Re-visioning disability and dyslexia down the camera lens: interpretations of representations on UK university websites and in a UK government guidance paper

Abstract

The focus of this article is to consider visual portrayals and representations of disability. The images selected for analysis came from online university prospectuses as well as a governmental guidance framework on the tuition of dyslexic students. Greater understanding, human rights and cultural change have been characteristic of much UK governmental policy regarding disability, and legislation has potentially strengthened the quest for equality of opportunity. However, publicly available institutional promotional visual material appears to contradict policy messages. To interrogate this contradiction, this article presents a tripartite critique whereby three researchers provide a self-inventory of their backgrounds and theoretical and ontological positioning, before presenting their differing interpretations of visual representations of disability. Following an agreed methodological and analytical framework, they addressed the question: what do visual representations of dyslexia and disability look like and what messages do they convey?

Keywords:

• disability
• dyslexia
• visual representation
• collaborative research