The coronation street actor, William Roache speaks to Peter White about the effect going deaf has had on his life.
Peter White states, "Now for some reason hearing loss is a disability which doesn’t seem to attract much public sympathy, for a start its invisible and many still tend to think that in some defined way it’s okay to joke about it or assume that if you are deaf, you must be daft"
This statement states that the society has labelled disabled people as ones who should 'appear' physically disabled. The disability needs to evident for people to be understanding and sympathetic towards the condition of the disabled people. Sympathy is a feeling that naturally seems to generate when witnessing a certain type disability, this conveys that the majority of the population have a certain moral conduct they work by. However, hearing loss is a disability which does not gain much public sympathy simple because its invisible. The fact that people tend to think that 'in some defined way it's okay to joke about it or assume that if you are deaf, you must be daft' rises the question that whether there is actually genuine and sincere sympathy shown to disabled people. There is also a stereotype created of the deaf people usually being daft.
www excellent to look at radio and how its remit to explore diversity.
ReplyDeleteebi would be good to continue this research in developing a dossier further. Think about how you can analyse radio representation using SHEP. ALso think about the ways in which the audience receive and use the product.