Self-Advocacy on Social Media: Disabled Content Creators’ Experience in Challenging Stigma Around Disability
Fighters, inspirational, and unhappy are terms often associated with People with Disabilities. Disability has historically been an uncomfortable, unspoken-about reality that society has treated like the elephant in the room, but the important work of advocates over the years has made significant cha...
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| Format: | Dissertation |
| Language: | English |
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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
01-01-2024
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Fighters, inspirational, and unhappy are terms often associated with People with Disabilities. Disability has historically been an uncomfortable, unspoken-about reality that society has treated like the elephant in the room, but the important work of advocates over the years has made significant changes along the way. Can today’s digital society and social media generation advance this change even more?In this dissertation, there was a focus on how content creators with disabilities are using their social media platforms to self-advocate. To further understand this reality, a Netnographic approach, composed of two studies, was conducted: the first focused on Social Media Analysis, while the second was centered on a thematic analysis of eight in-depth interviews, with Disabled Content Creators (DCC). The first study resulted in five main themes: Community-Building, Sharing of Content Aligned with DCC’s Preferred Subjects, Adopting Content Strategies, Considering Accessibility and Adapting to Platform-related Nuances; while the second study, saw four main themes emerged: Community, Awareness, Education and Online/Offline Symbiosis. Sub-themes were also found in both studies, which are presented and discussed further. This dissertation aims to raise awareness to the potential that social media presents in demystifying stigma around disability, by allowing disabled content creators to share their lived experiences in an authentic way, as opposed to the often-stereotypical ways traditional forms of media portray it. Studies with this focus could prove useful for these media outlets to become more proactive in learning from and working with the Disabled community when talking about disability. This thesis also encourages further qualitative research in both Disability Studies and Social Media studies in order to better understand the experiences of disabled people online and contribute to making our society more inclusive. |
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| ISBN: | 9798384229131 |