Comfortable Disability

Scratching the Surface of Mainstream Representation Efforts

A Media Analysis Project

Section One: Media Sources Descriptions and Disability Studies Analyses

Media Source No.1: Adaptive Fashion: From Wheelchair Ramps to Runways, New Avenues for
Disabled to Live More Fully, by: Jennifer Anju Grossman

This news article from Huffington Post, is aimed at discussing adaptive clothing, i.e.

clothing and fashion design catering to the disabled, the article aims to discuss the industry of

adaptive clothing and to highlight the importance of such efforts. The article stakes out its purpose

by asking: we make ramps, and lifts and lanes for the disabled why not fashionable,

comfortable clothes? and noting that its now become politically correct to send wheelchair

bound models down the catwalk during fashion shows to signal solidarity with the disabled. Yet

few within the industry are doing more than paying lip service to these concerns as a way to

indicate the need for the industry and its current position within the larger fashion world

(Grossman). The article draws from interviews with four women: Sally OBrian, a technology

executive who wheelchair bound after her recent hip surgery; Izzy Camilleri, a Toronto-based

fashion designer; Virginia Postrel, a fashion author; and Lucy Jones, a recent graduate of the

Parsons School of Fashion and winner of their 2015 Designer of the Year Award for her Seated

Design collection. The article discusses the different individuals motivations for being in the

field and their opinions on it. The article seems ultimately seeking to express the necessity of

disability centric clothing design, refuting the oppositions to such pursuits: the idea that fashion

cannot mean function and the urge to identify disabled fashion as geriatric fashion

(Grossman).
Taking a Disability Studies lens to this article revealed a great deal of concerning

elements. Of the voices and perspectives included in the article, not a single one speaks as
identifying as disabledrather each expresses the ways in which they were motivated by,

inspired by, or otherwise driven by their observation, connection, or empathy towards physical

disability. For example, about Izzy Camilleri, a Toronto fashion designer who started a

wheelchair fashion brand/line called EZ, the article states Camilleri recalls how doing some

custom work for the paraplegic journalist, Barbara Turnbull, changed her life, the article

describes the inspiration provided to Camilleri from her encounter with Turnbull:
For years Camilleri focused on high fashion, designing for the likes of Angelina Jolie, Meryl
Streep, and Reese Witherspoon. The professional success was rewarding, but after befriending
Turnbull, she could never view fashion in quite the same wayIn 2009 she left her high fashion
career behind to launch the IZ Collection aimed at those who refuse to accept wheelchair
requirements as a limitation on personal style, and self-expression (Grossman).

Similarly, the author introduces Lucy Jones Seated Design collection, which incorporates

elements like extra elbow padding, or side zippers, which improve comfort and practicality for

wheelchair users as inspired by her hemiplegic cousin (Grossman). In the same vein, Sally

OBrien, who speaks to the marketing aspects of the fashion field, uses her difficulty and

discomfort with clothing while wheelchair bound post hip surgery as an opener to the article,

ultimately stating that she wasnt complaining shed be up on crutches, and then ambulatory,

in short order. She was empathizing with those for whom the challenges of wheelchair dressing

are an ongoing concern, highlighting that the luck of OBrien in being only temporarily

impaired and her deep inspiration to assist those stuck permanently in that position (Grossman).

In each instance the perspective draws on a feeling of kinship by non-disabled individuals to the

hardships of being physically disabled when it comes to clothing, but fails to incorporate

perspectives from the individuals for whom these barriers exist, which both objectifies their

experience and paints them as needing saving from able-bodied sympathizers (Grossman).

