Celebrating Differences, Redefining Disability
Disabled bodies in the media.
I recently came across ASOS’ new collaboration with Aaron Philip and it got me thinking. The visual rhetoric of disability within the media is often that of terror, scorn, pity and fascination. Disabled bodies have been exhibited in the media in various ways that often erase their social identities, while also, perpetuating some stigma about the capabilities and in capabilities of disabled people. Most often, disabled bodies are represented from an able bodied perspective, or worse, we see able bodies ‘performing’ disability- a throwback to Kylie Jenner’s front cover feature which saw her posing in a wheelchair for Interview Magazine is appropriate here. There is no doubt that society is fascinated with disabled bodies. However, this fascination serves only as a crutch upon which narratives about normalcy are built upon (See David T. Mitchell’s ‘Narrative Prosthesis’ for more).
Hence why, Aaron Philip’s collaboration with ASOS is a good step in the right direction. Aside from the purity and beauty she exudes in the photographs, it is exciting to see fair representation of disabled bodies in popular culture. Aaron says in the article about the photo shoot that, ‘It’s so important everyone gets representation and visibility. It doesn't make sense to have one definition of beautiful and perfect. Someone can be in a wheelchair, can be trans or fat or gender non-conforming and beautiful and perfect as well.’
It really does make no sense to have one definition of beauty and perfection. The standards upon which we are measured in society are in no doubt ableist, among many other things. Therefore, when we look at disability, it is important to remember that the medical model of disability was constructed upon some idea of disabled bodies as being “lesser” than the norm. However, we are all judged upon some idea of the average in society, whether it be height, IQ or body size. We do not all meet the standard of the average that is prescribed by society in every category, we fall short in one way or another. But that is something we all share in common as human beings. We are not perfect. So maybe, it is time we reevaluated how we see disability and how treat disabled bodies in order to accommodate for all the differences that we have as human beings. Disability is not a problem with the disabled person, the problem is how disability is constructed through negative stereotypes and the contrast of desired and undesired differences.
Thus, images like Aaron’s are important in this struggle to redefine disability. They show an effort to dismantle disability as a system that keeps people with disabilities from performing fully in society. And I hope we see more representation as such of disabled people the media from now on.
