During this session, Dr Ngozi Marion Emmanuel discusses a toolkit she created to support positive portrayals of disability in film. Films have been recognised as an important media for shaping disability identity and disability pride. However, research has shown that films often fall short in their portrayal of disabilities and disabled people. To attain representational justice in films for disabled people, ESRC/IAA at Leicester funded two workshops in 2021 and 2023 that brought together disabled people, filmmakers, academics and other disability allies to co-produce a toolkit for representing disabilities in films. This toolkit spells out what disabled people want filmic portrayal of disabilities to be. In this workshop, Dr Emmanuel highlights some of the important points raised in the toolkit.
Bio
Dr Ngozi Marion Emmanuel has recently completed a PhD in Media and Communication at the University of Leicester. She is a disability studies researcher and crusader for disability pride. Her works focus on disability representation in the media and identifying disability hate crimes against disabled people of ethnic minority groups. Dr Emmanuel has held workshops with people with disabilities, academics and filmmakers who make films on disabilities. These workshops have produced a toolkit for representing disabilities in films which has been adapted by some filmmakers in countries of the global south such as Nigeria.
