‘You are a parasite on the productive classes’: online disablist hate speech in austere times

Abstract

In response to a climate of austerity, disability has been keyed to a meta-narrative that has a political purpose, to justify extensive welfare cuts by positioning disability as a drain on so-called ‘hard-working taxpayers’. This paper explores how this meta-narrative is articulated on the online bulletin board, Reddit, to show how disablist hate speech may emerge as an attempt to secure one’s sense of self during austere times. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) is employed to reveal these instances and highlights the normalisation of disablist hate speech within the wider context of welfare dependency. Based on these findings, this paper makes recommendations for future research and makes a call for policy change.

Keywords:

• Online hate speech
• disablism
• austerity
• welfare dependency

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr David Bolt for his helpful discussion and comments during the writing of this paper; Dr Claire Penketh for her ongoing support and guidance; and other members of the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University and the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds.