Victims or Heroes?—Disability Representations in a Hungarian Online News Media Portal

Abstract

While studies consistently show that the popular media often provide medicalized images of disabled people as “other” or inferior, dynamic societal changes, such as the diffusion of human rights laws, increasing public awareness, and the mediatization of disability activism, also influence media representations. The present research aims to identify relevant discursive practices in Hungarian online news media, a non-Western European country with about 50 years of a state party system under communism, and offer insight into how progressive policy changes and mediatized activism shape media features on disability. To establish the dataset, the most visited and independent online news media portal in Hungary (24.hu) was searched for articles discussing disability between 2019 and 2022. The 481 relevant articles extracted were analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with the help of MAXQDA 2020. The findings reveal a multiplicity of disability representations: medicalized and victimized images on the one hand, and reports of resilience and “heroism” on the other. Three distinct discursive practices are identified: (1) traditional/ableist representations, (2) alternative representations with ableist framing, and (3) agency and the co-creation of disability representations. Results suggest that even 30 years after the political changes, disabled people’s collective agency is marginal in Hungary, and that socio-legal changes and mediatized disability activism are yet to influence news media features.

1. Introduction

Entertainment and news media often provide negative and medicalized images of disabled people and portray them as “other” or inferior [1,2,3,4]. Despite their important role in conveying social and cultural norms, the media typically portrays disabled people as vulnerable and pitiable, often enigmatic, unpredictable, or as victims of crimes [5]. Media portrayals also elicit negative reactions to the life stories of disabled people, including contempt, rejection, disrespect, and ridicule [6]. At the same time, self-definition and self-representation have increasingly been featured in recent times. Today, dynamic societal changes such as the global dispersal of human rights laws, increasing public awareness, and the mediatization of disability activism influence media representations and provide a considerably more nuanced and diverse picture of disability than ever before [7].

When exploring the relationship between media and disability, researchers can analyze media content (for example, representations and stereotypes), media technologies (for example, accessibility, emerging digital tools and platforms), or policies (for example, language and journalism) that all convey discourses relating to different models of disability [8]. This study aims to explore the news media portrayal of disabled people between 2019 and 2022 in Hungary, a post-socialist country with a neoliberal market economy and evolved disability activism [9]. This paper addresses a gap: the social and mediatized problems affecting disabled people in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) rarely feature in global discourses on disability, in which so-called “Western” voices dominate academic literature [10]. We explore how disability is constructed discursively and how news items portray disabled people in a popular independent Hungarian news portal, namely 24.hu.

1.1. Media Discourse About Disability

“Media discourse” about disability refers to the way that disability is understood or framed in a social context, and, as such, conveys ideological values, norms, and beliefs about disabled people. Garland–Thomson [11] (p. 523) interprets social representation as something not only reflecting but structuring reality, exposing the collective representation of disability as “an exclusionary and oppressive system rather than the natural and appropriate order of things”. While social representation theory [12] offers a conceptual tool for developing a critique of social order through a dialectical approach to communication, knowledge, interpersonal behavior, and inter-group dynamics, there is a scarcity of studies demonstrating this potential empirically, especially in disability research [13,14].

As disabled people are often subject to devaluation and stigmatization, exploring and understanding the mechanisms that sustain these processes is essential [5,15]. As long as most people have little or no contact with disabled people, representations and stories presented in mass media are considered a primary source of information and even “experience” or “truth” to a significant part of society [16,17]. Disabled people are often silenced and omitted from media discourse [18], and the decision-making processes in the media [19] and their invisibility are associated with negative perceptions, prejudice, and stereotypes that prevent their everyday experiences from being included in the reality constructed by media features [20]. Yet the rise of social media, reinforcing and transcending mass media, is another, increasingly powerful channel for delivering news and ideas to the majority of the public, affecting the representation of disabled people considerably [21,22].

Traditionally, dominant media representations of disability have focused on shortcomings and negative images of disabled people, and these have only furthered processes of othering and exclusion [23]. When disabled people’s abilities were recognized, they were usually overemphasized, and the portrayed person was often endowed with superpowers [24]. However, portraying disabled people as extraordinary is contested, as this may easily mask the socioeconomic causes and consequences of impairment [25]. Such traditional disability representations have been ongoingly categorized in disability studies. In their seminal work, Biklen and Bogdan [26] list the classic stereotypical portrayals of disabled people in the media, such as their being “pathetic”, a “victim of violence”, “evil”, a “background character”, “admirable”, an “object of ridicule”, an “enemy to oneself”, a “burden to society”, “asexual”, and “incapable of a full life”. The list has since been supplemented several times by the following: he or she “lives in isolation” [27], is “childish” [28], “scary”, “untidy”, “dirty”, a “punishment”, or a “disease” [29].

Empirical studies examine portrayals of disability or representations of certain disability groups in the media from diverse perspectives:

• How representations have changed over the course of time [3];
• How the conceptualization of disability as a medical condition calls for a “cure” or treatment, as in the case of autism [30];
• How representations can be intertwined with charitable intentions [31];
• How dual or contradicting stereotypes are possible at the same time, such as being both an offender and a vulnerable victim [32] or a victim (representing tragedy), a superhero (representing overachievement), and an object of charity (representing a financial burden) [33]; and
• How a new category, that of “neurodiversity”, may change former deficit-oriented understandings [34,35].

Recent studies also show that the term “supercrip”, first coined by disabled people in the 1970s, which has been the most widespread misrepresentation of para-athletes [36], may also be used by disabled people as passing but with detrimental consequences [37].

There has also been progress. The argument of hegemonic discourses on disability started with the emergence of disability rights movement from the 1980s, and images and narratives that visually and conceptually reimagine disability have been shaping media portrayals ever since. The framing of disability has changed, as “better communication with, and input from, disability communities, could enable media practitioners and policymakers to assist in creating very different perceptions and understandings of disability” [8] (p. 374). These changes allow us to consider new interpretive–analytical aspects in disability media research: the changing media identification of disabled people, the portrayal of community participation, personal, occupational, and social roles, individual forms of resistance to social oppression, or self-representation [6,38]. Howarth [13] (p. 77) stresses that there is always a possibility of agency and resistance as “representation becomes a potential space for meanings to be contested, negated and transformed”. Online media and, especially, social media [39] have become a key space for discourses on disability, as disabled people are significantly present online, where new forms of citizenship may emerge [40].

Disabled people are starting to resist ableist representations such as “inspiration porn” or “cripspiration” [25] (p. 94) that portray everyday activities or overcoming adverse situations as exemplary for non-disabled people [37,41]. The prevalence and significance of “presentational media” [42], such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik-Tok, among others, are also growing rapidly, and disabled people are active contributors on these platforms. Agency and power of media language on disability have also become increasingly important for activists [43] who reclaim formerly pejorative words like “crippled” [44]. The disability community is increasingly demanding cultural recognition [41,45], and, as a result, today’s mass media features a somewhat improved representation of disability. For example, more content provides voice directly to disabled people, and more features transgress disabled/non-disabled binaries and disrupt any singular or dominant theoretical account of disability [46,47].

1.2. Disability Representations and Discourse in Hungarian Media

Hungary’s political and media landscapes have undergone substantial changes, with one notable milestone being the fall of the state-socialist regime and the introduction of a liberal market and multi-party democracy in 1990. Over the last 3 decades, the significance of media politics has grown, and most of the political elites have instrumentalized the press and the media to secure their positions by promoting their ideas and messages, which has led to favoritism in funding, advertising, and broadcasting [48]. This also has had a long-lasting influence on the development of the media market and media freedom, journalistic autonomy, and the professional integrity of journalism altogether [49]. The expansion of social media and its strong interconnection with mass media has further strengthened the impact of mediatized content on both public opinion and individuals. In its 2022 Media Pluralism Monitor Country report on Hungary, the European University Institute concluded that hate speech and disinformation cause great concern, and that further resources should be invested in media for minorities [50]. Regarding academic research, it is mostly the media portrayal of Roma people in Hungary that has so far been examined [51]. Studies on media representations of women and other minorities, and research into hate speech in the media, are lacking in Hungary.

