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[beccaelizabeth]

Says in the paper today one in five adults has a disability.
... I don't think one in five adult TV characters has a disability.

Torchwood is being interesting in several often under-represented areas.

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[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

I did some googling. Best statistics I can find are the statistics from the 2001 census (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1326) which gives a figure of 1 in 6 for the whole population.

Limiting long-term illness or disability that restricts daily activities is calculated from a 'Yes' response to the question in the 2001 Census: 'Do you have any long-term illness, health problem or disability which limits your activities or the work you can do?'

This of course covers a huge range of problems.

In the 2002/03 Family Resource Survey, the most common limitation reported by both men and women in GB was mobility, followed by the ability to lift, carry or move objects, and then by manual dexterity. The most common condition was musculoskeletal disorders, followed by heart and circulatory problems and then respiratory diseases.

Looking at the graphs, the real answer to your question of why ill and disabled people are under-represented on TV lies in the age spectrum. Accurate representations of old age are very, very rare on TV. Characters supposedly in their 80s and 90s are played by much younger and fitter actors. No care home I've ever seen portrayed has ever even slightly resembled a real care home in terms of the level of disability and frailty of the residents.

However, even if we consider the 16-59 age group, who represent the vast majority of people portrayed on TV, the figure is 10%-20%, so as you say, very under represented.

If you then look at the employment breakdown, you can see another reason. The higher the social class of employment, the lower the rates of long term illness and disability. And those are precisely the groups most likely to be portrayed on TV.

OK, I haven't actually crunched the numbers in detail because I'm tired and feeling a tad lazy, but estimating them from the overall figures...
Given the approximate age make up and employment class make up of the characters currently portrayed on TV, we should statistically expect to see levels of around 7%-15% disability and long term illness that limit the character's activities or work, the incidence increasing with the age of the character.

I think.

When I've got the energy I might try to refine that, especially to try to find out what percentage of those disabilities and long term illnesses would be visible to an outsider. I will also see if I can find statistics that separate disability out from long term illness (although the definitions would be pretty moot for some things)

[beccaelizabeth]

there's an Ofcom report on disability and representation and I have it around here somewhere. I'll find it when I'm not asleep.