Disability and Journalism: The Media and Disability: Good and Not-so-good Examples

Yes, the title of this article looks terrible--but it's not worded the way it is for the obvious reasons. The subject of this article is indeed a disabled basketball player, but that's not what makes him extraordinary. This article talks about more than his disability, highlights him, and also highlights the people around him. Normally, an article like this should have the person with the disability doing the interview, but it's stated multiple times that Enmanuel is shy.

This article has a few issues, but's mainly to do with the writing choices in the article, not how the journalist characterizes Judith Heumann. Extensive quotes are included, allowing Heumann to tell parts of her own story, even after death, and the article highlights parts of Heumann's life that are not as well known as her fight for Section 504.

This is a brilliant example. The writing is very informal, but this is an article written by and for those with disabilities who are raising children. It is in the disabled person's voice and we get an accurate depiction of his experience.

This article is actually a rather brilliant example of all the ways not to address people with disabilities. The person with the disability is not addressed, or even named. Instead, they are elevating the officer for performing actions off-duty which are, hopefully, the same ones he would have performed while at work. This is clearly meant as "inspiration porn"--articles or images meant to portray disability as something one is meant to overcome, or in this case, overly compensating non-disabled people for their interactions with those who are disabled in an effort to make non-disabled people feel good about what they or someone else is doing to help.

The questions are competent and the person with the disability speaks about his own experience. However, the headline has that dreaded word - "inspire" - and also fails to acknowledge that it is the disabled person himself who is inspiring the change.