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Part of
Disability in Dialogue
Edited by Jessica M.F. Hughes and Mariaelena Bartesaghi
[Dialogue Studies 33] 2023
► pp. 170–198

“My existence is resistance!”

Visible survival as crip resistance

 | Edge – Gundersen Health System
Scholars of social movements have been critical of social media activism. Taking a dialogic stance, where I examine narratives as tensional interactional dynamics within Big-C conversations, or discourses, I argue that traditional resistance tactics (such as in-person demonstrations and protests, like marching, rallies, pickets, sit-ins, riots, boycotts, some actions of civil disobedience) are not often available for those who experience intersectional invisibility as speakers who perform the identity strategies of activist spaces. As such, those who are disenfranchised and wish to engage in activism must reconceptualize traditional notions of resistance to better participate. This paper examines a group of queer disabled activists who reject traditional notions of activism as ableist, heterosexist, and racist. I analyze how they utilize the social media platform Tumblr as a site of engagement through disability centered dialogue as a form of accessible resistance.
Keywords: disability, dialogue, queer, LGBTQ+, resistance, activism, social media
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework and previous literature
    • 2.1Intersectionality and Intersectional Invisibility
    • 2.2Social media activism
      • 2.2.1Slacktivism and hashtag activism
      • 2.2.2Evaluating social media activism
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Data collection
  • 5.Analysis
  • 6.“Talking back” to marginalization
    • 6.1Intersectional invisibility
    • 6.2Exclusionary “safe spaces” are not safe
    • 6.3Re-conceptualizing existence as resistance
    • 6.4Self-and community-care as a strategy for visible survival
  • 7.Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 September 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.33.08egn
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