the response from the other man. This shows how he is being treated differently to how he was before and how he is now seen as less able. He is seen to be not as deservent as the wage that he was on before because of his scars. This is obviously not true as he still has the same skill set and is exactly the same person as he was when he was given the job that he was. This represents how people with scarring or a disability are treated differently by people who may have been their friends before the accident, if it was caused by an accident and they were not born with it.
'Fuck off'- In response to the other character telling him that he would get less money if he was to work for him again, he says 'fuck off'. This is to show is anger in the situation and how he hates being treated differently to how he was before. He is obviously angry at the whole situation already so the fact that he is unable to get his old life back is making it even worse for him. This is representing the fact that people who are in the same situation as Nick find it hard already so people treating them any different will have an even bigger effect on them.
Woman screaming- The woman, who Nick is helping by picking up her shopping, screams when she looks up and see Nick. This may be trying to show how people find scarring scary and frightening. This is Nick being shown as an object of curiosity and the women does not see him as normal person and she is not used to people looking how he does. 
'If it was George Clooney I would have screamed'- When the woman is trying to explain the reason why she screamed and trying to make it seem as though it has nothing to do with his scarring, she says this. This is because George Clooney is seen as attractive and she obviously sees him in this way. By her saying that she would have screamed at someone that she finds attractive, she is trying to explain it is not because of what he looks like. However, by her basing why she screamed on looks, it is making the situation worse as she is drawing attention in on his facial scars and implying that she may have screamed because of his scars.
Music- After the woman has stopped chasing him, music starts which is then carried on to when he is walking down the street with the strangers looking at him. This is loud music where we mostly hear drums. From this kind of music, we naturally hear the music as angry which then leads us on to believe that this is to represent his mood. He is angry that the accident happened to him and he is angry that he doesn't look the way that he looked before. He is angry that he made one of his friends scream when she looked at him. This is to show that people with scarring or a disability probably do get angry and frustrated at the fact that they are not treated like everyone else is and they just want to be seen as though they are equal to people who haven't got scarring or haven't got a disability.
'I'm Ugly now, you'd say I was ugly, wouldn't you?'- This is what Nick says to the Sargent when he is in his office. This shows he now sees himself as ugly where as he didn't before. He knows that he looks different because of his scars and he sees this in a extremely negative way. Normally, if people where asked this question they would disagree with him and say that he is not ugly. This would be either because the person who they are asking completely disagrees or they agree but do not want to hurt there feelings. However, the Sargent agrees with him and says that he does now see him as ugly. This is shocking as people normally change their opinions of someone if they have been in a bad accident and would normally naturally pity them. However, the Sargent didn't like him before so doesn't like him now and he's not going to tell him that he doesn't see Nick as not ugly if in fact he does. This is showing how people naturally pity people who have scarring or a disability even if we do not know that we do.
'I make women scream now'- This shows how Nick's life has changed and how it is very different to how it was before. It shows how people find scarring scary and how they are naturally frightened of things like this. People do not mean to be, they probably did not scream to hurt the feelings of Nick, but people are not used to seeing scars. This shows how things like this are not shown in the media or in TV programmes as much as they should be to make sure people are aware of situations like this. If people in popular TV programmes ended up in situations which lead them to have bad facial scarring then this would mean that when people saw people with bad facial scarring in the street, they would not have to feel the need to stare or even be scared.
'Opposed to the dickhead you used to be'- This is what the Sargent says to Nick which proves to us that he does not like him. However, by the words 'used to be' it shows that he does think Nick has changed and he is not seen as the same person. This shows how people with scarring are not treated as the same person they were before or the Sargent would have still said that he was a dickhead and not just that he used to be one.

