ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on a content analysis of television programmes put out in peak viewing time, to viewers in the Birmingham area, during six weeks in the summer and autumn of 1988. It deals with counting; it is also greatly concerned with the nature of the portrayal of people with disabilities, since one of the impulses behind the whole study was the belief that such people were not only underrepresented but also portrayed in a way that might be described as either manipulative or condescending. The book explains a survey of public attitudes towards certain issues concerned with people with disabilities. It argues that the portrayal of people with disabilities on British television is indeed inadequate and that those who work in television should as a consequence give more thought to the portrayal of such people.
