‘Who will clean up the mess?’: reflections on media coverage of a human–guide dog pair in Southeast Asia

Abstract

This article analyses media representations of Lashawn Chan (dog) and Stevens Chan Kum Fai (human), who are considered the first recorded service animal–human team in Malaysia. The article reflects on the pair’s public relationship as an intersectional, multi-framework that is relevant to both disability and animal justice. Following both critical animal and disability studies literature, we read media reports of Lashawn and Stevens’ public encounters. These stories frame the pair as spectacle, threat, and resource. They reveal the influences of cultural and social conventions that utilise guide dogs as advocacy tools, as well as public attitudes towards guide dogs and their users in Malaysian and western contexts. The authors advocate for alternative representations based on interspecies interdependence.

Keywords:

• Critical animal studies
• disability studies
• interspecies interdependence
• guide dogs
• media representation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Beth Haller and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.