The few existing studies on disability representations concentrated on the use of language [52], aimed at providing journalists with information on disability [53,54], or explored how the media could support social inclusion [55]. Research on disability representations in advertisements found that when disabled characters appear, they primarily include persons with mobility, hearing, or visual impairments, using a mostly “sentimental” visual rhetoric [56]. People with a psychosocial disability are stereotypically portrayed as “homeless”, “harassers”, “madmen”, “downtrodden intellectuals”, or “sick” [57]. A study exploring regional online news media [58] found that only a small fraction of disability-related news features included the actual voices of disabled people (for example, in interviews or direct quotations). The only empirical examination of the use of terminology to describe disability and disabled people was conducted by a human rights organization in the 1990s [59].

2. Materials and Methods

The study employs Critical Discourse Analysis, a method of understanding how the meaning-making processes of social life, and how collective and individual representations evolve and hierarchize in and through communication and discourse [60]. While discourse can be defined in many ways, the current paper draws on Luke’s holistic conceptualization [61] (p. 15): “Discourse consists of recurrent statements and wordings across texts. These together mark identifiable systems of meaning and fields of knowledge and belief that, in turn, are tied to ways of knowing, believing, and categorizing the world and modes of action”.

To explore online news media, we selected the 24.hu media portal, one of the largest privately owned, independent online news portals in Hungary, with the highest number of individual users, reach, and traffic, according to the web audit provider Gemius. The portal provides varied content, including news, lifestyle, and commentary. It has 19 sections, such as tech, culture, finance, etc. In 2025, 24.hu had approximately 2 million downloads per day.

The time interval for the electronic search was 3 years, from 1 May 2019 to 30 April 2022. The longer timeframe was identified to minimize the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and capture other temporal fluctuations in disability-related news (e.g., reporting on paralympic games, awareness days, etc.).

Search terms included the main disability categories with common variations and synonyms of disability terms, including those considered outdated and/or derogatory. Some common condition-specific terms were also included (e.g., syndrome, ADHD, etc.). We consulted a search engine optimization expert and conducted pilot searches to refine and finalize the search terms. The main categories [and Hungarian search terms] were:

• Disability [fogyaték OR fogyatékos OR fogyatékosság OR fogyatékkal OR fogyatékossággal]
• Physical disability [mozgássérült OR mozgássérültek OR mozgáskorlátozott OR mozgáskorlátozott OR kerekesszék OR kerekesszékes OR tolószék OR tolókocsi OR rokkant OR rokkantak]
• Visual impairment [látássérült OR látássérültek OR látássérülés OR vak OR vakok]
• Autism [autista OR autisták OR autizmus OR asperger OR neurodiverzitás OR neurodiverz OR neurotipikus]
• Hearing impairment [hallássérült OR hallássérülés OR süket OR siket OR siketek OR nagyothalló OR nagyothallók]
• Intellectual disability [értelmi fogyatékos OR értelmi fogyatékossággal OR értelmileg akadályozott OR értelmi akadályozottsággal OR szellemi fogyatékos OR szellemi fogyatékosok OR szindrómás]
• Learning difficulty [sajátos nevelési igény OR SNI OR SNI-s OR sajátos nevelési igényű]

Searches were conducted using Google’s advanced search settings. Searches returned a total of 1154 results. Duplicates were discarded, the results were screened by the first author (CS), and any queries about eligibility were discussed with the second (GP) and third (AK) authors. Articles were excluded if disability terms were used metaphorically as a purely linguistic tool (for example, the “double-blind experiment”) or in language collocations and phrases that are not about disabled people in their true sense (for example, “to fall on deaf ears” or “even the blind can see”). After screening, the final dataset contained 481 articles that were included in the analysis. Articles were retrieved for analysis using the MAXQDA 2020 Web Collector, and thematic analysis was conducted using MAXQDA 2020. The distribution of results by disability category is presented in

Table 1. Number of articles included in the analysis by disability category.

Disability Category	Number of Relevant Articles
Disability	128
Physical disability	108
Visual impairment	80
Autism	49
Hearing impairment	40
Learning difficulty	38
Intellectual disability	38
Total	481

.