Stemming from this observation is the critique that much of the tone of the article paints these

efforts in terms benefiting the considerateand obviously non-disabledfashion pioneers:

noting that its tempting to dismiss adaptive fashion catering to the disabled as a niche, an

interesting if ultimately irrelevant trend. Yet an aging baby boom and advances in medical

technology position the market for liftoff in the decades ahead described not as the provision of

accessibility on the basis of supporting diverse members of the human community, but because

they can now provide a profitable and productive niche (Grossman). The article also falls into

the rut of dominantly identifying disability with mobility impairments resulting in wheelchair

usagefurthering a narrow conception of disability on a whole. This can be seen in title and

introductions use of wheelchair ramps as the bridge to adaptive fashion, as well as the exclusive

focus on wheelchair using models and clothing adapted specifically to this specific impairment,

as seen in descriptions of the actual clothing:

Camilleris posh pea coats and fashionable funnel collars are aimed at the 30-50 year-old-demo,
reflecting the fact that those who break their backs (due to car accidents, extreme sports, war
injuries, etc) are between 18 and 34, (Grossman).

and

[Jones] Seated Design collection, which incorporates elements like extra elbow padding, or side
zippers, which improve comfort and practicality for wheelchair users [and] gloves for
wheelchair users that can be used in the winter Currently options to keep hands warm while
using a wheelchair are limited people are using cycling gloves or golfing gloves which
arent too warm. So shes [Jones] creating stylish gloves with grip and padding, but that also
provide warmth (Grossman).

Additionally, one of the more concerning aspect of an article which understands itself as

championing the expansion of the range of stylesand therefore the range of personal

expressionavailable to people who have physical limitations is the ways in which it buys into

a medical model of disability, understanding this industry and the people it serves not as valuable

in itself, but rather as a sad reality, where lets face it, were all getting older, and whether

through injury or the simple privilege of advancing in years, were going to need to make some

wardrobe changes. To the extent that creative designers are coming forward with new options,
thats a great thing (Grossman). The article buys into a fear of becoming disabled, ultimately

seeing disability as an awful state to be in:

While we all wish we lived in a world where wheelchairs werent needed, we do need the
innovators like Camilleri whose businesses and products can make the world a better place. So
until regenerative medicine and therapies make disability a thing of the past, lets push for an
end to punitive taxes and onerous regulations that handicap small businesses and make visionary
innovators decide to shrug (Grossman, emphasis mine).
The ultimate message of the article can be understood as pushing a view that objectifies disabled

individualsseen narrowly as those who need to use wheelchairsas inspiration for the

sacrificing, non-disabled do-gooders as they seek to make life more bearable for those living this

lesser state of existenceclearly, no need to ask them about ituntil a medical cure is ultimately

invented. This pushes the ideas that disability should be feared, that disabled persons live a

pitiable, lesser existence, and that their positive contributions to society lies in inspiration and

providing consumption of goods produced by non-disabled individuals. This perspective is

harmful to real individuals who may indeed need and want clothing that gives them access to

comfortable and expressive existences, but not at the price of lost humanity, dignity, and worth.

Media Source No.2: This Barbie Wheelchair Accessory is Normalizing Disability, by: Caroline
Bologna

This article has a two-part goal, to promote a wheelchair for dolls, and to use this new toy

as a forum for discussing representation as well as boosting the self-confidence of wheelchair

using youth. The article is found in the parents section of the Huffington Post website, and is

thus aimed at parentsI assume to promote their purchase of such toys by highlighting their

importance. The article talks about the toy itself, as well as the designers intentions behind

making it.
A Disability Studies look at this article reveals an interesting dichotomy between a

project which is intending to bring a more diverse representation of humanity into the toy
industry and thus the world view of children and the ways in which the article falls prey to

talking about disability in less than ideal terms. For example, the toys designer states:
If a child with physical disabilities could see a fashion doll rolling around in her own
wheelchair if kids classified as mobility-disabled by the world could be exposed early on to
this sort of positive imagery associated with ableism then maybe we could shake some of the
stigma that surrounds disability and being in a wheelchair (Bologna).

