Media Portrayal of Persons with Disability in Lagos Radio Stations

Existing media stereotype of persons with different kinds of disability is heart-breaking. These are wrong perceptions about persons with one form of disability or the other. Unfortunately, the media organizations that should have used their power to enlighten the masses on disability continue to stress the ideals of the medical model of disability, hereby under-representing and portraying them as objects of pity, laughable and helpless. This study sets out to achieve three objectives: to understand the predisposition of two radio stations towards reporting about disability, the perceptions of members of the public about disability and how these have affected persons with disability. It was discovered that just like in most nations without disability laws, the public perceives the media to wrongly represent persons with a disability which in turn has psychological effects on them. The government media, however, is fairer in giving attention to persons with disability as compared to private stations. The government should introduce disability laws and the media should ensure stories about disability are not reported at their exclusion.