Disability & The Ethics of
Listening:
New Models for Media &
Democracy
Gerard Goggin
Journalism & Media Research Centre
University of New South Wales, Sydney
g.goggin@unsw.edu.au; http://jmrc.arts.unsw.edu.au/
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listening
• Beyond voice: listening
• Giving voice, speaking up – but who
listens?
• Modes of listening – relationship to
democracy
• Important role of media in this
• What then of disability & listening?
disability
& ethics of listening
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‘Us’ and ‘them’
Othering
listening with disability
A disabled Mediapolis
The Convention (CRPD) – the ‘Twitter’
treaty?
• Media and disability: the case of
mobiles
People with disabilities are estimated 10-12%
worldwide; and up to 20% in some (global north)
countries (World Bank, 2009; Mont, 2007)
There is an “intricate” link between disability and
poverty, with people with disabilities being “among
the poorest of the poor” (Mont & Loeb, 2008)
‘Globally, women make up three-fourths of the
disabled people in low- and middle- income
countries; between 65% and 70% of those women
live in rural areas.’ USAID Women in Development, 2009
‘Girls and women of all ages with any form of
Disability are generally among the more
vulnerable and marginalized of society’ (‘Further actions and
initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration…’, General Assembly Resolution S23/3, 2000).
... As a person with disability, I daily know
attitudes that attest to an apartheid which knows
no name. The deep dark devastating knowledge …
of being other rather than us, part of the moral
community. Indeed, our experience of being other
needs to be seen in terms of oppression. It is that
oppression which is far more all encompassing
and pervasive than an account of blatant
discrimination. It is that sense of otherness which
daily surrounds and oppresses me, and so many
other people with disabilities and members of
other equity groups. (Christopher Newell, 2006)
Let us suppose that those who believe in
segregation could really have their way. We
will imagine a thousand or more disabled
people, all wheelchair-users, collected
together and settled in their own village
where they had full management and
democratic rights … In the course of the life
of the village the wheelchair-users plan their
lives according to their needs. They design
their own buildings to suit their physical
situation … Soon it becomes standard
practice to build doors to a height of 5 feet
and ceiling or rooms to a height of 7 feet 4
inches. (Victor Finkelstein 1975)
Naturally, one of the first things they
noticed was the heights of the doors
and ceilings. They noticed this directly,
by constantly knocking their heads on
the door lintels … Soon special aids
were designed by the wheelchair-user
doctors and associated professions for
the able-bodied disabled members of
the village. All the able-bodied were
given special toughened helmets
(provided free by the village) to wear at
all times ... (Victor Finkelstein 1975)
It is the year 2010. Judy, a woman in her mid-40s of
Pakeha and Maori descent in a person with a speech
disability compounded by physical impairment … She
found it was difficult to overcome the barriers of limited
thinking regarding communication technology, physical
access and attitudinal stereotypes … As Judy advanced in
politics, her colleagues, in including her, had been
challenged not only in their ways of doing things and
thinking about normality but even in the way in which they
met … They learnt to respect how every time Judy
communicated it was succinct and worth listening to. They
learnt an economy of words … [Judy] has today been
elected to the highest office in New Zealand. (Christopher
Newell, 2004; cf. Newell 2006b)
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f) To undertake or promote research and development of
universally designed goods, services, equipment and
facilities … which should require the minimum possible
adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of
a person with disabilities, to promote their availability and
use, and to promote universal design in the development
of standards and guidelines;
g) To undertake or promote research and development of,
and to promote the availability and use of new
technologies, including information and communications
technologies, mobility aids, devices and assistive
technologies, suitable for persons with disabilities, giving
priority to technologies at an affordable cost;
h) To provide accessible information to persons with
disabilities about mobility aids, devices and assistive
technologies, including new technologies, as well as other
forms of assistance, support services and facilities.
(Article 4, CRPD)
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… States Parties shall take appropriate measures to
ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal
basis with others, to the physical environment, to
transportation, to information and communications,
including information and communications technologies
and systems, and to other facilities and services open or
provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.
(Article 9, clause 1, CRPD)
g) To promote access for persons with disabilities to new
information and communications technologies and
systems, including the Internet;
h) To promote the design, development, production and
distribution of accessible information and communications
technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these
technologies and systems become accessible at minimum
cost. (Article 9, clause 2, CRPD)
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States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to
ensure that persons with disabilities can exercise the right
to freedom of expression and opinion, including the
freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
on an equal basis with others and through all forms of
communication of their choice, as defined in article 2 of
the present Convention, including by:
a) Providing information intended for the general public to
persons with disabilities in accessible formats and
technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in
a timely manner and without additional cost …
d) Encouraging the mass media, including providers of
information through the Internet, to make their services
accessible to persons with disabilities;
e) Recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages.
(Article 22, CRPD)
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Social Programs
Many programs to address disability
through mobiles, esp. ameliorating,
overcoming perceived challenges
• Portable, personal support thro’ mobiles
• Navigation & way finding for people with
cognitive impairments
• Mobiles as memory aids & mobile learning
• Sensing & sensory capability of mobiles
social programs
• Mobiles sit on cusp of many ideas of
disability … health, welfare, aging,
dependence vs. interdependence,
social isolation, literacy, communication
• Are unhelpful (disabling) assumptions
being reproduced thro’ many current
social policy ideas in mobiles?