My Hopes for the Future of Disability in Visual Culture

“Critical disability studies over the last thirty years have examined systems of power that shape codes of representation within images, objects, collections, and by extension, prevailing historiographies that define the limits of acceptability among human bodies, or what Tobin Siebers calls the ideology of ability. Advancing a theory of complex embodiment, he writes that disability, as a critical social concept, “enlarges our vision of human variation and difference, and puts forward perspectives that test presuppositions dear to the history of aesthetics” (2010: 3).”

If to view disability as a social construct, built upon by the inaccessibility and discriminatory nature of greater societal barriers, improvement starts and ends with sociopolitical equality and transparency. 

Where improvement is needed:

•The depictions of children and adults who cannot give informed consent.

•Mommy vloggers “educating” about a syndrome while simultaneously exploiting their children for profit.

•Thinking about disability as something that needs to be “fixed” or “improved.”

•Placing groups of people in one-size-fits-all boxes.

•Social and educational segregation of children with disabilities, including extracurricular activities such as music, dance, and art.

•The aesthetics of beauty defined by bodily proportions and perfectionism.

•Negative connotations: Pain, sufferer, issues, failure, ugly, troubled, damaged, tortured, crippled, defect, special needs, crazy, retarded, helpless, slow, wheelchair-bound, bed-bound, etc.

My hopes for the future:

•Inclusivity

•Positive connotations

•Representations in film and television that correctly depict and hire people with disabilities for said roles. 

•The exemption of financial barriers that prevent people with disabilities from being able to apply to open calls and afford the printing and framing of work.

•Exhibited work depicting disability identity and lived experiences created by people with disabilities, not by an ally or family member. 

And the list goes on… While there has been improvement since the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, it is still not enough. Proper disability representation matters.