This quote illustrates both the sincere intention to use the toy as a means for fighting ableism,

and yet how the conception of disability allows them to conflate the removal of stigma

surrounding wheelchair use with the removal of stigma towards disability as a whole. The

perspective which equates disability with being in a wheelchair is problematic in the sense that it

invisiblizes many other forms of disability, erasing the diversity of being which the social model

and disability justice movements seeks to promote. Additionally, the message sent, while sincere,

and in many parts valuable, the language used to describe it has some problematic implications,

as the goal is described:

If a wheelchair accessory were as commonplace as a dress in the doll aisle, it would be a huge
step in helping physically disabled kids feel more empowered in a stigmatized society that often
overlooks disability, he said. Moreover, it could educate non-disabled children about their
peers, and promote open discourse and learning (Bologna).
Empowering children with and without disabilities to not view impairments with the same

stigma as society prescribes to species atypical function is deeply important, the description of

the wheelchair as an accessory, and intentionally so, as Lamm [the toys designer/creaor] told

HuffPost he hopes kids eventually see the wheelchair the same way they see any other doll

accessory like a purse or car, (Bologna). Taking this view from a DS perspective allows it to be

understood as pushing the normalized representation too far, as a wheelchair is not the same as a

purse or a car, rather this perspective pushes disability into the category of an add on, not an

important aspect of individual identity and diversity, erasing the reality of disables peoples

experiences and identities by turning it into the safe and approachable category of accessoryan
extra which can be added and subtracted at will. As a whole the article seems well intentioned,

but fails to pay attention to the concerning ways in which, when attempting to promote broader

representation, instead produced an image where disability is treated as an add on feature, as well

as buying into a weak form of representative equality such that a mobility impairment that results

in wheelchair use is seen as ending ableism and unequal representation.

Media Source No.3: Coins from 3% [Netflix Original TV Show] Created by: Pedro Aguilera
To give a bit of background from the scene I am using: The premise of the show is a

dystopic society in which when registered youth attain twenty years of age they go through The

Process, a seriese of tests to determine the superior 3% of their age group all of whom will be

moved from the lawless slums society Inland they all subsist in to the Offshorea utopic

society away from a life of hardship. In this episode, the scene I look to analyze is directly after

the first exam, the second test is a physical exam to assess the physical fitness of each

candidate, and if they fail they cannot continue. In the scene the candidates are lined up, waiting

to step up to the snazzy glass scanner that will do their assessment. One candidate, who did very

well in the first challenge, looks back at Fernando, the only wheelchair using candidate. He asks,

Do you have a problem and the other character plays it off as being about something he did

earlier, saving a friend in the first test, and says the cripple boy is a genius, and when Fernando

approaches the scanner, instead of the green light and affirmative, the light turns red and beeps in

the universal wrong answer noise. A woman in scrubs and a lab coat wheeled him away from the

large group. In an exam room Fernando lays face down on an exam table while the doctor injects

the purple bruised area around his spine with a serum, then pokes his legs with a needle asking

can you feel anything? He responds at first with no, then a shocked yes. The doctor tells him,

our medicine on the Offshore is advanced, with a complete treatment you could even walk
again. Fernando smiles hugely, then the doctor states, but first, you have to pass and

Fernandos face falls.

The episode relies incredibly heavily on a medical model of disability which sees

Fernandos impairment as something he will do anything to fix, that must be fixed by amazing

medical advances. The premise of the show as a whole already possesses a problematic emphasis

on finding the superior people and separating them so that they can live a happy life while the

less deserving do not. The introduction of a fitness test has the additional effect of sending a

message that physical health is deeply apart of superiority/inferiority of people. The scene

illustrates the idea that in order to fully join the group which has been designated as ideal

Fernando must use medical advances to remove his impairment, and that this is what the episode

expresses he wants. Fernandos character here is also facing the expectation that to be accepted

or valued by his peers, he must be extraordinary in some other sense to compensate for his being

in a wheelchair. The cripple boy genius, status clearly represents this, for without some factor

that allows him to overcome his disabilitylike a significant intellecthe has absolutely no

value in the eyes of his society or his peers. The idea that people can be sorted as such allows

certain modes of existence to be dictated as undesirable, inferior has repercussions for people in

the world who see their modes of existenceparts of their identityrepresented as a demoted

statusthey start to buy into the conception that they must compensate for what is understood as

their deficiency, andto buy into a deeply individual model conceptif they work hard enough

at overcoming their disability via compensatory super human acts in other areas, they will be

cured. This continues the perspective that locates the problem within the individual and their

bodily impairment, rather than in the way that socially constructed ideas and physical

environments interact with individuals to transform their diverse modes of functioning into a

disability.
Section Two, A Synthesis of the Media Sources to Analyze Media Representation of

