(Where) Are Disabled Girls in Virtual Space? Representation of disability and gender in Google Images

Authors

  • Donna Lee York University

Abstract

In this paper I explore virtual space as a specific location in which representation and meaning-making take place.  Virtual space is a space in which modern girls spend much of their time.  It is the space in which social interactions, identity formations and re/presentation occur for many girls.  This space is portable, changeable, and is touted as accessible to those with impairments (although this assertion is not uncontested, Ellis & Kent, 2011); as such it is valuable to examine if and how disabled girls are represented within this space.  Virtual space is vast and in order to narrow the scope of this paper, I used the search engine Google Images to pull from virtual space a selection of images that I interrogated using a mixed methods approach to ask: Are disabled girls present in virtual space?  If so, where are they in that space and how are they represented there?

Author Biography

Donna Lee, York University

M.A.Critical Disability Studies, York University

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Published

2012-10-23

How to Cite

Lee, D. (2012). (Where) Are Disabled Girls in Virtual Space? Representation of disability and gender in Google Images. Critical Disability Discourses, 4. Retrieved from https://cdd.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cdd/article/view/34900

Issue

Vol 4

Section

General

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