Editing
Cross Cutting- Whilst Nick is talking to the man in the van, there is cross cutting that is showing each of the characters as they talk. This is a technique used to enable the audience to see the characters as they talk. However, by the drama showing both of the characters around about an equal amount of time it is showing that they believe that both of these characters are equal and that Nick should not be seen as different just because he has facial scarring. By them showing his face as he talks, it is showing that what he has to say is important and the audience should be paying attention to this.
Facial Expressions- Whilst Nick and the other two men are having a conversation about a

job, there are sections where the camera cuts to one of the other characters t show their facial expressions as Nick is not looking at them. This is to show what they really think of the situation but they do not want Nick to know this because they do not want to be seen to be mean to him. This is showing their attitude towards scarring as they do not want to look mean and as though they are treating him any different because of his scars but they are. This shows that they may pity him because they do not want his feeling to be hurt but they also see him as a object of curiosity as they are now viewing him as different to what he looked like before and he is seen to be unusual to them.
Jump Cut- There are jump cuts used when Nick runs to help the woman pick up her shopping. This is so that they are able to show all of the characters reaction to the speech that the woman is saying to Nick. However, by it being quick this may be trying to show how this conversation is out of hand and it may be trying to show how quick is jumping to conclusions on why the woman screamed. It may also be trying to show how quickly the woman has to find a good explanation to why she screamed. This may show how people have to act differently to people with scars because if it was anyone else that she screamed at, she may not be as worried about trying to defend herself and find an explanation.


Mise-en-Scene

Lighting in office- The lighting in the office where Nick is with the Sargent is dark and there is not a lot of natural light coming in. This means that it is harder to see the scarring on Nicks face. This may be trying to show that the people in the room do not care about the scars and they do not see him as any different because of it. How Nick looks now to the Sargent doesn't matter and he is not going to treat him as though he likes him more now because of it. The natural light is only the light that is able to get through the blinds that the Sragent has up on all of windows. This means that when the camera is focusing on Nick, there are lines all over his face. This may be trying to reinforce the fact that he is trapped in his own body and how he feels like a prisoner because of the scarring on his face. However, the light is also having this effect on the people that are behind Nick because this light is also shining on them. This may be trying to show that they also feel as though they cannot say anything because they would not want to offend him so this would also mean that they are trapped and unable to talk.

Clothing- The clothes that Nick wears are the typical clothing that most a lot of people wear. This is probably what he wore before he had the accident that caused him to have the scars that he has. This shows that he has not changed his personality just because now he looks different than he did before. This shows that people with scarring or a disability should not be treated any differently to anybody else because that is just their body and not who they really are.

How Disability Links to the Other 6 Areas of Representation

Gender
Disability links to gender because the way the disabled person is being represented may differ depending if they are male of female. This may be because women who have a disability may be pitted  more than men with a disability. People may find it easier to portray men in a certain way and women in a certain way. This may be because of the fact that people automatically feel a certain way or because it may be easier to make them feel a certain way.

Sexuality
People who have a disability are shown to be any sexuality. This is because they are the same as people who haven't got a disability so are able to be attracted to anyone. However, disabled people are not normally shown to be sexually active and their sexuality is not normally shown. The sexuality that the disabled person has may change the way that they are represented in TV drama. For example, a straight man may be more likely to be the 'super cripple' rather than a gay man. This is mostly based on how sexuality is seen rather than people with a disability.

Ethnicity
People who have a disability are shown to be any ethnicity. This is because this is how it is in real life too so they have to have a true representation of the real world. I think how the disabled person is represented is not based on the ethnicity of that person so ethnicity does not really link to ethnicity.

Age
The age of the person with the disability may affect how the character is portrayed. For example, a child is likely to be pitted and not be seen as evil. An older person may be portrayed as a burden to their family. This is because it is easier to change how a person with a disability is portrayed depending on their age because of the stereotypes that are already surrounding that certain age range.

Class and Status
People with disabilities are normally any class as they can be as successful or unsuccessful as an able-bodied person as they wish. However, the class that the person is may change the way that they are represented. For example, a person with a higher class and status may be more likely to be portrayed as evil whereas a person with a low class and status may be more likely to be portrayed as a burden or pitied.

Regional Identity
People who are disabled live in all different parts of the country so will be shown to have any regional identity. The way that they are represented does not really change depending on their regional identity either. This means that these two areas of representation are not linked.