Following Fairclough’s guidelines on the coding of the corpus [62,63], texts were read and reread by the first author several times to identify and code the discursive features that shaped and influenced how disability as human diversity was represented or constructed in news media. Ongoing consultation and critical discussions with the second and third authors supported coding decisions and interpretations. We employed this collaborative approach to enhance the consistency and validity of the analysis. Along the coding process, the overlapping dimensions of Fairclough’s three-dimensional analysis framework [62] (p. 231) were kept in mind:

• Analysis of discourse practices (at a “macro level”) focusing upon the intertextuality and interdiscursivity of discourse samples (e.g., medical explanation of a disability, first/third person narrative);
• Analysis of texts (plus “micro” aspects of discourse practices) (e.g., wording, choice of adjectives, grammar); and
• Analysis of social practices of which the discourse is part (e.g., depoliticizing disability affairs, heroification of achievements).

The three dimensions of the analysis framework served as the foundation for forming deductive codes, which were later outlined into broader discursive practice categories based on the relationship between these codes. For the interpretation of the findings [64], firstly, key themes and arguments were identified, and then patterns of association and those of variation were searched. Characterization of disabled people and active or passive roles or agency were then examined while paying attention to emphasis and possible silences and omissions.

Researcher Positionality

We acknowledge that our perspectives and biases shape our views and how we approach, interpret, and analyze discourse [65]. To increase researcher transparency, we acknowledge our position as white, middle-class academics without visible disabilities or chronic conditions. Nevertheless, we consider ourselves allies serving social justice and equity in research and academic discourse.

3. Results

The analysis identified three distinctive discursive practices: (1) traditional/ableist representations, (2) alternative representations with ableist framing, and (3) agency and the co-creation of disability representations. These discursive approaches, although sometimes partly overlapping, can also be interpreted as stages on an ableism–agency scale, which suggests a shift or evolution among the three types.

3.1. Discursive Practice 1: Traditional/Ableist Representations

This practice usually perceives disability as poor health and/or social problems that are irreversible and in need of treatment or intervention. Disability is of less value, a physical and emotional burden, and an object of care. Disability is also sometimes dangerous; it can “threaten” anyone and may even lead to death due to impairment, an accident, physical vulnerability, crime, or neglect. A typical role for disabled people is that of a victim—the victim of an accident, illness, or physical violence.

The medical understanding of disability is reinforced in the accounts by highlighting bodily or mental symptoms, “resulting” in dire life prospects or procedures of treatments. For example: “And if we find that there are differences in brain processes in dyslexic children, that could again be used to detect problems sooner and (allow us to) start interventions on the children sooner” [66]. Scientific achievements are also often considered promising for cure and recovery: “The ‘Roska’ method is based on truly interdisciplinary research and can give hope to many people who suffer from visual impairment or blindness” [67].

To explain disability, the moral model of disability is often deployed: disability may be an act of God, fate, or a “higher power”, and surviving an accident without long-lasting injuries is “fortunate”. As a well-known actress stated, “We’ve always thought that if God decides that we need to learn love and acceptance from a little boy with Down’s syndrome, then that’s the way it should be” [68].

Being poor or “deviant” is a dominant stereotype for disability—in the words of a disabled writer who travels to the capital to sell his books: “I didn’t go up to Budapest to get rich, I sold ten or twenty copies of Kuco [book] every day, and only the money for petrol and a hamburger came out of it. … Most passers-by thought I was a beggar, not even those who threw a small change at me cared to take a look” [69]. Besides being considered beggars, disabled people are often thought to be drug addicts or homeless, since some portrayals imply that they are unable to work due to their disability.

Disabled people can be ridiculed, with their abilities and ambitions questioned and trivialised. Being both ugly and grotesque, like a woman who is over 2 m tall, is a recurring theme in media, bringing back the so-called freak show of earlier times, when people with visible physical deformities were used as bizarre creatures at circus events to stare and laugh at. Not being sexually attractive might lead to the myth that disabled people are asexual. Another recurring representation is that of being child-like. “My father left when I was eight years old, from then on, we met once a year, they were all awkward. For him, disability was synonymous with mental disability, I remained a child in his eyes, and on my twenty-third birthday he presented me with half a kilo of oranges and a book for preschoolers” [69]. Understanding the true nature of disability is often difficult for the non-disabled.

