The performance roles of people with disabilities in Arab and foreign drama and their relationship to their social empowerment” -qualitative study.

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Teacher; Radio and Television; Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies

Abstract

The media in general and the dramatic content, in particular, have a great ability to change people's perceptions of unfamiliar topics. In the case of people with disabilities, the results of previous studies showed that the representations of them in these contexts were mostly negative. This study aimed to analyze the types of disabilities that have emerged, the issues and stereotypes around them, and to criticize the extent to which these contents are compatible with the goals of sustainable development 2030. This study belongs to qualitative studies. Interpreting its results is relies on Stuart Hall's (encoding/decoding) theory and Richard Dyer's theory which are about Stereotypes. The study sample has been selected from the foreign movie The Peanut butter Falcone 2019 and from the following Egyptian films: Shagan Shady 2010; Al Ragul Al Abiad Al motawaset 2010 ; Youm w Lailah 2021; and the Lebanese series Shatee ya Bairot 2021
The most important results of the study: Down syndrome was predominant in the study sample; the results showed that the dramatic contents presented many stereotypes about people with disabilities; there was no significant difference between the Arab and foreign sample in displaying the pictures; the most important of these pictures were (a place of pity and a burden on society - a place of ridicule and mockery - a picture of a person with a disability who is exposed to violence); The dramatic treatment of people with disabilities touched the sustainable development goals with regard to presenting some issues of people with disabilities; These contents also contributed greatly to increasing the empowerment of persons with disabilities and their sense of independence and self-respect, thus their sense of self-efficacy, therefore it is important to increase their empowerment by giving them a greater opportunity to play various roles that express their talents, and at the same time allow them to put their issues in front of the society without falsehood or embellishment to encourage support and societal acceptance of their presence, and to support a culture of diversity and acceptance of the other.

Keywords

Main Subjects


-          Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. (2018). Realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals by,for and with persons with disabilities: UN Flagship Report on Disability and Development.
-          Painter, C. (2016). The Complexity of Disability. Communication Faculty Publications, 42, 227-248.
-          Nelson, J. A. (2000). The media role in building the disability community. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 180-193.
-           Haller, B. (2010). Representing disability in an ableist world: Essays on mass media. Louisville, KY: Advocado.
-           Bonnie, L. "Television Portrayal of Handicapped People." Journalism Abstracts 16 (1978): 13-14.
-           Enns, A., & Smit, C. R. (2001). Screening disability: Essays on cinema and disability. Lanham, NY: University Press of America.
-           Larsen, R., & Haller, B. (2002). Public reception of real disability: The case of freaks. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 29(4), 164–172.
-          Whittington-Walsh, F. (2002). From freaks to savants: Disability and hegemony from The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) to Sling Blade (1997). Disability and Society, 17,
695–707. doi: 10.1080=0968759022000010461
- Poore, C. (2003). Who belongs? Disability and the German nation in postwar literature and film. German Studies Review, 26, 21–42.
-           Bond, B. (2008). Physical Disability on Children’s Television Programming: A Content
Analysis. Early Education and Development, 24.
- Alsuwdani, H. (2008). surat almaeaq fi aldirama alearabiati, alshaariqati, multaqi Almanal althaamin.
-  I AM PWD. (2010, Sept. 29). New study reveals lack of characters with disabilities on television. Press release, Sept. 29. http://www.iampwd.org/new-study-revealslack-
characters-disabilities-television
-Abu Saliha, N. (20120. surat al'ashkhas dhawi al'iieaqat fi aldirama alearabiati, dirasat halati, risalat majistir ghayr manshurtin, kuliyat Al'iielam, jamieat Alsharq Al'awsat.
-Idris, K. (2012)., muealajat aldirama altilifizyuniat liqadaya dhawi alaihtiajat alkhasat waealaqatiha bitashkil aitijahat aljumhur nahwaha, risalat majistir ghayr manshurtin, kuliyat altarbiati, qism Al'iielam altarbawi, jamieat Ain Shams.
- Gee, C 2012, Down Syndrome and Self-esteem: The Media’s Portrayal of Self-esteem in Characters Who Have Down Syndrome. Master of Arts (Journalism),UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December.
-          Levins, L. (2013)Dancing With Myself: Representations of Disability with in Glee, Master of Science in Mass Communication, Middle Tennessee State University.
-           Ocran, J. (2019) Disability in the media: examining stigma and identity, Disability & Society, 34:3, 505-508, DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2018.1563987
-           Mokhtar, A .(2019) Empowerment Through Advertisements: The Social Responsible Role Of  Depicting Images of Special needs For Normalcy,International Journal for Studies on Children, Women, Elderly And Disabled, Vol. 6, (Jan.)
-          Quinlan, M. M., & Bates, B. R. (2009). Bionic woman (2007): Gender, disability and cyborgs.
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 9(1), 48–58. doi: 10.1111=j.1471-3802.
2009.01115.x
-  National Organization on Disability. (2010, July 26). Harris interactive survey finds gaps
-          still remain between Americans with and without disabilities, NOD News,
http://www.nod.org/news/harris_interactive_survey_finds_gaps_still_remain_bet
ween_americans_with_an/www.2010DisabilitySurveys.org.
-  Zhang, L. & Haller, B. (2013) Consuming Image: How Mass Media Impact the Identity of People with Disabilities Communication Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 3, July–August, pp. 319–334
- Haller, B (2014) Stigma or Empowerment? What Do Disabled People Say About Their Representation In News and Entertainment Media, Disabilities Communication Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 3,
- Cumberbatch, G., & Negrine, R. (1992). Images of disability on television. New York: Routledge.
- Rider , E. (19994) Media Portrayals of People with Handicaps: Does Accuracy Matter? Author(s): Source: Studies in Popular Culture, Vol. 16, No. 2 (April 1994), pp. 85-93.
- Farnall, O., & Smith, K. A. (Winter 1999). Reactions to people with disabilities: Personal contact versus viewing of specific media portrayals. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 76(4), 659-672.
-Hall, H (1999) Attitudes Toward Persons with Down Syndrome: The Impact of Television, Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, Vol. 11, No.
-          NSO (2011), Culture Participation Survey, viewed on 21 May 2014
-           Wilde, A. (2010). Spectacle, Performance, and the Re-Presentation of Disability and
Impairment. Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal. Volume 6,
Issue 3.
-  John W. Creswell, (2013), Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, Year: 2013 ISBN: 1452226091,9781452226095.
-  Steven J. Taylor, Robert Bogdan, Marjorie L. DeVault ,(2016) Introduction to qualitative research methods : a guidebook and resource / –4th edition ,P29.
- Mashhadani, S. (2017). manahij albahth al'iielamii, ta1, (Al'iimarat Alearabiat Almutahidat, dar Alkitaab aljamieii,), 167.
-  Hadaadi, W. (2019). 'adawat albahth alkayfii fi aldirasat al'iielamiati, majalat Almieyari, jamieat Al'amir Aabd Alqadir lileulum al'iislamiati, , 47(2), 259-267.
- Persons with Disabilities Act 2008. (2014, Act 685). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/86297/117930/F139356912/MYS86297.pdf
-  Hall, S. (2006). Encoding/Decoding.
-  Dyer, R. (1993). The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation. Routledge.
- Barnes, C. (1992). Disabling Imagery and the Media: an Exploration of the Principles for Media Representations of Disabled People.
-  Nelson, J. (2011). Images that Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media. 3rd Edition.
-           Saldaña, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
-           Steven J. Taylor, Robert Bogdan, Marjorie L. DeVault ,(2016) Introduction to qualitative research methods Op. Cit, P 31.
 
