Desiring the Disabled Body How disabled women are represented in visual journalism

Abstract

This chapter explores how journalists visually construct disabled women at the intersection of disability and sex. The authors draw from disability studies to examine two cases that featured disabled women in news media representations that interpellate them as sexual beings: the appearance of Gigi Robinson, an American influencer with chronic illnesses, in the 2022 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and English-language news coverage of Inclov, an Indian matchmaking app for people with disabilities founded in 2016. The findings elucidate how these images both challenged stereotypes associated with people with disabilities in the news media as well as reinforced ableist assumptions about the relationship between disability and sexuality. Ultimately, the coverage of Inclov suggested the potential of effectively integrating images of disabled people into visual imaginings of romantic life, while the framing of the Sports Illustrated photo shoot suggested that disabled bodies must conform to normative notions of sexiness