Some news articles report on unusual performances and “spectacular results” in contrast to generally low expectations of disabled people. A young man with savant syndrome is simply classified as a “genius” [70] or para-athletes are recognised as “true heroes”, “prodigy” or “brave” [71], and their achievements become a “sensation”, an “example”, a “superhuman performance”, or “an inspiration” [72].

Disability as a condition “worse than death” may also appear in news articles; for example, in relation to narratives of people with acquired mobility limitations. “After my heart surgery … according to the nurses, I asked for a gun so I could shoot myself…” [73]. Lost performativity may also be reported as in the case of an actor after a car accident: “I practically eroded from the theatre because of my uselessness. I work much harder, but I constantly find myself leaning against something. It is very annoying that all have to adapt to me and pay attention to me. I practically feel like I’m in an 80-year-old crippled body” [74]. The change in one’s physique goes against the expectations of work and co-workers, at least in the mind of the person.

3.2. Discursive Practice 2: Alternative Representations with Ableist Framing

News reports can also convey an ambivalent, dynamic, or changing image of disability. Resistant or alternative representations tend to refute previous negative characterisations, stereotypes, or taboos. In these media features, disability is portrayed as being both different and similar to “normal” in various contexts: educational, awareness-raising or civic initiatives and programs, and cultural or sport events. These discursive practices depict disabled people belonging to the mainstream or as successful/handsome/sexy/educated, etc., as non-disabled people, “despite” their disabilities.

For example, disabled people might lead a “full life”, doing sports, playing a musical instrument, or studying for a degree: “I am a scholarship holder of the university, and the state helps me with regular benefits due to my visual impairment. Together with my work, I can easily get enough to pay for bills, other fixed costs, and a decent living” [75]. Living an independent and autonomous life, overcoming hardships and limitations, is a recurring theme. A Paralympian athlete who had Guillain–Barré syndrome as a child says: “I count myself among the luckier ones because although I have both legs paralysed, I can live a full life” [76].

Regarding looks and sexual attraction, women with disabilities may be considered beautiful and sexy. Appearing on a Playboy cover is possible for a Paralympian silver medalist: “She said she wanted to show that disabled people can make headlines. ‘Basically, I’m a very extroverted person, I don’t have a problem with nudity. The pictures are very aesthetically pleasing, and I think it’s good to show women in all their beauty. But I never thought I’d ever be able to do it. Therefore, I was very pleased with the invitation” [77].

As for personal life, resistant representations portray disabled people who live in relationships, are married, and have a sexual life. They may raise children by finding coping techniques and can be creative in their upbringing methods: “Felix is four and a half years old. His parents are severely visually impaired, and many warned against trying to raise a child with such a disability. They didn’t plan to become parents, but when it happened unexpectedly, they didn’t hesitate for a minute” [78].

Breaking the myths or misconceptions on disability or reporting on changing social attitudes are recurring themes under resistant representations. For example, in a report about a writer with muscular dystrophy: “Many years later, at one of my book dedications, [my father] saw that the waiting line was at the end of the street, then he realised that I was doing well for myself, and then he cried” [69]. In case of intellectual disability, an expert is invited to confute asexuality: “For some reason, society has the misconception that people with intellectual disabilities can’t be in love. But yes, and it is natural that they also crave love, mutual emotions, and physicality. So, they, too, are disappointed in love, and they can be cheated on too” [79].

In some cases, journalists decide to play a part in challenging the myths about disabilities and report their doubts. In the following citation, the journalist confronts his earlier beliefs, and when contradicting these, the article acquires an emancipatory character. “What you need to know about ADHD is that it is not a mental illness, it is a ‘disorder.’ (Not a disease, but a disorder. Very apt category.) …. But the problem with it is not that it is bad. And the boy with ADHD doesn’t learn badly because he’s stupid. He doesn’t listen because he does not want to—but because he can’t. And he fidgets not because he wants to annoy anyone, but because these are his symptoms” [80].

