How is disability represented in A Touch of Frost

In the clip Billy is represented differently than everyone else in the scene; this is because he is disabled. In the scene he is seen as a person who is less capable than the rest of the people in the scene. One thing that they do in the scene and what people do in real life is people look down on disabled people, this is done in the clip by Frost and the other people looking down on him. This is shown by the high angle camera that is used in this scene. The camera looks down onto Billy whereas the camera shot is level when looking at anybody else in the scene. This shows that disabled people have less status than other people; it also shows that people look down on them maybe because they are different to other people. In the clip the kid is all cut and has dirt all over him, this contributes to what the audience think about him. As he is all cut it makes the audience feel sorry for him as it looks like he is hurt, also as he is a disabled person it again adds to what the audience think about him as they are meant to feel sorry for him as he is being questioned by the police but is all dirty and cut.

Billy is also treated like a child. When Frost is speaking to him he speaks really slowly, as he thinks that he cannot understand what he is saying. He also speaks very clearly and tries to use simple vocabulary, again he does this as he think that he cannot understand him, this shows that he is treated like a child. Also when Frost is asking him questions, every time when he answers Frost repeats what he says, to make sure that he is right and it also makes him seem like a child, as what he says he said back to him, like when adults talk to children. He is an adult but is treated like a child; again it makes the audience feel sorry for him as he is being treated differently to everyone else.

He is again treated like a child by his mum, when Frost is about to walk into the room and talk to him, his mum comes in and asks if she can wash him, this shows that he is not capable of washing himself as she says ‘can I wash him’. This again shows that he is being treated like a child, as kids have to be washed by their mums as they are not capable of doing it themselves, and this is what he is like. With his mum doing this it shows that even his family treat him like a child, his mum asks if she can wash him rather than doing it on his own, and his dad speaks to him like a child, by saying things quite slow and clear so that he understands, so there is no surprise that Frost also treats him like a child.

When Frost and the Billy are having a conversation about where he was, the shots were short and quick, the shots jumped from him to Frost and back again really quickly, to show the audience what they are saying and there facial expressions. From these shots you can also see that everyone else in the room is higher up than him, this relates back to what I already said about people look down on disabled people and they also have a lower status than everybody else.