Media and Its Construction of Disability Social Media
Media and Its Construction of Disability: Social Media Blogs as a Digital Contact Zone MICHAEL HARTLEY, PHD, CRC ARYN TAYLOR, MA, CRC THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Agenda �Objectives �Introduction to main themes and terms �Course description �Blog examples and construction of disability �Implications for research, teaching, and practice
Objectives �Analyze the influence of the media on responses to persons with disabilities. �Discuss the multidimensional role of blogs focused on disability. �Examine how students can use social blogs as a digital contact zone and gain exposure and perspective from individuals with disabilities themselves.
Contact Zones �Contact zones: social spaces where cultural groups grapple with differences and sometimes clash in their interactions (Pratt, 1991). Perspectives of subordinate cultural groups often resist or even mediate dominant beliefs. �In rehabilitation education, contact zones are where the medical and disability right communities intersect and are important places for student learning (Pratt, 1991).
Blogs as Contact Zones �Provide a space for authors to express their emotions, reactions, and thoughts. �Encourage new understandings of disability through reading of other people’s lived experience. �Foster discussion and internal reflection regarding the intersection of disability with gender, age, ethnicity, etc. �Promote expression and consumption of diverse perspectives. Topics may have previously only been discussed in an academic sense, or through other mass media outlets.
Course Description �SERP 200: Mass Media and Its Construction of Disability �Students explore divergent perspectives of disability as they are represented by mass media sources including: news articles and video clips, advertisements, films, blogs, twitter, and youtube
Interactive E-learning �Teal Sherer http: //www. tealsherer. com/Welcome. html Students watch Teal’s web series, “My Gimpy Life”, and then Skype with her after. This allows for an interactive discussion of Teal’s experiences and perspectives about disability. Most students commented how relatable they found Teal to be, even if they did not have a disability. They also enjoyed the youtube format. They felt comfortable asking her questions related to her disability after watching the episodes.
Example #1: Deafinitely Girly �Blogger is a young female with a hearing impairment. She blogs about her experiences with daily life. �Shares details about how it feels to be the only one in a room who has a hearing impairment, what she likes and dislikes, and embarrassing stories in a funny and relatable manner. �http: //www. deafinitelygirly. com/
Example of Class Activity �Watch youtube clip and compare/contrast with some of themes in Deafinitely girly. �Questions for students: How does the commercial depict disability? What are some advantages of the blog? Of the commercial? �Both media sources offer students multiple mass media sources to understand hearing impairments in two very different ways. �http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=u 2 HD 57 z 4 F 8 E
Example #2: Disabled & Living in the Real World �Blogger is Grace Brulotte who is a teenager living with Arthogryposis. She describes her blog as “a glimpse into the life of a disabled teenager and everything that comes with it…” Writes blog posts and records video blogs �http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=e 4 Eu. Gx. PQRs. M
Reinforcing Course Content �The blog overlaps with course themes, and the video- diary format offers students a first-hand account of the following terms. �Spread: Grace discusses how because she is in a wheelchair, other people assume she also has another disability such as a hearing impairment. �Salience: “If you constantly see my wheelchair, then you don’t see me. I started my blog because people need to understand that I am a person, even though I am disabled. I have a mind, I have feelings. I hope that this message gets across. ”
Example#3: Fishing �Blogger is Carol, who is a University of Arizona college student living with Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. �She describes herself as a “social butterfly” and loves “educating friends and strangers” about herself. �http: //carollipari. wordpress. com/
Student Voices and Perspectives �Allows for an outward expression of an internal dialogue: “And as I was sitting in that room, surrounded by crying faces, wondering why they were so emotional, I wondered, “should I be sobbing right now? ” �Allows for the expression of first-hand experience regarding people’s reactions to disability: “I cannot say this for everyone, but usually, when people first greet me, they often begin with an over-the-top hello, a pat on the shoulder…They smile at me, then make a joke about racing my wheelchair and how fast it goes. It’s awkward.
Implications for Undergraduate Education �Carole was inspired by the course to start her own blog, and continue moving the dialogue about disability forward. �Students can relate to Carole and Teal, and through e- learning from blogs and web series, they are offered unique and relatable experiences. �Students enjoyed how the examples could always change given the nature of mass media. They could also find their own examples of commercials, articles or blogs and bring to class.
Implications for Graduate Education �The blog assignment was recently included in a graduate course on psychosocial aspects of disability. Students commented on the bloggers social and emotional view of disability. In the Blog E. is for Epilepsy, “she feels pity is something that creates a barrier between her and society, instead of integrating her. She feels disconnected in that sense. She feels that though pity removes the “disabled” from the company of others, from the fellowship and society in which he or she belongs. ” “Overcoming Schizophrenia can be incorporated in a client’s treatment as a healthy resource to learn about the writer as well as giving the client the opportunity to start a blog of their own. ”
Implications for Research and Practice �Research: Informed by an IRB approved qualitative study examining student reactions to disability. Found interactive outlets such as videos and in-class discussion challenged preconceived notions of disability. | Further research could explore the use of blogs in education and their ability to facilitate inclusive views of disability through first hand experiences.
Implications for Research and Practice �Practice: Blogs act as a direct experience for students to learn about the disabilities they will be treating as clinicians. Blogs are a neutral zone where students and consumers can interact and create multidimensional discussions. Consumers can grow in therapy by reading and relating from blogs and the experiences of others.
Questions for Reflection �How might rehabilitation counselors use social media blogs to better understand the lived experience of disability? �How might we integrate social media blogs and other analytical tools to foster more critical thinking among undergraduate and graduate students? �As for research and policy decisions, how might analysis of social media blogs create workable solutions to perennial issues in rehabilitation and healthcare?
Additional Resources �Example Assignments �Example Blogs
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