Representations of disability in the press

Abstract

This study investigated press coverage of disability issues. The expectation of a positive change in the way such representations were treated was thought to reflect a change in public attitude from charity and tolerance towards acceptance and equality. The sample of years that were chosen for the quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis were 1983, 1987 and 1992, since they span the decade which the United Nations dedicated to persons with disabilities. All articles which featured disability were gathered manually from three daily and four weekly Maltese newspapers, the only ones to be published continuously throughout the ten years. The quantitative and qualitative changes in these representations show that the press was effective in bringing about a change in people's attitudes. The social implication of this positive change is that the Maltese public is moving toward accepting the full integration of persons with disabilities.