Disability activism in the new media ecology: campaigning strategies in the digital era

Abstract

This article examines the changing nature of disability activism through the influence of social media. As disabled people in the United Kingdom have been subjected to acute austerity, this has coincided with a new era of disability activism channelled through increased social media participation. Drawing on the analysis of one group’s online activities and a qualitative content analysis of disability protest coverage in traditional news media during the 2012 Paralympic Games, this article positions this shift in the broader framework of ‘new media ecology’. We explore how emerging structures of disability activism have begun to offer a more visible profile to challenge government policy and negative stereotypes of disabled people. This highlights the usefulness of campaigning strategies for generating favourable news coverage for disability protest.

Keywords:

• disability activism
• Internet
• new media ecology
• Paralympic Games
• welfare reform
• austerity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.