Struggles online over the meaning of ‘Down’s syndrome’: A ‘dialogic’ interpretation

Cimini, Nicholas

Abstract

Bakhtin’s suggestion that a unified truth demands a ‘multiplicity of consciousnesses’ seems particularly relevant in the ‘globally connected age’. At a time when the DIY/‘punk ethic’ seems to prevail online, and Wikipedia and blogging means that anyone with access to the Internet can enter into public deliberation, it is worth considering the potential for mass communication systems to create meaningful changes in the way that ‘disability’ is theorized. Based on the findings of qualitative research, this study explores competing interpretations of disability, specifically dialogue online over the meaning of Down’s syndrome, from the vantage point of an approach towards language analysis that emanates from the work of the Bakhtin Circle. It will be shown that, suitably revised and supplemented, elements of Bakhtinian theory provide powerful tools for understanding online relations and changes in the notion of disability. It will also be shown that, while activists in the disabled people’s movement have managed to effect modest changes to the way that disability is theorized, both online and in the ‘real world’, there remains a great deal still to be achieved. This study allows us to understand better the social struggles faced by disabled people and the opportunities open to them.

Citation

Cimini, N. (2010). Struggles online over the meaning of ‘Down’s syndrome’: A ‘dialogic’ interpretation. Health, 14(4), 398-414. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459309358598

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 5, 2010
• Publication Date: 2010-07
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2019
• Journal: Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine
• Print ISSN: 1363-4593
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 398-414
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459309358598
• Keywords: Health(social science)
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1799669