By realising that disability is not an illness but a condition and a complex social phenomenon, journalists may also reflect on potential ways of depicting people in an authentic way. A confession follows: “Like so many others, I don’t know how to handle the disability of my fellow human beings well. (…) I have no experience whatsoever about how I should behave with a wheelchair user, for example: should I step aside to let him go, or is this an unjustified, condescending, overpolite handling of the situation?” [81]. By sharing their own thoughts and doubts, journalists involve readers in their reflective processes and share their insights in an appealing and engaging way. Challenging old ways of thinking and raising questions, in fact, belongs to the job of a socially committed journalist.

3.3. Discursive Practice 3: Agency and the Co-Creation of Disability Representations

The third type of media representation identified by the media analysis is when news content is co-created with disabled people. In this strategy, journalists do not rely on non-disabled experts (for example, parents, teachers, or scientists), and abstain from the role of a superior “knower”. Instead, they provide a platform for the self-portrayal or self-exhibition of a disabled person. In this discursive strategy, the journalist addresses the disabled person directly and lets them own and narrate their stories in the first-person singular. Sometimes, they may also join the disabled interviewee in their everyday activities.

Providing a voice to disabled people to tell their stories personally can be a powerful tool in disability-friendly media presentations, as it provides insights into the lived experience of disability that no outsider could account for. As in the case of a young man who had bone cancer: “I’ve made true friends who had known me with two legs and accept me with one as well. People who, when we sit somewhere to have a beer, just laugh when I turn my artificial leg back 180 degrees from the knee so that I have something to put the beer bottle on. OK, it might be a lot for the outsiders, but the buddies take the dark humour that’s very much present in the amputee world because it adds a huge plus to one’s misery” [82].

Stand-up comedy may also challenge and change general misconceptions. This is the case with a blind comedian, whose colleague reports: “…he ridicules social prejudices, laughs at his own preconceptions and makes jokes out of his clumsiness. It immediately dawns on everyone that what happens is not that you listen to someone out of pity, but a sensible person who talks and jokes, and you feel like shit for having prejudices in the beginning. Yes, this comedian can’t see, but in the end, the conclusion is always that blindness is not a problem, it’s just a condition” [83].

Disabled people who have their views on social inclusion and disability rights may also best provide an insight into their worldview and provide points of interconnectedness for the future. A YouTuber and disability activist, who puts his everyday thoughts, feelings, mistakes, doubts, and problems on public display, sees progress in disability affairs as follows: “If a person is frightened by the sight of a disabled person, he is immediately labelled as a jerk. However, when someone encounters something unknown, it often causes fear and anxiety. … The fear of new things can only be resolved by cognition and learning, and education takes time” [84]. This standpoint raises the question of the responsibility of disabled people to educate their surroundings and challenge old stereotypes themselves. An integrated vision, offered by a disabled interviewee, blurs the binary between “them” and “us”. In articles under this discursive practice, disability can even be overlooked or become invisible, and the writing often takes a more engaging tone and style.

Interviewees with disabilities are often activists or advocates of disability rights and use progressive language. They may reclaim terms that are pejorative in everyday communication; for example, the self-ironic and witty approach of a pop–singer interviewee with multiple sclerosis (MS) refused to sound downhearted over her illness and, thus, brought her lived reality closer to that of the average person. This can be empowering for others; for instance, when she nicknamed her MS as “sclera” and called herself a “crip” [85]. Liberating language provides space to self-determination and choosing one’s path in life.

4. Discussion

The three discursive practices found in the research corpus seem to compete with one another and show a differentiated picture of how disability appears in online media. While CDA is less suitable to provide quantitative results, it can be stated that the online news portal studied predominantly portrays disabled people through a deficit or disorder lens, focusing on adversities rather than on the diversity aspects of difference. Disability is more often innately negative than ambivalent with certain positive features, or an alternative human condition characterized by personal autonomy. Findings also show how current Hungarian news media practices relate to the collective voice and rights of disabled people: omitting and silencing them rather than including them with the motto “Nothing about us without us”.

