Women with physical disability, social media and the making of preferred identity

Abstract

Disabled women face challenges in developing their identity due to intersectional oppression and stigmatisation. They are usually stereotyped as infantized daughters, undesired partners, unfit wives and irresponsible mothers. Yet, it is possible that disabled women can exercise their agency with the catalyst of radical sociocultural movements (e.g., crip culture) and social media to make meaningful self-definition and social interactions. The objectives of this study are to understand the oppressive experience of disabled women and how they make use of social media that facilitate them to subjectively perceive their selves in their preferred manner and their frames of reference. Some concepts and theories are elucidated to build a two-dimension framework for observation and interpretation of their social media experience. Dimension 1 is symbolic resources involved in identity construction in a socio-cultural-technology context. Symbolic resources include cultural symbols, communication modalities and technology affordance. Dimension 2 is the low, medium and high levels of agency in the process of identity construction. This study exclusively examines women with physical disability. Through the lens of symbolic interactionism, this study focusses on how disabled women make use of and interpret symbols to signify their preferred identity in their self-presentation and self-expression. Purposive sampling was conducted. Each participant had three semi-structured interviews at 30 days intervals. In each interview, participants were invited to share three social media posts that they feel best represent them as disabled women. Thematic analysis and further interpretation of the data provided a full picture of the process of identity construction via social media. The findings reveal the possibilities of social media experience that facilitate disabled women’s sense of self as well as their preferred self-presentation and desired social interactions. At the low-level agency, disabled women make use of social media as a stage to perform their social identities and engage in a dialogue with their followers. In doing so, they aim to gain social acceptance as “ordinary” women. At the medium-level agency, they connect with alternative cultures and discourses to push back the boundaries of conventional normality. Disabled women connect different radical sociocultural movements to co-create a favourable sociocultural context for resources and support networks. At the high-level agency, disabled women reflexively post their significant episodes and narrative of their life stories. They further crystalise their personal meanings and wisdom as a redemption of self from negative affective experiences. They purposefully publicize their stories to build social solidarity and their own sub-groups. The findings inform better knowledge of disabled women’s agency and suggest the possibilities for future social work practice and research.