Disability:
In order to conduct an analysis of media representation of disability, I looked at two non-

fiction sources presenting promotion and analysis of products which purport to widen access for

and tear down stigma surrounding disability, as well as a fictitious representation of disability

within the setting of science fiction television. In critically evaluating each of these sources

through a disability studies lens I was able to identify a number of concerning elements in their

representations of disability. First, in terms of how disability itself is understood, there is a)

exclusionary equation of wheelchair use with disability as a whole, and b) discourse entrenched

in a medicalized, individual model based view of disability. Second, in terms of the way the

media sources understand the relationship between disabled and non-disabled individuals as a)

objects of inspiration for non-disabled individuals, and b) which seeks to normalize disability

such that it becomes comfortableas pitiable or dismissible. In synthesizing the presentation of

disability in each of these media sources it can be concluded that disability in the media has

developed to an interesting paradox of both attempting to broaden societal understandings of

disability by positive coverage of non-fiction access and representation related efforts, as well as

greater inclusion and representation of disabled characters in fictitious media, yet in both these

arenas fails to eliminate undertones of ableism and individual model based understandings of

disability from these efforts. The paradox described above can be seen distinctly in each

problematic aspect I identified in regard to disability representation in my three media sources,

and so I will systematically break down its presence in each in order to illustrate its overall

validity.
First, to the way in which disability as a whole was exclusively understood across the

media sources as equated with wheelchair use. This equation was present across all the evaluated
sources: in Grossmans article it was seen in the exclusionary focus on adaptive fashion,

understood as fashion which adapts to be more accessible for people with physical impairments,

as fashion for wheelchair users; in Bolognas article it was clear from fact that the toy lauded as

breaking down ableism was a doll wheelchair; and in the Netflix episode by the fact that the only

character represented as disabled was a wheelchair user. Such narrowed perception of what it

means to be disabled is an excellent illustration of the paradox by which the media seeks to

positively represent disability and yet fails to eliminate ablest and individual model based

undertones to these representations. A common critique within disability studies (DS) is that

much of disability rights activism is, as Nomy Lamm articulates, single issue focused. It was

dominated by whiteness, straightness, and maleness. And it was concerned primarily with

mobility impairments (Lamm, 1-2, emphasis mine). The prevalence of such narrowly conceived

picture of disability in the media manages to give, paradoxically, both the impression of positive

representation, while it in fact invisiblizes many individuals who identify with more than just this

framing, for such singular pictures, Patty Sinclair articulates, invisibilizes many peoples lives

(Lamm, 2). This aspect of the paradox allows mainstream media to give the impression of

providing a more aware and representative picture of the world, and yet to perpetuate ableism in

marginalizing less desirable disability narratives and existences.

The issue of media portrayals of disability furthering discourse entrenched in a

medicalized, individual model based view of disability was strongly present across all the media

sources used in this analysis, in a way which highlights the seemingly paradoxical effect of

attempting positive representation of disability without moving away from deeply individual

model and ablest perspectives. To begin I will lay a brief description of the individual model of

disability as they relate to the elements present in the media sources. Ableism, as defined in The

