Another Anna and the new step of Thomas : A discourse analysis covering the altered representation by swedish newspapers of Anna Holmlund and Thomas Fogdö following disabilities

The aim of this thesis was to examine how the media representation of elite skiers Anna Holmlund and Thomas Fogdö was altered following their accidents resulting in disabilities. In order to examine this a critical discourse analysis was performed on 16 newspaper articles from Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter, Göteborgs-posten, Sundsvalls Tidning and Aftonbladet, out of which eight of them had been published before the skiers respective accidents and the other eight afterwards. The results showed that swedish newspapers shifted their focus from how the skiers performed in competitions prior to their accidents to how their bodies functioned and how they would perform everyday tasks following the accidents. We found that this would distance Holmlund and Fogdö, representing them as deviants when compared to non-disabled people. In contrast to this we found that Holmlund and Fogdö would be allowed to talk about or show their lives and bodies in great detail. This would seem to function as a way of teaching non-disabled people of what it’s like to live with a disability. Through this Holmlund and Fogdö were represented as ambassadors for the disabled collective. We also found that there was a risk of objectification which would increase in connection with a decrease in Holmlund and Fogdö’s represented ability to communicate and function as a non-disabled person does. This also appears to increase the risk of having one’s voice excluded by other people talking in one’s place