Disability, Media, and the Politics of Vulnerability

Vulnerability is a topic of considerable and long‑standing importance for understanding media and its place in contemporary culture, social arrangements, and everyday life. Disability and those living with disability are often called to mind in discussions of media and vulnerability. In this paper, I sketch a critique of such dominant concepts of vulnerability and media. Firstly I discuss the problems with vulnerability, as currently conceived, as a way of understanding contemporary media and disability. Secondly, I give an overview of the state of the art of research on media and disability, and what priority research is needed. Thirdly, I consider how critical conceptions of disability help us to open up discussions of media and vulnerability.