Encyclopedia of Disability History, is

 a term for discrimination against, and subordination and oppression of, people with
disabilities. Ableism exists at all levels of American societyideas, attitudes, practices,
institutions, social relations, and culture. Its "ism" suffix is used to highlight institutional
or systematic forms of oppression (Rohrer, 1).
Rohrers description of ableism, as it moves beyond this basic definition articulates a number of

other critical factors enmeshed in ableism, specifically Rohrer lists:

an unexamined belief in the normalcy of the NONDISABLED, fear and denigration of
disability, understanding disability as a tragedy or social burden, medicalizing and
pathologizing disability, and pervasive paternalism, disrespect, pity, infantilization, and
VIOLENCE against people with disabilities (Rohrer, 2)
A number of these components of ableism are lurking just below the surface of media

presentation of disability, even in such cases where the goal of the articles seems to be the

promotion of positive disability representation and expanded access. This can be seen in the way

the Grossman article speaks to the effort to remove barriers to fashion by designing and

marketing clothing that minimalizes discomfort and difficulty in usage for individuals with

mobility impairments, specifically wheelchair usage, and yet the tone of the article is not one

which celebrates diversity, but prescribes to pity and a deeply medicalized view of disability. The

article explicitly states in terms of its motivation for engaging in adaptive fashion, that

While we all wish we lived in a world where wheelchairs werent needed, we do need the
innovators like Camilleri whose businesses and products can make the world a better
place. So until regenerative medicine and therapies make disability a thing of the past,
lets push for an end to punitive taxes and onerous regulations that handicap small
businesses and make visionary innovators decide to shrug (Grossman, emphasis mine).
This demonstrates feelings of fear and pity for people in wheelchairs, not a view of them as

equals, as humans whose states of beings are no lesser, nor less deserving of dignity. The pitying,

fearful, While we all wish we lived in a world where wheelchairs werent needed reflects Joseph

Shapiros discussion of disability in his book No Pity. In the chapter Tiny Tims, Supercrips, and

the End of Pity Shapiro examines disability in the media, stating

There they find constant descriptions of a disabled person's proper role as either an object
of pity or a source of inspiration. These images are internalized by disabled and
nondisabled people alike and build social stereotypes, create artificial limitations, and
contribute to the discrimination (Shapiro, 30).
This limitation and discrimination is clearly deeply embedded in Grossmans article, despite the

effort to write for the purpose of increasing access and supporting diversity. The articles

statement So until regenerative medicine and therapies make disability a thing of the past, lets

push for an end to punitive taxes and onerous regulations that handicap small businesses and

make visionary innovators decide to shrug as a way of promoting adaptive fashion furthers

the medicalization of disability, which aims to restore the disabled person to normality,

whatever that may mean. Where that is not possible, the basic aim is not abandoned; the goal is

to restore the disabled person to a state that is as near normality as possible, (Oliver, 5). Such a

view furthers the devaluation of the lives of people living with impairments, pushing the larger

view that there is something intrinsically wrong with their mode of existence that should be fixed

or corrected as much as possible to fit a standard of normalcy. Herein lies the paradox I am

seeking to illustrate, for articles such as Grossmans seem on the surface to fight ableism by

promoting equality and access, yet examining the deeper motivation reveals the same ideas

Shapiro addresses in discussing medical conceptions of disability: the idea, too, that a disabled

person commands respect only to the extent that he or she can be an object of inspiration the

fear of a life not worth living [And] the notion that without cure there was no reason or right to

live (Shapiro, 40).

As discussed in the above analysis, the tone of pity and brokenness that underlies

promotion of access and representation is deeply problematic as an aspect of understanding

disability which furthers the paradox between preaching equality and justice while implying

oppression and marginalization. Media representation which pities non-species typical modes of

function can also promote the oppressive perspective that further the view point wherein society

that still assumes disabled people will be grateful for charity and eager to be made whole again

an idea implicit to a degree in all the media sources analyzed, but especially in the scene from
the Coins episode in which wheelchair bound Fernando is shown the possibility of medical

advances which can give him the ability to walk again, a scene which depicts all of the character

as wanting desperately to be made whole again and grateful that his situation could offer him

such an opportunity. This imagery underlies the idea that disability is made such that people

become objects of inspiration for non-disabled individualsthey work hard to overcome and

thus inspire the aid of the beneficent non-disabled. This perspective lies buried in the character

