Impairment, failure, emergency: A review essay on recent trends in media and disability studies

Abstract

In this essay, three recently published books are reviewed: Diminished Faculties: A Political Phenomenology of Impairment, by Jonathan Sterne, Failure, by Neta Alexander and Arjun Appadurai, and In Case of Emergency, by Elizabeth Ellcessor. The essay argues that these three works contribute to the debate about media and disability by proposing a non ableist perspective – that is a perspective which doesn’t consider ability as a normative assumption – which affects both media theory and media practices. In this regard, the essay identifies three keywords which are potentially game changers in media studies: impairment, failure, emergency. Emphasizing the ‘normal’, ‘banal’ or ‘habitual’ character of these terms, the books here reviewed show how these keywords may enable us to go beyond the traditional idea of media as prostheses, and call for a different approach toward media and media studies: one which does not metaphorize disability but understands media as part of the sociocultural, political and economic context where a certain idea of ability and disability is both defined and materially enacted. An approach, therefore, that aims to deconstruct that idea.

Vulnerabilità e sostenibilità: primi spunti per uno studio dell'impatto sulle persone con disabilità e sulle future generazioni dei dispositivi [neuro]tecnologici

“…Le organizzazioni svolgono un ruolo decisivo nell'inclusione delle persone con disabilità, come sottolineato da un recente filone di letteratura. 33 Le tecnologie, invece, si trovano in una posizione di confine: sono considerate strumenti indispensabili per l'accessibilità e l'empowerment delle persone con disabilità 34 ; tuttavia, la letteratura ha sottolineato come la tecnologia da sola non sia sufficiente a produrre un'adeguata inclusione e a garantire una vita indipendente alle persone con disabilità 35 , in quanto parte di una complessa rete di interdipendenze che comprende istituzioni pubbliche, produttori e aziende tecnologiche, servizi di dati e manutenzione, nonché quadro normativo 36 .…”

Ethopolitical media: Organizing Assistive Technology, disability and care in the platform society

“…In this article, we reflect on the impact that the arrival of big tech in the field of AT has on both disability and on the broader debate in media and cultural studies on the relationship between media, health-care and well-being (Alexander, 2019; Ellcessor, 2022; Hagood, 2019; Hesmondhalgh, 2017; Houston, 2019; Napolitano et al, 2022). Recalling Martin’s (2019: 1) assumption that “media organize,” that is “media construct patterns and relationships that pose the question of order,” we argue that AT are not mere aids but rather media systems that organize disability.…”