“Tired of being treated like broken glass to tip-toe around”: Uncovering ableism through PWDs’ voices on social media

Abstract

Despite the implementation of ad hoc equality policies and the positive actions taken by organizations (European Commission, 2021; Council of Europe, 2016, 2017), the living conditions of people with disabilities (PWDs) remain a pressing concern. Discrimination against PWDs endures due to persistent stereotypes and prejudicial attitudes, which prevent them from fully participating in societal activities. Social Media Sites (SMSs) have been identified as active spaces for hate speech online (HSO) (Balirano & Hughes, 2020, 2024; Hughes & Nisco, 2022a; Matamoros-Fernández & Farkas, 2021; Wanniarachchi et al., 2023), as individuals often hide behind fake accounts to spread their derogatory viewpoints. However, these platforms also serve as gathering places where people with similar experiences can share their opinions, feelings, and emotions (Raffone, 2022b). As (digital) disability discourse is still under-researched in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) (Grue, 2011; Raffone, 2022a), this paper, guided by the principles of Corpus Linguistics (CL) (Baker et al., 2008; Baker, 2012a, 2012b), Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) (Fairclough, 1989; Van Dijk, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014), and Social Media Critical Discourse Studies (SM-CDS) (Döveling et al., 2018; KhosraviNik, 2010, 2017, 2020, 2023; KhosraviNik & Unger, 2016; KhosraviNik & Esposito, 2018), will explore PWDs’ digitally-mediated discourse to shed light on the persistence of ableism and how disabled individuals discursively attempt to resist and challenge pre-existing hateful and discriminatory attitudes in social media spaces.