The dominant discourse on disability follows a mainly medical and moral concept that portrays disability as a deviant form of human existence, substandard to able-bodiedness, thus morally reprehensible, socially inferior, and to be rectified. These representations often invoke the risks that the physical, intellectual, and psychological weakness of human existence entails, while omitting information about social remedies or collective responses. Individual vulnerabilities and deviance from normative understandings of human existence stand in contrast with the collective voice of disabled people that frames disability as a common social experience that is a result of social barriers. In other words, the first type of representation is probably closest to the contrasting models of a traditional medical ableist vs. a social barriers model of disability [86].

News media rarely invoke positive imaginaries according to the social model of disability. The voices of disabled people, individual or collective, which can provide a basis for non-ableist imaginaries, rarely feature in these representations. There are also notable omissions: political public policy events that have a significant impact on the lives of disabled people are omitted and thus invisible in the media discourse. Although organisations of the Hungarian disability movement published dozens of press releases in the observed period, these rarely featured in 24.hu. Similarly, relevant events of the European Union or the UNCRPD Committee, such as the 3rd of December as the World Day of Persons with Disabilities, are not thematised at all [87].

The collective agency of disabled people is also missing almost completely from the corpus collected by this survey: while disability rights are secured de jure, efforts to enforce them lack any political power, and disability affairs are thus largely depoliticised [88]. In representing the interests of disabled people among the national disability organisations, MEOSZ, the National Federation of Organisations of Persons with Physical Disabilities (Budapest, Hungary), appears most often, although only with a limited number of issues, such as the Budapest disability parking badge or accessibility cases. Other organisations were mentioned less frequently: guide dog training and corporate social responsibility measures implemented by a multinational company (the Hungarian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted—MVGYOSZ, Budapest, Hungary), an Autistic Model City Award (the Hungarian Autistic Society—AOSZ, Budapest, Hungary), mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic (the Hungarian Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities—ÉFOÉSZ, Budapest, Hungary), or contesting an ableist citylight poster (the National Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing—SINOSZ, Budapest, Hungary).

The rare examples of collective voice and rights in news media mostly appear in the third discursive practice we identified. Some journalists included successful examples of collective action or non-ableist imaginaries by presenting earlier, historical accounts on disability or foreign best practice examples. For example, the latter strategy was used to depict the marriage of young people with Down’s syndrome, thereby showing the public that people with intellectual disabilities can and do marry, if they are provided the support needed.

It is important to note that the positive cultural images of disabled people came almost exclusively from international sources: films, series, music, literature, games and toys, digital novelties (for example, wheelchair-using emojis, or avatars with hearing aids), etc. This highlights both the growing significance of cultural trends and movements shaping everyday life, as well as the cultural differences that still exist between global and national discourses. Lifestyle examples of people with disability (for example, couch surfers, accessibility of music festivals, a socially engaged wheelchair-using grandmother, a daughter signing to her father for the first time, or the wedding speech of an autistic brother) are often translated from the foreign tabloid media, but they still become part of the news media in Hungary due to their novel and “Western” approaches. These may draw readers’ attention and cause surprise, but at the same time, they emancipate, propagate human diversity, and introduce new ideas and alternative lifestyles.

Arguably, one viable way to change disability images in news media is to explicitly omit some of the previous negative ones (for example, disabled people as “evil”, “dirty”, “self-destructive”), or at least contradict them immediately with positive ones. However, the justification of the “normality” of the person (for example, a disabled person has a full life, a family, a partner, a child, important responsibilities, poses no burden to society, and lives in an integrated community), as in the case of the second, resistant discursive pattern, would only reinforce ableist stereotypes and emphasize that these characteristics may be questioned in the first place.

Moreover, while news articles attempt to replace negative and ableist representations with appealing positive imaginaries, there is the danger of creating new stereotypes and new ableist images of disability. The fact that successful disabled people who have exceptional talents, write books, are Paralympic champions, become influencers, run their own businesses, or emancipate others may only stress their individual achievements without mentioning the costs of achieving them in an often-hostile environment with little, if any, support or compensation. Notably, these attractive new “role models with disability” are mostly well-educated young men who have travelled the world and may have an acquired disability, presumably a sensory or mobility impairment, rather than a severe intellectual disability or autism. They are often presented in the media in interaction with the journalist, receiving individual attention (for example, the genre of an interview or portrait), having their own voice (for example, longer quotes), or even control over their narrative (for example, first-person singular storytelling).

