Bringing disability history into a media classroom
Jason Strother on teaching disability representation in the media, opportunities, and media recommendations
Hello, and welcome, new subscribers!
I just finished House Rules, a gripping novel by Jodi Picoult and highly recommend it for its deep insights into the life of an 18-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome. The mother’s perspective on her son’s understanding of empathy stood out to me.
Quoting from the book: “I think that’s the attribute I miss seeing the most in my son: empathy. He worries about hurting my feelings or making me upset, but that’s not the same as viscerally feeling your pain. Over the years, he has learned empathy the way I would learn Greek –translating an image or situation in the clearinghouse of his mind and trying to attach the appropriate sentiment to it, but never really fluent in the language.”
Let me know what you think!
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Jason Strother is a multimedia journalist, educator, and founder of Lens15 Media, a disability-focused news platform and consultancy. He is an adjunct professor at Montclair State University where he’s created and taught courses on freelancing overseas, film analysis and disability representation in media. His work on disability and accessibility has received support from the National Geographic Society, UC Berkeley’s 11th Hour Food and Farming Fellowship program as well as a US Fulbright research award. He is also an advisor to the National Center on Disability and Journalism at Arizona State University.
When I interviewed Jason for his climate documentary for Reframing Disability, I also spoke to him about the course he teaches on disability representation in the media. Read on to find out what he wants his students to know about disability.
“The best approach is to educate them before they take their first job in journalism”
Tell me about the course in disability representation in the media you are teaching at Montclair University this semester.
In 2021, I launched a 3-credit undergraduate elective at New Jersey's Montclair State University on how people with disabilities are represented in mass media. We look at the historical depictions of people with disabilities in film, television, and journalism, and fortunately how that image is improving largely because of the way people with disabilities have gotten on social media over the past 15 years and have reframed how they are depicted. It's not a surprise for anyone who follows this [topic] that largely people with any kind of physical, sensory, and developmental disability in film and television have been portrayed by non-disabled actors, written by— in the American context —by people without a disability. They're often caricatures, framed as inspirational or villainous or just recipients of charity. So in this course, we look at these historical depictions and how people with disabilities are now pushing for greater inclusion in Hollywood. We also see how journalism is now doing a better job at including people with disabilities in stories and finding the disability angle. There is also a component on making accessible media, including audio description.
How have the students responded to the course? Do they bring their biases to class, and do you see their perspective shift during the course?
The last time I taught the course, about two years ago, many of the students came to the class with some experience related to disability. Some identified as having an invisible disability, some had a family member or a friend with a disability. So, many already came with some understanding about disability, and some followed disabled social media influencers already. But very few knew the history of disability rights in the US, and the fight for the Americans with Disabilities Act. I tried to fill in those blanks and not all of them were headed to become journalists (since the course has either been listed in the communications or in the film and television department), but they were unaware of some of the resources out there about reporting on disability, including the National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) which I'm an advisor to. I introduce them to the accurate language to write about disability and steps on best practices for interviewing people with disabilities. Compared to when I was a student with a disability over 20 years ago, there's much more awareness about disability, disability inclusion and accessibility, amongst university students. The current generation is certainly more caring, much more understanding and appreciates diversity. They're more accommodating to people who operate a little differently.
Why do you think journalism students should be introduced to such a course?
People with disabilities account for 16% of the global population. In the US, the Center for Disease Control indicates that 28.7% of Americans have some kind of disability, visible or invisible. So a student who is interested in pursuing a career in journalism might not need to carve out a disability reporting beat like I did, and many other journalists are starting to, but whatever beat they end up on, maybe it's technology, sports, or politics, there's always a disability angle. There's always a way to look at how an economic, educational or political situation impacts people with disabilities in terms of accessibility, or policy, you name it. So I think it’s important to know that whatever story it is they're covering, could affect this demographic in different ways. I think that can distinguish their journalism as they pursue a story.
The best approach is to educate them before they take their first job in journalism so that they come to the newsroom with this understanding. And even if they don't do any reporting at all about disability, they might have a colleague who does, and, just a water cooler conversation might turn out into an insight about something like audio description.
What is the most important thing that you tell your students about disability?
