KIJHUS Volume. 1, Issue 3 (2020)

This study investigates how people with special needs are represented in UAE's national newspapers, Gulf News, and Khaleej Times. 80 randomly selected news reports were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method. Using the media framing theory, the reports were analyzed according to the following frames: illness, support, burden, empathy, and empowerment. The findings revealed that people with special needs are represented positively in both newspapers since the empathy and empowerment frames were the most present in the news reports examined. The coverage tends to enhance the public awareness of people with special needs, assimilate people with special needs into society, and endorse their social communities' participation.