How disability is treated

When journalists frame a story, they create a hidden structure of assumptions to support the premise. When listeners or readers object to a story, they are sometimes rejecting the frame. This phenomenon was evident by the audience reaction to a recent NPR story about a gravestone depicting a child leaping out of his wheelchair. A picture of the memorial repeatedly surfaces on social media.

Seeking out the background, an NPR reporter tracked down the parents of the deceased child and told the story of how their beliefs inspired the monument to their son, who had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair.

The parents' beliefs became the frame for the story, particularly the headline. While some people found joy in the story, audience members who disagreed with the parents' views took issue with NPR for making those ideas prominent and not adding additional perspectives that reflected a more modern