Difficulty, Solidarity and Rehabilitation: towards a Critical Look at the Discourse on Disability in Colombia

In recent years, it has seen a growing interest in inquiring about the narratives that predispose people to establish a course of action towards people with disabilities. The aim of this study was to analyze the dominants speech of disability in Colombia, trough the review of 42 videos of the Teletón Foundation, an institution that organizes an annual television event of 27 continuous hours, though which it seeks obtain financial resources to support rehabilitation centers dedicated to providing care to people with physical disabilities. The methodological path was drawn from the critical discourse analysis of Van Dijk (1999). The results shows four categories: rehabilitation as a panacea, disability as something difficult, solidarity towards disability as a persuasion from us, against those who requires our help; and the people’s family with disabilities, as a savior, who is in charge of disability, like the problem was personal. We conclude that the narrative structure of the videos analyzed converges on a representation of disability as something sad, frustrating and limiting that requires heroes –family– and solidarity from society that still moves prevalently in the duality normality/abnormality.