Falling in love with a wheelchair. Enabling/disabling technologies

Abstract

Abstract in UndeterminedThe aim of this article is to explore how young women with physical impairments make use of technology in their identity construction, drawing on the metaphor of the cyborg as well as on science and technology studies and disability research. In addition to participant observation, semi-structural interviews were conducted and video diaries were kept of the women playing sledge hockey, wheelchair basketball, or table tennis. The informants included their wheelchairs in constructing their identities as young women and active subjects. In talking about pleasure and strength, they opposed the discourse that characterises disabled people as leading empty, tragic lives. They challenge stereotypical notions of gender in sport by displaying determination, strength, and risk-taking, while embodying a more traditional femininity when resisting the widespread view of disabled women as non-gendered and asexual

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