Fernandos hope that if he passes the process, thus overcoming his disability and proving himself

superior, he will be cured. Similar focus on narratives of overcoming and inspiration are present

in Bolognas description of the toy as a new doll accessory that is already brightening kids

playtime experiences and more boldly in Grossmans articles usage of only non-disabled voices

expressing their inspiration to help disabled individuals as a means of expressing the importance

of the fashion movement the article is promoting (Bologna) (Grossman). Shapiro addresses this

very idea, writing:

The belief that a disability could be overcome led to the rise of the other ruling image of
disability: the inspirational disabled person. It is another model deeply moving to most
nondisabled Americans and widely regarded as oppressive by most disabled ones. The disability
rights movement discards the notion that people with disabilities should be courageous or heroic.
super achievers, since most disabled people are trying simply to lead normal lives, not inspire
anyone (16)
Such expressions of disability which place its relationship to non-disabled persons as inspiring

counters the disabled individuals assertion that there is no pity or tragedy in disability, and that

it is society's myths, fears, and stereotypes that most make being disabled difficult (Shapiro, 5).

Media representations cannot truly represent disability as positive, nor disabled individuals as the

whole, deserving, dignified, diverse people they are while maintaining this narrative, and so here

again we see the paradoxical aspect of disability in the media.

Finally, the aspect of these media sources which seek to normalize disability such that it

becomes comfortableas pitiable or dismissiblealso preserve the paradox I identified. Here

specifically, the Bologna article which understands itself as actively combatting ableism by

providing a more representative scope of toys explicitly states that the goal is normalization,

such that maybe we could shake some of the stigma that surrounds disability and being in a

wheelchair, yet this is pushed to the point where disabilityportrayed as wheelchair useis

understood as an accessory, such that kids eventually see the wheelchair the same way they see

any other doll accessory like a purse or car, (Bologna). This article clearly speaks in the

language of disability rights, of fighting stigma and ableism, yet in minimizing its representation

in terms of a popular accessory seems to go deeply against the importance of disability in

relation to identity and to community. Simi Linton makes a powerful statement to what it means

to identify as disabled, writing

We are everywhere these days, wheeling and loping down the street, tapping our canes,
sucking on our breathing tubes, following our guide dogs, puffing and sipping on the
mouth sticks that propel our motorized chairs. We may drool, hear voices, speak in
staccato syllables, wear catheters to collect our urine, or live with a compromised
immune system. We are all bound together, not by this list of our collective symptoms but
by the social and political circumstances that have forged us as a group. We have found
one another and found a voice to express not despair at our fate but outrage at our social
positioning. Our symptoms, though sometimes painful, scary, unpleasant, or difficult to
manage, are nevertheless part of the dailiness of life. They exist and have existed in all
communities throughout time (Linton, 4).
To truly provide representation of disability, the efforts cannot be described in the media

Bibliography:

Bologna, Caroline. "This Barbie Wheelchair Accessory Is Normalizing Disability." The

Huffington Post Parents. The Huffington Post, 30 Nov. 2016. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.

Coins. 3%, Season 1, Episode 2, Netflix Original, 10 Dec. 2016. Netflix.

Grossman, Jennifer Anju. "Adaptive Fashion: From Wheelchair Ramps To Runways, New
Avenues For Disabled To Live More Fully." Huffington Post Style. The Huffington Post,
29 Nov. 2016. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.
Lamm, Nomy. "This Is Disability Justice." The Body Is Not An Apology. N.p., 31 Aug. 2015.
Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
Oliver, Mike. Joint Workshop of the Living Options Group and the Research Unit of the Royal
College of Physicians on PEOPLE WITH ESTABLISHED LOCOMOTOR
DISABILITIES IN HOSPITALS. 23 July 1990. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-8. Print.

Rohrer, Judy. "Ableism." Encyclopedia of American Disability History. Ed. Susan Burch. New
York: Facts On File, 2009. 1-3. Print.

Shapiro, Joseph P. No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement. New
York: Times, 1994. Print.