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Mediawatch
This month's disability-related media gaffes
Poor reception for Beeb season
While television appears to be making strides in the portrayal of disabled people and disability issues on our screens, many feel that the balance between accurate and positive portrayals, and the temptation to chase entertainment value is still skewed
Channel 4 claims winning team for Games
Wheelchair basketball champion Ade Adepitan and BBC Paralympics regular and all-round sports presenter Clare Balding join Channel 4’s new and experienced disabled on-screen talent for the coverage of this summer’s 2012 Paralympics
In the ghetto: TV disability and dating
Is Channel 4’s latest attempt to put disability and love in the frame anything more than ghettoising, misguided and voyeuristic
Tributes follow Kerry's death
The first wheelchair-user to appear on X Factor, she helped Susan Boyle find the road to stardom. Now singer Kerry McGregor will be missed by all
Short shrift for Davis show critics
Life’s Too Short, written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Warwick Davis, has divided critical opinion, with some branding it offensive, uncomfortable, or even exploitative. Warwick spoke to Disability Now to passionately defend the aims and outcomes of the show
No good news on bad news stories
As a recently published report highlights an increase in negative reporting on disabled people, behind it lies the truth that this, in itself, is bad for disabled people and our image
Fronting up on mental health
The host of this year’s Mind Media Awards has been chosen not least because of her own experience of mental health issues and her efforts to get the subject out there on Twitter
Wireless for the blind
It’s the longest running disability programme in UK broadcasting history, and probably in the world. This month, In Touch, the BBC’s programme for blind and partially sighted listeners, celebrates its golden jubilee
Love is on the air
Looking to maintain its role as provider of talked-about TV shows featuring disabled people, Channel 4 announces its latest foray into the corners of our lives
Ouch! feels sting of messageboard closure
When the BBC announced the messageboard of its popular disability website Ouch! was to close, the response from its community of users was vociferous
When love is deaf
As Disability Now lands on your mat, the BBC is preparing to broadcast a play featuring two well-known deaf actors in a production about the depth of love. Paul Carter reports
Death doc sparks Beeb bias row
As the BBC prepares to screen a programme in which Sir Terry Pratchett travels to Switzerland with a man who wants to end his life, campaigners have lined up to accuse the BBC of bias reports Paul Carter
Henry defiant on stammering spoof
Comic Relief has been criticised for scoring something of an own goal in this year’s fund-raising TV comedy fest. Paul Carter reports
Face to face with prejudice
Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice caused something of a storm when it was slated for transmission by Channel 4. Now, having received positive reviews, Paul Carter talks to Adam Pearson, one of the faces of the show, about his involvement and views
Beeb wins radio Paralympic rights
The 2012 Paralympics in London will be broadcast on Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra after the BBC successfully won the radio rights to broadcast the Games.
Firth's faithful to King's speech patterns
It’s rare for a non-disabled actor playing disabled to receive unqualified praise and support for the performance. But as Paul Carter discovers, Colin Firth has received unhesitating approval from the stammering community
Boyle in hot water over gags
It’s a feat not even managed by Bernard Manning: a comedian being on the radar of both the equality watchdog and broadcast regulator. Paul Carter reports
No bar to TV talent
Recent shows featuring disabled people and characters may have given actress Genevieve Barr hope, but they've also raised questions and dilemmas for her
Here, there and everywhere!
As the annual round of media awards champion 2010's breakthrough talent and positive representation, Cathy Reay ponders whether the times really are a-changin' for disabled people yearning for a career on camera
RADAR shortlists top tv shows
As the shortlists for RADAR's annual People of the Year Human Rights Awards are published, Cathy Reay checks out the runners and riders in the media categories
Red top "cheats" crusade fuels hate
The Sun newspaper has launched a campaign in partnership with the coalition Government to eradicate benefit fraud, but disabled people say they have never felt more threatened. Cathy Reay reports
C4's 2012 talent trawl
The race is on. In an unprecedented and welcome move, Channel 4 has laid down a challenge of gargantuan proportions; a two year search for the faces of disability sport. But has the broadcaster set itself an impossible task?
Keeping it real in Albert Square
Recently nominated for her 29th television award, there's no doubt that when Lacey Turner leaves Albert Square later this year she will be sorely missed. She may be the soap's golden girl, but has she authentically delivered her character's psychological meltdown?
