Bad news for disabled people

Nick Watson has collaborated on two new publications of interest:

Bad News for Disabled People: How the newspapers are reporting disability (http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_214917_en.pdf)
Comparing reporting in five newspapers from 2010-2011 and 2004-2005, research found that disabled people are more likely to be reported in a negative light than they were 5 years ago. There has been an increase in articles reporting disability as a benefit problem, an increase in articles on benefit fraud and the 'burden' that benefits claimants and disabled people are having on the economy, an increase in language suggesting that disabled people are 'undeserving' and that the incapacity benefit had become a "lifestyle choice". Asking how these changes in reporting can been seen, in part, as support for the Government's introduction of spending cuts, the report cautions the newspapers on the impact this type of reporting might have on lives of disabled people and the progress of disability rights in the coming years.


Routledge Handbook on Disability Studies
(http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415574006/)
Taking a multidisciplinary approach to disability, the Handbook provides an authoritative and up-to-date overview of the main issues in the field around the world today. With contributions from leading international scholars, the Handbook updates readers on different models and approaches to disability, how key impairment groups have engaged with disability studies, current policy and legislation responses as well as how disability studies has interacted with other disciplines and themes.

Nick is Professor of Disability Studies and Director of the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research at the University of Glasgow, and Associate Director at CRFR.