Digital Games: Representations of Disability

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Within Media and Screen Studies there is a long tradition of work that focuses on representations of gender, race, class and sexuality in popular media. Representations of disability, however, have rarely received the same degree of attention. Within the field of Game Studies there is literature that discusses disability in terms of accessibility issues, but little or none that considers the cultural politics of disability. The research proposed here will involve the analysis of representations of disability, ability, physical damage and augmentation within horror and science-fiction themed console games. These games will be considered using perspectives drawn from disability theory, and in relation to discourses of disability and ability that circulate in culture more generally. During this research, methods for the analysis of representations in games will be refined and tested. While the focus will be on games as texts, the research will be relevant to future audience and player studies because it is attentive to issues of interpretation, method and context. The manner in which disability itself is conceptualized within and through research practice will be reflected on, and so the work will have relevance to other fields where technology, new media and disability are studied. The aim of this study is to advance the understanding of disability as a cultural construct and a political category within media and digital technology research fields. The research is timely because digital technologies are changing how disability is experienced, and how it is perceived. Yet research in related areas too often relies on medical and clinical models of disability. Such research rarely questions or critiques disability itself. There is a need for humanities-based research that engages with disability as a political category and as a socio-cultural construct (Linton, 1998). The work will be based at the London Knowledge Lab within the Department of Culture, Communications and Media at the Institute of Education, University of London. The research will be supported by a very experienced mentor and an interdisciplinary advisory panel. The panel includes members from various academic disciplines, the games industry and the charity sector. The participation of the mentor and the panel will ensure rigour, impact and quality. The panel will also advise on and support effective dissemination to their respective communities. This early career Fellowship will facilitate career development and allow for the production of a project blog, journal articles, an interdisciplinary workshop, conference papers, a seminar event and a book proposal. The Fellowship will allow me to bring together and build on my previous work in the areas of digital games analysis and methodology, identity and disability. It will provide an opportunity to expand and consolidate my research experience and professional networks, and to further develop my research and publications profile with the support of a mentor, the Institute of Education, and an interdisciplinary advisory panel.