This paper is concerned with the following questions: How do recipients having direct contact to people with disabilities perceive media content which portrays people with disabilities as playing an active and self-determined role in society in contrast to recipients without this kind of contact? Drawing on the method of group discussion, an empirical study with four comparison groups was conducted. Two comparison groups had contact to people with disabilities directly and regularly, whereas

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... other two comparison groups had no contact to people with disabilities. Drawing on the documentary method according to Bohnsack, Przyborski und Wohlrab-Sahr the group discussions were analysed and interpreted in order to identify types and form hypotheses. Data analysis found the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Recipients with direct and regular contact to people with disabilities perceive television contents portraying people with disabilities as playing an active and self-determined role in society as positive. They consider these portrayals realistic and want to see and hear more of this kind of content in the media. Hypothesis 2: Recipients without direct and regular contact to people with disabilities perceive television contents portraying people with disabilities as playing an active and self-determined role in society as positive as well. Yet, they consider such portrayals as rather not realistic and thus consider them to be euphemistic. The object of research was conceptually defined by drawing on the following theories: social learning theory according to Albert Bandura and Cultivation theory according to George Gerbner. The following questions arise out of this paper: What does it need to increase the inclusion of people with disabilities in the media scene in the long run? Are producers aware of the image of people with disabilities conveyed in the media? Following up: Do media producers assume that they actively create media images or do they assume that they reproduce reality? What is the share the media [...]