| CODE | DBS5023 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Disability, Media and the Arts | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Disability Studies | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit has a threefold focus: the representation of disabled people (mostly by non-disabled persons) in the media and the arts; the use of the media and the arts by disabled people as a means of self-expression; and the use of universal design to ensure access to the media and the arts for disabled people, as participants and as members of the audience. The term ‘media’ here refers to print, broadcast, online and social media. The ‘arts’ refers mainly to the visual and performing arts, including popular culture. The narrative arts – including literature, fiction, film and documentary – are addressed in another unit, which also forms part of the stream on Sociocultural Aspects of Disability. Study-Unit Aims: The aim of this study-unit is to enable the students to: - appreciate the different ways used to represent disabled people in the media and the arts; - describe these different representations, taking into account Disability Studies perspectives; - appreciate the work that disabled persons themselves produce in the media and the arts as a means of exploring their experience of disability, especially through Disability Arts; - describe barriers to participation in the media and the arts and potential solutions to removing these barriers. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - analyse how representations of disabled people in the media and the arts contribute to the construction of disability, and the extent to which they challenge or reinforce received ideas and pre-conceptions; - compare the ways in which the media and the arts – especially that produced by non-disabled people – tend to interpret the lives and experiences of disabled people to the interpretation developed by disabled people themselves; - critique the role that Disability Arts play in representing the perspectives of disabled people and the extent to which they can prove to be empowering and affirming for disabled people, and enlightening for the rest of society; - identify barriers encountered by disabled people in the media and the arts, and ways in which these barriers can be removed. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - produce an analysis of a selected media or art form, with a focus on how disability is represented and constructed, and the implications of these representations and constructions on disabled people; - produce analyses of the ways in which disabled people use the media and the arts to explore the meanings of their experiences and share these meanings with their audiences; - evaluate the extent to which specific media and art forms are accessible for disabled people, and propose solutions to disabling barriers that are identified; - Analyse the Universal Design approach to media and the arts as a parallel approach to barrier removal in this field of practice. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - BORG, C. and J. CAMILLERI. 2009. Daisy petal picking: Maltese media’s love-hate relationship with vulnerable people. In J. BORG, A. HILLMAN and M.A. LAURI, eds. Exploring the Maltese media landscape. Valletta, Malta: Allied Publications. - CLARKE, L. 2003. Disabling comedy: only when we laugh. Finding the Spotlight Conference. Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts. May 2003. Available from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Clark,%20Laurence/ Clarke%20on%20comedy .pdf. - POINTON, A. and C. DAVIES, eds. 2008. Framed: Interrogating Disability in the Media. London: British Film Institute. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Blended Learning | |||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Anne-Marie Callus |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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