Depicting Disability on Reality Love TV

Chapter 3: Inauthentically

Finally, when disability is represented on reality love television, the manifestation is normally not motivated by disabled producers, but fostered by those of able-body. Able-bodied actors and producers commonly hijack disability narratives and subsequently present them inaccurately. In fact, according to the Ruderman Family Foundation, “95% of characters with disabilities in top 10 TV shows are played by able-bodied actors.” While a disability is less likely to be “faked” on reality television, this troubling statistic illustrates the extend to which disability is exploited, even fetishized, for entertainment. Disabled participants should ultimately be allowed some say in how their disability is represented, lest disability simply become a device in an able-bodied narrative. Instead of allowing able-bodied writers, producers, and directors to represent life with a disability, those actually with a disability should allow be allowed autonomy, and say, in how the disability is seen. It seems fair to say that those with a disability would have a greater knowledge of disabled life than those without. In attempting to depict disability from an ablest standpoint, nuances of life with disability can be lost.

 

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