ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the Fiske's argument that television reflects rather than creates social change. It considers new types of representations that have emerged since the major theorisations of disability and television that occurred during the 1980s and 1990s through two indicative television texts Friday Night Lights and Push Girls. The reality TV series Push Girls offers a innovation of the character with disability in a reality TV show format. The chapter discusses the specificity of television as a medium before moving on to outline prior research into television from a disability perspective. The media and television in particular is consistently criticised for its representation of disability. Critiques concentrate on underrepresentation, negative stereotypes and inaccurate portrayals of normalization. The chapter explores from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson's argument that community and sexuality can structure a positive story of disability by positioning characters' experiences. The high school quarterback at once represents community, teenage sexuality and masculinity in and beyond American popular culture.
