Curating a Culture: The Portrayal of Disability Stereotypes by Paralympians on Instagram

Abstract

Through user-generated posts on Instagram, Paralympians’ self-presentation may mitigate stereotypes associated with disability, counteracting negative assumptions. Using content analyses and paired t tests, visual content posted by Paralympians was examined for the portrayal of disability stereotypes. Compared with the social media content of able-bodied athletes, which typically focus on personal and lifestyle aspects, the majority of the Paralympians’ visual content depicted them engaged in sport or fitness-related activities. By posting content that depicts physical competence and elite abilities, Paralympians may change the narrative to promote the capabilities of athletes with a disability. Through the portrayal of sport and exercise engagement on social media platforms, these Paralympians are potentially mitigating disability stereotypes with the intent to curate a culture that is more accepting and inclusive.

Effects of Exposure to Medical Model and Social Model Online Constructions of Disability on Attitudes Toward Wheelchair Users: Results from an Online Experiment

“…Such efforts have a good potential to shape public attitudes and cultivate favourable perceptions of persons with disabilities (Fisher & Purcal, 2017). Pro-social public attitudes, coupled with the development of positive identities and active physical and social participation (Mitchell et al, 2021) can accelerate social change in the direction of replacing ableist with inclusive discourses.…”

Inspirational and Worthy of Charity: (Mis)Representations of Disability in Sport Media

“…Thus, this two-step process involved coding each tweet into one of the four categories of disability portrayal (wondrous, sentimental, exotic, and realistic) outlined by Garland-Thomson (2002), and open coding tweets within each category to develop subcategories that contextualized the meaning of the tweets (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Garland-Thomson’s categories have not previously been used in this manner as sport media is often examined through supercrip, inspiration porn, charity, or other typologies (Cherney et al, 2015; Rees et al, 2019), and is applied to coverage of elite-level athletes (e.g., Paralympians; see Beacom et al, 2016; Brittan, 2017; McGillivray et al, 2021; Mitchell et al, 2021; Silva & Howe, 2012). Given that this was not an examination of the representation of disabled athletes but rather disability representation in and around sport, we felt confident that this framework would not only provide clear categories, but also that the categories were broad enough that all tweets would be able to be appropriately coded.…”

“…Studies using modern forms of sports media (i.e. social media) have focused on a variety of aspects including the self-presentation of disabled athletes on Instagram (Mitchell et al, 2021), disability discourse centered around a specific hashtag, or topic, (e.g., #amputeefitness; Mitchell et al, 2019), and how ‘diversity agendas’ are represented on Twitter by various European public service media companies (Rojas-Torrijos & Ramon, 2021; Ramon & Rojas-Torrijos, 2022).…”

La imagen de las personas deportistas con discapacidad física en Instagram a través de la Neurocomunicación

“…Mientras otras redes sociales, como Twitter, han perpetuado los estereotipos que estaban presente en el framing de los medios (Rojas-Torrijos y Ramón, 2021), las publicaciones en Instagram de los deportistas paralímpicos se enfocan en mostrar su participación en actividades deportivas, mientras que los atletas sin discapacidad publican contenido sobre aspectos personales y estilos de vida. Potencialmente, estos atletas paralímpicos podrían estar mitigando los estereotipos de la discapacidad, fomentando una cultura más tolerante e inclusiva (Mitchell et al, 2021).…”