Abstract

This article takes a feminist disability studies approach to the analysis of the responses of women with visual impairments to representations of blindness, disability, and gender in advertising. Empirical data gathered via semi-structured interviews with women who are visually impaired (N = 5) enhances existing understandings of oppressed audiences’ polysemic interpretations of advertisements. The research findings reveal participants’ subversion of stereotypical approaches to visual impairments, ocularcentrism, and gendered constructions of blindness, which are found in advertisements (N = 3) produced post-2000 in the United Kingdom and United States. Participants highlighted subtle stereotyping in advertisements through exploring the intersecting nature of disability and gender identities. Advertisements were used by participants as prompts for reasserting their affirmative senses of self and as a means of critiquing sociocultural attitudes toward women with visual impairments. Recommendations for future research and practice in relation to advertising polysemy and the representation of disabled women in advertising are provided.

摘要

本文采用女性主义残疾研究方法来分析视觉障碍女性对广告中失明、残疾和性别的表现的反应。通过对视障女性（ N = 5）的半结构化访谈收集的经验数据 增强了对受压迫受众对广告的多义解释的现有理解。研究结果揭示了参与者颠覆了在广告中发现的视觉障碍、眼中心主义和失明的性别结构的陈规定型方法（N = 3) 2000 年后在英国和美国生产。参与者通过探索残疾和性别认同的交叉性质，强调了广告中微妙的刻板印象。参与者使用广告作为提示，以重申他们对自我的肯定感，并作为批评社会文化对视力障碍女性的态度的一种手段。提供了有关广告多义性和残疾妇女在广告中的代表的未来研究和实践的建议。