In your face
Jeg er faldet over dette foto. Faktisk er det fra en hel fotoserie, som du kan se på denne hjemmeside. Jeg er ret vild med dette foto, fordi det trykker på noget helt essentielt, når det handler om at kommunikere om handicap og ikke mindst om mennesker med handicap.
Den gang jeg arbejdede for Dansk Blindesamfund, havde vi ofte en diskussion i kommunikation/marketingsafdelingen: hvilke “cases” putter vi i medierne? Altså hvilke personer har vi fotos af i foreningens egne trykte magasiner og pjecer, og hvilke kommer fx i Go’ morgen Danmarks studie til en kop morgenkaffe og en snak.
Dilemmaet stod mellem, om vi skulle fravælge gode og veltalende cases, fordi de simpelthen så for “mærkelige” ud, eller om dette var ligegyldigt. Nogle i afdelingen mente, at de skulle fravælges, fordi læseren/seeren automatisk ville have fokus på, hvorfor personen nu så sådan ud i stedet for på de kloge ord, personen sagde.
Og ja, det kan måske være rigtigt, men jeg er ikke enig. Jeg mener, at dét, der er allervigtigst, hvis mennesker med handicap skal anerkendes som absolut ligestillede med resten af samfundet, er, at du og jeg og alle andre hele tiden konfronteres med fotos af dem – præcis som de ser ud.
De grimme, mærkelige og anderledes skal ikke sminkes væk. Nej, de skal frem. De skal i studiet hos fx Go’ morgen Danmark, så vi kan lære dem at kende. Så vi kan se og høre, at de faktisk er præcis som os, men at de har nogle begrænsninger, fx i form af fysik.
Som Deza Nguembock, artdirector bag fotoserien, skrev, da jeg spurgte, om jeg måtte bringe dette foto:
“With this concept I wish to share my vision and hopefully to help our societies, including disabled people themselves, to develop a new approach … and this will be possible when we’ll be familiarized with positive images of people with disabilities.”
Hvad tænker du?
PS: Mød fotomodellerne på facebook og se en video fra optagelserne.
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Some time ago I found this photo. It’s actually just one out of a series of photos from this website. I really like this photo because it shows something very essential when it comes to communicating about disability and not least about people with disabilities.
When I worked for The Danish Association of the Blind, we often had long discussions in the communications /marketing department about which “cases” we should show in the media? How should the blind people in our printed magazines and pamphlets look? And who could we put on television programs?
Our dilemma was whether we should deselect cases looking a bit “strange” (even though they were well spoken) or if we shouldn’t care about their look. Some in the department meant it would remove the viewer’s attention on the topic if the case looked too strange.
And yes, this might be true, but I don’t agree. I think that if the challenge is people with disabilities should be seen as absolutely equal with the rest of society, then it’s extremely important that you and I and everyone else all the time are confronted with photos of them – exactly as they look.
We shouldn’t remove and hide what – seen through our “normality glasses” – are ugly, strange and bizarre. No, we should put it up front, so we can see and hear that people with disabilities are just like us, but with some limitations and challenges, e.g. physical limitations.
As Deza Nguembock, the art director behind the photos, wrote when I asked if I could bring this photo:
“With this concept I wish to share my vision and hopefully to help our societies, including disabled people themselves, to develop a new approach … and this will be possible when we’ll be familiarized with positive images of people with disabilities.”
What do you think?
PS: Meet the fotomodels on facebook and watch a video from the shootings.
