Digital Games: Representations of Disability

在媒体和屏幕研究中，有一个悠久的传统，即关注大众媒体中性别、种族、阶级和性的表现。然而，关于残疾的陈述很少得到同样程度的注意。在游戏研究领域中，有一些文献从无障碍问题的角度来讨论残疾，但很少或根本没有考虑到残疾的文化政治。本文提出的研究将包括分析恐怖和科幻主题主机游戏中的残疾、能力、物理损伤和增强的表征。这些游戏将从残疾理论的角度来考虑，并与在文化中更普遍流传的残疾和能力的话语有关。在这项研究中，分析游戏表征的方法将得到完善和测试。虽然重点将放在作为文本的游戏上，但这项研究将与未来的用户和玩家研究相关，因为它关注的是解释、方法和背景等问题。在研究实践中，残疾本身被概念化的方式将被反映出来，因此这项工作将与其他研究技术、新媒体和残疾的领域相关。本研究旨在促进媒体与数位科技研究领域对残障作为一种文化建构与政治范畴的理解。这项研究是及时的，因为数字技术正在改变人们对残疾的体验和认知。然而，相关领域的研究往往依赖于残疾的医学和临床模型。这类研究很少质疑或批评残疾本身。有必要进行以人文学科为基础的研究，将残疾作为一种政治范畴和社会文化结构进行研究（Linton, 1998）。这项工作将在伦敦大学教育学院文化、传播和媒体系的伦敦知识实验室进行。这项研究将由一位经验丰富的导师和一个跨学科咨询小组提供支持。该小组包括来自不同学科、游戏行业和慈善机构的成员。导师和小组的参与将确保严谨性、影响力和质量。该小组还将就向各自社区进行有效宣传提供咨询意见和支持。这项早期职业研究金将促进职业发展，并允许编写项目博客、期刊文章、跨学科讲习班、会议论文、研讨会活动和出书建议。该奖学金将使我能够整合并构建我之前在数字游戏分析和方法论，身份和残疾领域的工作。它将提供一个机会，以扩大和巩固我的研究经验和专业网络，并进一步发展我的研究和出版物在导师的支持下，教育研究所和一个跨学科的咨询小组。

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.