In her famous TED talk Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives a brilliant and succinct definition of stereotypes. Stereotypes are created by the same story being repeatedly told. This does not mean that stereotypes are necessarily untrue, but they are incomplete. They make one story appear to capture the essence of an entire social group. It becomes the only story that generalises and simplifies that outgroup.
Stereotypes are created by an ingroup to describe an outgroup. They are a form of social boundary maintenance, distinguishing ‘us’ (the ingroup) from ‘the others’ (the outgroup). In everyday life, stereotypes are essential and hardwired brain mechanisms of social perception and cognition. They make our lives infinitely easier by allowing us to quickly recognise social groups and predict the behaviour of individual people based on their perceived group memberships.
We simply do not have enough time and brain power to evaluate everyone around us as individuals. We rather resort to stereotypes. We do this every day without being aware of it. Although most stereotypes we hold do not end up having negative social impacts on other groups, some do. These are the ones that are used to stigmatise other social groups, resulting in ableism, racism, sexism, ageism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, etc.
How are disability stereotypes activated in media audiences? This involves the categorisation and the attribution of personality traits:
Categorisation: The viewer categorises a screen character as disabled based on what is shown and emphasised through camera and editing (e.g. their body, their wheelchair, their movements, their guide dog, etc. ).
Personality Traits: The narrative links the disability category to simplified and recurrent personality traits, such as being incapable, depressed or superhuman. If the viewer holds these stereotypes, they are activated in their mind.
For example, the documentary Out of Darkness (2012) follows the story of two surgeons who travel through remote areas in Nepal and restore the eye sight of poor, rural locals.
The depicted initiative by the two surgeons had a high social impact that benefited these people. The film was also used to raise awareness and funding. However, as countless media representations before, it perpetuates the stereotype of the incapable, unfortunate disabled person, who can only lead a ‘normal’ life thanks to their eye sight being restored. In this sense, blind people have to be ‘cured’ of their blindness, as otherwise they cannot live a ‘normal’ life.
Of course, medical and technological interventions are important to increase wellbeing. They can facilitate the lives of blind people through surgeries and assistive technologies. However, repeated representations of blind people in need to be cured (the ‘medical’ model) prolongs disability stigma.
However, positive stereotypes can also be stigmatising. An example is the Netflix series Daredevil (2015-2018). It depicts a blind superhero, who despite his sight loss, develops superhuman capabilities to fight crime. Here, the perceived incapability and victimhood of being blind are overcome through other senses and physical strength being heightened.
This ‘supercrip’ stereotype reduces the character to the blindness identity category but attaches positive traits that compensate for the disability. The message for a non-blind viewer is that blind people can be inspirational and valid members of society only if they reach a superhuman standard. But still, the blind person remains undesirable and is only accepted as a spectacalised, unrealistic hero.
The constant repetition of such media narratives representing blind people (the outgroup) has created and maintained these stereotypes in non-blind viewers (the ingroup). The ingroup viewer thus perceives the outgroup as a homogenous collective with a very limited, generalised and simplified set of personality traits. Whether based on real lives or not, these traits have repeatedly shaped the same kind of stories of blind people. The ingroup viewer is not exposed to alternative stories.
Chapter 2 in my book delves deeper into stereotypes, explaining key stereotype properties, such as intersectionality, valence and binarism. It also explains the crucial difference between ‘stereotype activation’ and ‘stereotype application’.
Read how the parasocial contact hypothesis can be used to reduce disability stigma and prejudice.