Changing the Narrative: Self-Representations of Disabled People in Social Media

Abstract

The problem of inadequate media representation of disabled people has been changed in recent years by social media, owing to which disabled people can gain at least partial control over their image in public space and thus influence how non-disabled people see them. The article aims to discuss the results of the research on how disabled people use social media to create their image and how this image is different from the one present in traditional media. The study used a qualitative content analysis of the most popular Instagram profiles created by disabled people and addressing disability-related issues. The analysis shows that disabled Instagram users create their image effectively and actively, and the portrayal that emerges from their narratives differs significantly from the dominant ways of presenting disabled people in the mass media, i.e. as “victims” and “supercrips”.