Supercrips may be significant in drawing the attention of mainstream society to the abilities and potential of disabled people. Yet, at the same time, presenting these to peers as an example to follow can have adverse implications. The contrast between one’s own life and that of the role models embraced by the media may be demotivating or disheartening. The supercrip stereotype rarely includes collective action, the role of the social movement of disabled people, or rights. Our findings show that a dominant representation used by journalists to depict positive stories about disabled people focuses on individuals and not on collective voices, achievements, and success. Thus, the popular journalistic antidote to ableism builds imagery that runs against core notions of the social model of disability.

5. Conclusions

While medical and moral understandings of disability dominate in Hungarian news media, the wide variety of disability representations shows that it is possible to resist and change traditional and oppressive images, misconceptions, and stereotypes about disability. The numerous journalistic approaches producing various discourses show that there is, in fact, a whole spectrum of interpretations of disability, and that there is a possibility of doing justice to social diversity.

Journalists, along with other media professionals, such as editors and photographers, have considerable influence over how disabled people are represented. The choices they make in language, images, and framing play a role in shaping what readers think, as well as guiding how interviewees themselves may present their stories. Our findings show that many journalists are, in fact, actively trying to make sense of disability, provide a voice to disabled people, listen to parents or consult experts, and try to spend more time with the person or even offer them the freedom to tell their stories uninterrupted, as monologues.

At the same time, findings show that the collective voice, agency, and rights of disabled people only appear rarely in Hungarian news media, even 30 years after the democratic political changes and 15 years after the ratification of the UNCRPD [9]. This is in line with other studies coming from the CEE region; for example, from Poland [89], where disability representations in media often frame disability in ableist stereotypes and where disabled people rarely have a chance to speak for themselves. In many of the news features we found, the collective voice of disabled people, or the contributions of disability experts and advocates, could have been included, yet they were not. Current media practices still seem to focus on the individual and rarely include the collective; they underscore the “tragedy” but mostly offer only medical remedies. Rights discourses or articles on disability policy and national disability strategies are rare [90]. Although disability movement organizations publish press statements and seek media attention continuously, the issues they raise rarely appear in the most popular Hungarian news portals.

The findings remind us that social and legal progress tends to be uneven, and there is work to be done with media workers who may play a crucial role in advancing disability rights and changing the art and mode of disability discourses. The ultimate goal would be to enhance public understanding and provide a realistic and authentic media presentation and unbiased coverage that presents a sufficiently nuanced and differentiated view of the everyday lives of disabled people. Perhaps more targeted research on journalists’ understanding of disability in the future may reveal how the current situation could be improved. Another issue, as the power of social media has become equally important in the lives of disabled people in Hungary, besides journalists and mass media outlets, the impact of content on social media also needs to be addressed and analyzed.

Regarding further research, there are important questions that remain to be answered. There is little information on the actual impact of media representations in Hungary. Results of a recent study about the public attitudes toward disabled people found a general approval of disability rights for people with physical and sensory conditions, and less approval of autism and learning disability rights [91]. The lived experiences of disabled people also show that they experience negative attitudes regularly [92]. We can assume that discursive practices in news media portrayals of disabled people may be close to how disabled people are seen in the general population. Further research could explore the relationship between disability media representations and their relationship to how non-disabled audiences frame disability in society. Another important question to explore is how media representations are perceived by disabled people themselves, how these affect their self-image, and support or dishearten them in their everyday activities. Future research should also study how disabled people use the media to challenge stereotypes and become agents of a new type of discourse on disability. Studies may also inquire about representations and their intersections with power hierarchies such as age, sexual orientation, or along the urban–rural divide. Gendered stereotypes in media may be particularly interesting to explore as these are known to be strongly present in portrayals; for example, in autism [34].

The study has several limitations. We focused on one mainstream online news website due to capacity limitations and did not include media that targets specific socio-demographic audiences (for example, newspapers for elderly people, young people, women, etc.). Also, our analysis included only texts and not photographs and videos, which may have offered somewhat different representations.