ABout us
Our community group project focuses on disability in the media in the form of an e-zine. Each member of the group contributed something different in the hopes of raising awareness about how disabilities are portrayed in media forms.
As the theme is “Disability in the Media,” Inoka decided to provide an analysis of the character, Steven Earl Johnson from the American Daytime soap opera, “Days of Our Lives.” She drew inspiration from the Thomson article, “The Politics of Staring” and the Hayes & Black article “Troubling Signs.”
Samson created an interactive “tour” that aims to educate and engage the public on the lacking representation of people with disabilities in film. The interactive tour addresses the issue of cripface and also involves a trivia factor where the users can test their knowledge on movie portrayals of disability.
Victoria decided to write an opinion piece on her least favourite plot arch in the TV show Glee, during which the character Quinn Fabray is paralyzed in a car crash, disparages the disabled community, and then learns to walk again but not before staying in her wheelchair extra long to earn pity votes for prom queen.
Chester decided to look into the implications of newer media forms, and how it has lead to new issues surrounding the oppression among those that have disabilities. Chester draws upon the works of Goggin and Newell’s for his research information.
Jessica examined the negative representations of disability in Hollywood. She looked at various stereotypical representations of disabled characters in films as either victims or heroes. She also gives a critical examination of how films play a role in influencing able-bodied person as the "default" humans and how individuals who are disabled are continued to be marginalized in Hollywood.
In the sharing of this e-zine, we hope to educate others about how people with disabilities are represented. We hope you enjoy these works!
the process
Regarding the process, Inoka thought the most convenient way to do this project was through a Google doc. She created the Google doc and sent an invite for the group members to have access to it.
As for how we put the project together, Inoka thought this website would be the best way to do it. How this collaboration worked was that people would upload their work onto the Google doc (along with any links to images that they want) and Inoka uploaded each member’s part onto the website.
Samson set up the format for the brief outline which indicated what the project was about (see the “About Us” section).
Overall, this was a fantastic project, as we all collaborated together to make this project a success!