The aim of this strategy is to reduce reliance on disability stereotypes to evaluate screen characters. The non-disabled ingroup viewer watches a disabled outgroup character who has an additional social identity, whether that is another outgroup or an ingroup. That addition creates a surprising combination that mitigates the activation of disability stereotypes in the viewer.

For example, the two documentaries Otto Baxter – Not a Fucking Horror Story (2023, Peter Beard, Bruce Fletcher) and Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie (2021, Jesse Suchmann, Robert Carnevale) represent main characters with Down syndrome who are making horror films.

The two identity categories of ‘Down syndrome’ and ‘horror film director’ are very different to each other, and the latter has no immediate relation to disability. Therefore, the viewer is prompted to form a new impression about the characters, which departs from the stereotypes associated with either category. After all, we don’t often see horror film directors with Down syndrome in mainstream media. This reduces the parasocial distance between non-disabled viewer and disabled character.

Of course, it is important that the viewer does not hold a strong, negative attitude towards either social identity (Down syndrome, horror film directors). Equally, the identity combination must not reinforce stigma, which is why the second identity should not be associated with disability. For example, an old disabled person is a combination that may reinforce stigma, because both categories (old age and disability) are often interlinked in representations, and they often share the stereotype of incapability.

Another example of surprising identity combinations are disabled people who are forensic experts. Their expertise is neither related to having, nor overcoming a disability. For instance, the TV drama Silent Witness represents Clarissa Mullery (played by Liz Carr), a forensic pathologist, who happens to have Arthrogryposis. The TV drama Dexter represents an unnamed forensic sketch artist, who happens to be paraplegic.

Read more about how and why surprising combinations can reduce prejudice in Chapter 9.

The next section looks at how a shared ingroup identity can reduce parasocial distance, which can be combined with surprising identity combinations.