The Undateables Social Model
“Love is blind, disfigured, autistic…” with such a provocative and controversial title Channel 4 aired a brand new show The Undateables. The series (2012-2016) “follows the journeys of several extraordinary singletons as they enter the dating circuit in pursuit of love” and trades on sensational entertainment though the exploitative spectacularization of disability from a perspective of fully functioning people rather than disabled people experience. Thus, analyzing several scenes of the 1st episode series 4 of The Undateables with the focus on the story of Matthew, this essay will argue that this show doesn’t help in building a mutual understanding and ingrain the false perception which persist because of their constant reproduction in print
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Embodied norms of communication are oppressive to people with speech impairment (Robillard 1994; Lenney and Sercombe 2002). The social model implies an understanding of disabled people though issues of communication remain underdeveloped from a social model perspective. Matthew’s stammer implicitly lillustrate the disability involves participation restriction of social relationships as Matthew is discriminated in his strive to be heard, listened to and acknowledged., as in the past he had girlfriends but caused by his ‘struggle to communicate’ (5:46) he was otherned by his previous relashionships due to his inability ‘to finish up sentences’ this didn’t lead to strong commitment, as a result he wants to find true love with “someone who has the patience to let him speak” (6:07) , as a result the social model seeks to redress this disempowerment by focusing upon the relationship between disable people and a discriminatory society. "Disability is defined as an outcome of disabling barriers imposed by environmental or policy interventions." (4) This model is designed to prevent barriers acting as obstacles, and to engage in a process of education designed to remove prejudice - with the goal of ultimate inclusion.( "Exploring the Divide: Illness and Disability" edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, 1996. Chapter 6, 'Disability, Identity and Difference' by Tom Shakespeare, pages 95 to 97). The voiceover underscores Matthew’s Otherness to Jessica in ability to lead a constructive dialogue “although Matthew wants to show he has a voice, finding a gap in which to speak isn’t pretty easy” this is
Embodied norms of communication are oppressive to people with speech impairment (Robillard 1994; Lenney and Sercombe 2002). The social model implies an understanding of disabled people though issues of communication remain underdeveloped from a social model perspective. Matthew’s stammer implicitly lillustrate the disability involves participation restriction of social relationships as Matthew is discriminated in his strive to be heard, listened to and acknowledged., as in the past he had girlfriends but caused by his ‘struggle to communicate’ (5:46) he was otherned by his previous relashionships due to his inability ‘to finish up sentences’ this didn’t lead to strong commitment, as a result he wants to find true love with “someone who has the patience to let him speak” (6:07) , as a result the social model seeks to redress this disempowerment by focusing upon the relationship between disable people and a discriminatory society. "Disability is defined as an outcome of disabling barriers imposed by environmental or policy interventions." (4) This model is designed to prevent barriers acting as obstacles, and to engage in a process of education designed to remove prejudice - with the goal of ultimate inclusion.( "Exploring the Divide: Illness and Disability" edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, 1996. Chapter 6, 'Disability, Identity and Difference' by Tom Shakespeare, pages 95 to 97). The voiceover underscores Matthew’s Otherness to Jessica in ability to lead a constructive dialogue “although Matthew wants to show he has a voice, finding a gap in which to speak isn’t pretty easy” this is