THROUGH OUR LENS

Disability

How do ableist and eugenicist ideas appear in media coverage and practice?

Eugenics has a long history in the United States — from widely discredited “race science” to anti-immigrant sentiment to forced sterilization to efforts to stoke fear around autism. Rooted in ableism and intertwined with racism, transphobia, xenophobia, and classism, eugenics has been used to justify discrimination and deny people control over their own bodies and futures.

Coverage of disability and ability often infantilizes disabled people, relying on caretakers as sources rather than considering disabled people experts on their own lived experiences and needs. Our coverage aims to highlight disabled people’s self-determination, dismantle ableist and eugenicist ideas that may be baked into news coverage and practices, and examine how the field can better meet access needs for disabled journalists.