Disability, the Media and the Paralympic Games

Carolyn Jackson-Brown is Senior Lecturer in Journalism & Sports Journalism at Leeds Trinity University, UK. Her research focuses on media production and representations of difference.

• 1. Introduction, 2. Spectacles of Otherness: Media, sports and disability dilemmas, 3. Riskier Representations: Channel 4’s public service broadcast model, 4. Normalising Disability: Mega-event media parity for the ‘superhuman’ supercrips, 5. Reframing Meanings: Encoding disability across multiple TV programme formats, 6. Marketing Parasports: Media, cultural production, and branded authenticity, 7. Conclusion

"In this important book Carolyn Jackson-Brown addresses the immense role played by television in the representation of disability. She presents a fascinating account of how public perceptions of disabled sportspeople can be shifted from a discourse of strangeness and embarrassment to admiration and inclusion. Many books about television tell us about failures of representation; this one presents a story of bold risk-taking." - Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds, UK "It is now clear that Channel 4’s broadcasting and promotion of the 2012 Paralympics was a turning point for disability and para-sport broadcasting, which changed the conversation about disability in the UK and had lasting reverberations for broadcasters across the world. This unique book provides the definitive inside story of Channel 4’s Paralympic broadcasting strategy towards 2012 and beyond. Filled with rich insights and engagingly written throughout, this book is the most in-depth study of Paralympic broadcasting strategy to date." - Dan Jackson, Associate Professor of Media and Communication, Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University, UK