On the ethics of being photographed in research in rural South Africa: views of people with disabilities

Abstract

Disabled people have long been misrepresented through photography and freak shows. A key challenge in the representation of disabled people is not only how to avoid histories of exclusion and hiding, but also to present the lives of people with disabilities in an empathic rather than an othering manner. We asked disabled people from a rural village in South Africa about the potential negative effects and the benefits of having their photographs taken as part of data collection for a large project. All said that they would like to be photographed, but under conditions in which their dignity was not impugned.

Keywords:

• photographs
• representation
• ethics
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Jacqueline Gamble for editorial assistance and Mac MacLachlan for comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by the European Commission Framework Programme 7 project: ‘Enabling Universal and Equitable Access to Healthcare for Vulnerable People in Resource Poor Settings in Africa’ (Grant Agreement No. 223,501). Support was also received from the Department of Science and Technology, South Africa (DST). This work is also based on research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF Grant Number UID 85,423), The Grantholder acknowledges that opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in any publication generated by the European Union (EU), DST and NRF supported research are that of the author(s), and that the EU, DST and NRF accept no liability whatsoever in this regard.

Notes

1. Details of the project may be retrieved from www.equitableproject.org.