Larging it on Big Brother
You know it is officially summertime when Davina McCall is on the telly, bursting blood vessels shouting over the roar outside Elstree studios. Of course we can only be talking about the one, the only, Big Brother. With the final series of Britain's original reality television show underway, Cathy Reay explores the representation of disability through the Big Brother lens
Autism: the media must-have
Eco-housing, rah-rah skirts, whoopee pies, Bulgarian holiday homes, we British love to be up with trends. But, let’s be honest, not many of us would expect autism to have become “popular”. But Cathy Reay discovers that it’s been in the media spotlight so much this year that campaigners say audiences are becoming more knowledgeable
Wheels come off Beeb Strictly spin-off
He may have won the show but he’s not dancing with delight. BBC3’s Dancing on Wheels champion James O’Shea has hit the headlines claiming that the programme’s makers discriminated against its disabled contestants. Cathy Reay tries to get to the truth behind his allegations
No soft soap on disability
In the past year, three big TV soap operas have introduced disabled actors into their cast. Now the final big player is following suit, as wheelchair-user Cherylee Houston moves onto Coronation Street in April. But, like those before her, she seems to have personal problems. Cathy Reay asks what the big deal is
No cause for glee
Happy? Ecstatic? Full of Glee? If you’re not already sucked in by America’s newest black comedy export then get on board, because this year everyone is joining the Glee Club. Including someone in a wheelchair. Or is he? Cathy Reay asks why the only disabled character in the world’s most successful teenage satire is faking it
Disability - a phoney business
When the star of Channel 4 comedy Fonejacker tried to trick actors into thinking he was a disabled interviewer, what exactly was running through his mind? Cathy Reay investigates
Here is the news
Is the appearance of a disabled activist as a newsreader a breakthrough in disability equality in the broadcast media or just a publicity stunt asks Cathy Reay
Desert Island Risks
With the jury still out on Channel 4’s Cast Offs, will the high-profile “disability” series be a springboard to stardom for members of its cast or an albatross round their professional necks? Ian Macrae talks to two of them
I'm a celebrity... get me a fake disability
Reality TV looked close to plumbing new depths when a suggestion was floated that celebs could adopt a disability for a week to get a flavour of our lives. Ian Macrae wasn’t the only one put out
Here's to 'Freakshow TV'
All of a sudden you can’t move for disabled actors in TV shows. But, says Mat Fraser, don’t knock it: it’s been a long time coming
TV ban for motor-neurone ad
Did you see it? Probably not, as the advert that apparently “could have caused offence” to the nation, in which a woman is slung across a room to raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease, her limbs contorted and muscles wasting away, received only limited cinema release and didn’t make it to television airtime. Sarah Ezekiel, the star of the advert Sarah’s Story, explains why she believes people need to see it
We want what you've got
Following the publication over the summer of several reports on access to digital content and equipment, Head of Access Consulting at AT Care and incoming chair of RNIB Kevin Carey looks at some of the issues
Susan Boyle – The dream turns nightmare
Is Susan Boyle now paying the price for presuming, as a middle-aged woman “with learning difficulties”, to join in with a mainstream competition or, asks Amie Slavin, is she merely reacting in an entirely natural and understandable way to an extraordinary experience
Lizzie Lakely: Emmerdale's new likely lass
With all eyes in the Wool Pack on a new blind character, Ivy Broadhead checks out soap’s latest arrival
Credibility down the tube
A culture of disablism and bullying propped up by ineffective management threatens the legacy of a once-proud regional broadcaster, says Ian Macrae
Nightmares and fairytales
Children’s TV presenter Cerrie Bernell remains confident of her appeal to children despite parental sniping says Ian Macrae
Social networks - hit or miss?
As Disability Now launches its presence on Facebook and Twitter, Paul Carter finds that worries about sites like these are being challenged by disabled people
Getting your kit off on TV
Emma Bowler explores the merits of Channel 4’s wish to screen disabled people who’ll bare all
Don't just grin and bear it
In the 1990s, action by disabled people helped to bring about the end of ITV’s Telethon appeal. Now activist Richard Downes says it’s time for that spirit to be rekindled in pursuit of a different quarry
Luke's no casualty
Having swapped a part in one leading TV show, The Bill, for one in another, Casualty, actor Luke Hamill says his latest role has inspired a new respect for the craft of acting and given him confidence for the future
Piranha savaged by BBC sharks bites back
BBC political correspondent Gary O’Donoghue once told me that the press corp at Westminster was “a piranha pool”, writes Ian Macrae.
Roll up, roll up...
Free speech or hate speech? Emma Bowler says some web content smacks of the freakshow
Gill's lack of taste
It’s not every day a disabled person opens a restaurant that warrants a review in the Sunday Times, writes Ian Macrae.
Model meets role model
Is it good television having disabled people fighting it out for a magazine photo spread? Emma Bowler has been watching the TV series that sought to match disability with the fashion trade
Breaking into news
In real, rather than reality, TV it’s an old, old story: when did you last see a disabled person on a news bulletin?
BBC must face up to reality
There was a time when the BBC made some of the most interesting, challenging and varied disability programmes anywhere. Sadly, not only are those days long gone, but the empowering philosophy which gave them their creative impetus has also deserted the corporation
The road to unenlightenment
What’s not entirely clear is whether, on at least one recent occasion, The Guardian – keeper of the nation’s sense of proportion – lost the plot completely or was operating at a post-modern level beyond the ken of most ordinary mortals
Good news on screen
The Media Trust ITN and Mencap have got together with people with learning difficulties to produce a pilot news programme aimed at and partly made by members of the learning disabled community
Ground-breaking? Or car-crash TV?
A BBC Three series is causing quite a stir and it hasn’t even been made yet
Calling all the shots
A campaign has been launched to raise awareness of audio description on programmes
Social care on the air
January was designated Social Care month by BBC Radio 4. Two of the network’s live daily shows, You and Yours and Woman’s Hour, used large chunks of their air time to give the social care system a thorough going over
Trouble at Mills
Clearly, the glare of publicity and attention she received from being on our relaunch cover just wasn’t enough for Heather Mills. No sooner had Disability Now hit the newsstands, than she hit the Street of Shame
Robert is FT to burst
Was that a collective gasp of astonishment which went round the Disability Now operations hub? It was. The FT, of all papers, and its news editor, of all people, coming on like Colonel Huff-Puffington about the notion of disability hate crime
Andy's personal Hell
OK, when did you last encounter a TV or radio show written by and starring the same disabled person?