ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on a study, the objective of which was to examine Finnish disability organizations’ opinion of the representations of disability in the Finnish news, magazine media, and current affairs programmes; what kind of representations the organizations would prefer to see in these media; and how they think media representations could be influenced. The research data consist of 9 semi-structured interviews with 11 participants from Finnish disability organizations who are also members of the Finnish Disability Forum. The data were examined using theory-driven content analysis. The findings show that disability is too often depicted in a stereotypical and negative manner with derogative terminologies still today, even though there have been positive changes. According to the interviewees, the lack of understanding disability as a human rights issue and a multifaceted phenomenon is also due to the fact that the media continues to be produced by persons without a disability and without consulting persons with disabilities.
