Iranian Women with Disabilities: Self-representation on Instagram

Garousi, Saeideh; Saeedi, Mohsen; Banshosseinpour, Aida

doi:10.22034/jss.2025.2041649.1861

Iranian Women with Disabilities: Self-representation on Instagram

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Saeideh Garousi ¹

Mohsen Saeedi ²

Aida Banshosseinpour ²

¹ Faculty Member, Department of Social Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

² Ph.D. Student in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman.

https://doi.org/10.22034/jss.2025.2041649.1861

Abstract

Instagram, as a social networking platform, plays an important role in self-representation. People with disabilities can use Instagram to represent themselves and reduce social stigma. This study aims to understand how disabled women represent themselves on Instagram. This study is based on Goffman's theory on managing social influence and stigma and a post-feminist perspective, and uses a qualitative content analysis method. The images and captions of Instagram posts of sixteen Iranian disabled women who were active on Instagram were analyzed. The results showed that disabled women use images with the content of grooming, presence, and activity outside the home, kindness, and love to manage the influence and reduce the stigma of disability. The content of the captions focuses more on their relationship with the world (others, God, nature, and objects), and the least emphasis is placed on the nature of the world. In introducing themselves, themes related to power, empowerment, strength, and happiness are repeated. Bloggers use a combination of images and text to convey the message "a disabled woman is not incapable."

Keywords

Disabled women

bloggers

digital self

impact management

social stigma

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