File(s) not publicly available
Uniting the nation? Disability, stem cells, and the Australian media
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 15:33 authored by Goggin, G, Newell, CJIn this article, the 2002 Australian debate regarding embryonic stem cells is examined. This shows the importance of an analysis of the media to understanding how disability is constructed in discourses of nationhood and biotechnology. Media representation of disability - for instance, signifying disability as catastrophe - is seen as crucial in securing access to a variety of biotechnologies, such as embryonic stem cells. Analysis of such media moments shows a structure of privileged and excluded voices in debates regarding disability and biotechnology. The diversity of voices in the Australian community regarding disability is not represented in a range of media, nor are people with disability quoted as experts on disability. A recognition of the media's construction of disability must be matched by a commitment to disability as part of a truly civil society. It is only in this way that we will have biotechnologies, and diverse cultural and media representations that meet the requirements of the international disability rights movement motto of 'nothing about us without us', recently emphasized in the Disabled Peoples' International Europe's 2000 statement on biotechnology.
History
Publication title
Disability & SocietyVolume
19Pagination
47-60ISSN
0968-7599Department/School
Tasmanian School of MedicinePublisher
RoutledgePlace of publication
United KingdomRepository Status
- Restricted