Disability Interventions: Reformatting Masculinities in TV’s The Last Leg

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Abstract

Disability is a cutting-edge category for communication. Formerly regarded via biomedical or charity perspectives, disability is at the heart of contemporary social transformations, entangled in significant issues in culture, politics, and the meaning of life. Rather than regarding disability as ‘tragedy’, or a theme in health communication, this paper assumes disability offers opportunities for doing communication differently. It explores this argument via a case of disability being used resourcefully for an original and rich set of interventions. The case is The Last Leg, the British TV talk-comedy program compered by Australian media personality, Adam Hills. Created as a commentary show for the London Paralympics, The Last Leg has attracted a strong following, and is especially interesting for how it represents and reconfigures masculinities.

Gerard is Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney, and a leading figure in mobile media and communication research, and also disability media studies.

Author

• Gerard Michael Goggin, The University of Sydney