-           Levins L. (2013)Dancing With Myself: Representations of Disability with in Glee, Op .Cit , pp22.
-           Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (1989). Designing qualitative research (5th ed.).Newbury Park, CA: Sage
-          Saldaña, J. (2013). The codingmanual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
-          Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C. M., & Ormston, R. (Eds.). (2013). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers (2nd ed.). London, England:Sage.
 
-  Steven J. Taylor, Robert Bogdan, Marjorie L. DeVault ,(2016) Introduction to qualitative research methods Op. Cit, P P43-45.
- DESAD, (2020), Promoting an accurate image and enhancing the voice of persons with disabilities in the media,2020, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Disability https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/resources/disability-and-the-media.html
- Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2017). Social Statistics Bulletin Malaysia. Retrieved from
- Trust, P. (2019). Facts and Figures. Retrieved from United Kingdom: http://online.flipbuilder.com/afjd/uvad/#p=10 Persons with Disabilities Act 2008. (2014, Act 685). Retrievedfromhttp://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/86297/117930/F139356912/MYS86297.pdf
- Census. (2010). Nearly 1 in 5 People Have a Disability in the U.S., Census Bureau
Reports. Retrieved from www.census.gov on May 8th, 2011
- United Nations. (n.d.-b). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html
- Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. (2018). Realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities: UN Flagship Report on Disability and Development.
- Mercer, G. Barnes, C. (2003). Disability. Polity
- Martin F. Norden (1994). The cinema of isolation: A history of physical disability in movies. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
- Barnartt , S. N. (2008). Social movement diffusion? The case of disability protests
in the U.S. and Canada. Disability Studies Quarterly.Volume 28, No.1:
http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/70/70.
- Cohen, W., Nadel, L., & Madnick, M. (2002). Down syndrome: Visions for the 21st century. New York: Wiley-Liss.
- Gee, C. Down Syndrome and Self-esteem: The Media’s Portrayal of Self-esteem in Characters Who Have Down Syndrome. Master of Arts (Journalism),UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2012.
[1] Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. Mediapsychology, 3, 110-140
- Lind, R. A. (2004). Race gender media: Considering diversities across audiences, content, and producers. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
- Quinlan, M. M., & Bates, B. R. (2008). Dances and discourses of (dis)ability: Heather Mills’s
embodiment of disability on dancing with the stars. Text & Performance Quarterly,
28(1=2), 64–80. doi:10.1080=10462930701754325
- Gilman, G. (2013, May 20). Hollywood’s Disabled Actors Protest NBC’s ‘Ironside’
Casting –When Is It Their Turn? The Wrap.
http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/hollywoods-disabled-react-ironside-casting-allwe-
want-chance-91886
-  Davis, L. (2009). Let actors with disabilities play characters with disabilities. The Huffington Post, December 7. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lennarddavis/ let-actors-with-disabilit_b_380266.html.
-  Stibbe, A. (2004). Disability, gender and power in Japanese television drama. Japan Forum, 21-36.