The need for accessibility. Obstacles that people with disabilities face, whether they be physical, virtual, or social, can be overcome if there is just a greater sense of accessibility. Often those are quite easy fixes, and it's not just about building a ramp in the local town hall. It's about having sign language available, audio description available, and about giving more time for someone to take a test. Sometimes, it can be costly to make accessibility adjustments. But these things are achievable and in the United States at least they are mandated by law. So, it’s important to [reiterate] to students that these are just not charitable endeavours. They are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and if a government, a school, or some kind of public or private entities don't provide accessible accommodations, they are breaking the law.
What are the resources and exercises you use in teaching?
In the module on disability journalism, I introduce them to the NCDJ which publishes a style guide on best practices for reporting on disability. It also has an international disability journalism contest. My students go through the archive of previous winners and choose a piece of journalism that they critique and reference it to other pieces of journalism that touch on similar issues. So I have them do an academic style critique of reporting on disability. I also have them read and watch documentaries, and read other articles concerning disability. Unfortunately, too often we find pieces of inspiration porn – content that glamourises someone with a disability just because they have a disability. We compare that to what advocates like the late Stella Young and others had to say about inspirational content. But I also show them some great documentaries that do a really great job of depicting people with a disability as full-fledged human beings.
Is disability history a very important piece in your teaching?
We have to know how we got there. Especially in the film and television component in my class, we look at historical depictions of people with disabilities. One of the first motion pictures from France depicts a blind person on the street begging for money and then the police encounter this person and it turns out he’s a faker, not really a blind person. So, it starts building the notion that people with a disability might be tricksters. People who appear to be disabled might be faking it, they just want money, they're beggars, and they're criminals. So, from the very start of the film industry, we've had these depictions, and many early 20th century films in America, praise eugenics. Even a more recent film, Million Dollar Baby, portrays that Hillary Swank would rather be dead than be disabled. Such depictions of people with a disability have informed public awareness about disability, but have influenced journalism too. Journalism takes a lot of cues from entertainment media. We all have been shaped by what we watch in the cinema or on television. So it's important to show how in the history of the media, people with disabilities have been portrayed and how that's led to unfortunate depictions in modern media.
Recommendations
Watch
One of the first things Jason shows his students is the documentary film Crip Camp, which tells the story of the disability rights movement in the United States.
Read
Both Jason and I recommend Peter Torres Fremlin’s newsletter, Disability Debrief and Andrew Leland’s book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight, in which he explores what it means to transition into blindness. Andrew writes about how he prepares himself for this shift, learning new skills while also dealing with the cultural, historical, and personal dimensions of blindness. His memoir is as much about adaptation as it is about redefining identity and belonging within the blind community.
Listen
Pod Access is live! In this 11-episode series, Cheryl Green and Thomas Reid will cover the basics of things to consider when starting and growing a podcast. Resources and practical tips from Deaf and disabled artists at all stages of production will be an integral part of the podcast. Because accessibility is at the heart of everything this dynamic duo does, Pod Access is available in American Sign Language as well!
Opportunities
Microsoft Disability Scholarship
For current high school seniors living with a disability as defined by WHO, including visual, hearing, mobility, cognitive, and/or speech disabilities or other disabilities, who plan to enrol in an undergraduate program at an accredited 2- or 4-year University/College or Vocational/Technical School, in the United States, in the fall of the upcoming academic year.
Deadline: 13th March
Attend an international summer school for accessible gaming
ASSIST HEIDI brings students and people with disabilities together, to co-design and prototype individual accessible gaming solutions with them. Students will learn the basics about disability, accessible gaming, rapid prototyping, programming and microcontrollers by hands-on project work.
Deadline: 16th March
Accelerate Fellowship
Applications are open for a six-month rewriting sprint that gives disabled film and television writers $40,000 in funding. Find more details in this link.
Buy
Flowers for Sunaina, an e-storybook for children over six is beautifully written and illustrated with subtle lessons on inclusion by Upasana Makati, a friend of Reframing Disability. It’s very reasonably priced at INR 199, so buy it for a child who likes to read/listen to stories. Who doesn’t?
Jason said that the most important thing he wants his students to know about disability is the need for accessibility. What do you want people to know about disability? I look forward to your thoughts in the comments. Find me on LinkedIn and Instagram if we’re not connected already!
Until next time.
Warmly,
Priti
I agree with Jason. The need for accessibility is important. I'd add, too, that the need for Self esteem and leadership are important,