This week, our class read an essay from Nancy Mairs titled "Disability," which deals with the under representation of disabled people in media. She discusses many topics regarding disabilities, including how her disabilities don't define herself, and how ads are hurting everyone by not including disabilities. I'd like to focus on the second point by discussing what the ads are doing wrong. Disabled people are hurt because they are alienated and feel like "there is something queer about (them), something ugly or foolish or shameful." This doesn't only affect disabled people though. Because being disabled is "the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time," it makes it a great deal harder for one to psychologically cope with being disabled if they are able to see other disabled people being represented in ads or other media.
Nancy Mairs also brought up the point that ad companies are hurting themselves economically by not representing disabled people. Because ad companies don't show disabled people in ads, they will be less inclined to buy items that would be helpful to them than if it was shown straight up. Unfortunately, this is still happening even today, as ads that could have been better shown with a disabled person, and that are targeted toward disabled people, don't want to "give people the idea that (their) product is just for the handicapped." These types of ads are mocked in online forums for their over the top portrayals, but if people knew that disabled people faced these challenges daily, I doubt they would still make fun of them.
