Body image, identity and disability

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Body image, identity and disability
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Objectives of the lecture

• Give evidence based review of literature
• Assess the pros and cons of todays ideal body
  image
• Make students more aware of their own personal
  responses to their own body image and that of
  other people

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Social construction of the desired body

• Media,
• Fashion,
• Modelling

Has society created unrealistic physical
expectations? Where does disability fit?
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Exercise 1How do you perceive your own body?

• Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite
  your own teeth.
• Alan Watts (1961)
• Do you contradict yourself in your own thoughts?
• Society exists only as a mental concept in the
  real world there are only individuals.
• Charley Reese (b.1937)

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Society todaywhat is normal morphology?

• Over 7 million women worldwide suffer from
  disorders linked to body image e.g. anorexia,
  bulimia, and BDD (body dismorphic disorder)
• Men are amongst the fastest growing group of
  sufferers (body builders have low self esteem,
  Blouin Goldfield, 1995)
• What are the effects of living with a physical
  disability in todays society?

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Body Image

• An evaluation of body size, weight or any other
  aspect of the body that determines physical
  appearance (Thompson, 1990)
• bridges the mind-body dichotomy

PERCEPTION
RESPONSE
INTERPRETATION
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• Inter-related Variables
• eating, exercise,
• body image

• social pressure, media images, competitiveness

• education, treatment, peers

identity
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Physical disability

• Seen vs unseen
• Extent of restraint
• Independence vs dependence

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Body image and psychology

• Health and illness (e.g. effects on body image
  have been found with women suffering breast
  cancer)
• Amputation and physical disability
• Ageing processes
• etc

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IDENTITY

• Social stigma (Goffman, 1963)
• Internalisation (Thompson Haran, 1984)
• Self concept (Taleporos McCabe, 2002)

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Exercise 2How do you describe your own identity?

• I bid him look into the lives of men as though
  into a mirror, and from others to take an example
  for himself (Adelphoe)

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SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

• His or her display or ascription to, membership
  of some feature-rich category (Antaki
  Widdicombe, 1998)
• Social / personal identity polarisation?
• Membership attributes
• Time / place / external effects (e.g. familial
  disruption)
• So is identity how we organise and construct our
  world? (Sacks, 1960)

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• Interplay social context of a personal world
• The two cannot be defined completely separately
• Identity is in a state of flux
• Research social situations and situational
  analysis
• Talk is always action performative (Edwards,
  1998)

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Body image, identity, and disability the research

• Acquired disability focus denial, coping and
  acceptance mechanisms, stages of adjustment are
  not sequential nor the same for all
• Physical disablement can cause unrelenting
  tension (Laurence, 1991)
• Research fails to include those born with a
  disability or those with degenerative conditions

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Examples of research

• Wolman et al. (1994)
• 3000 adolescents survey examining body image
• Findings those with physical disability,
  especially those with chronic conditions, scored
  lower on body image subscales
• Failed to take account of seen/unseen, extent of
  restriction, etc.

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Quantitative findings discussed

• Not all research finds a significant difference
  between the body image and self esteem of
  disabled/non-disabled (Nelson Gruver, 1978)
• Does a measure of self esteem really tell us
  enough.???

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Qualitative research of body image and disability

• Taleporos and McCabe, 2002
• 7 individuals with severe mobility problems
• In-depth interviews
• Three themes emerged internalisation of ve
  attitudes bodily acceptance over time and
  mediating factors in the altered body

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My own research

• 19 students with physical disabilities were
  interviewed (in-depth and exploratory)
• Themes
• rejection of the label
• Individuality and treatment
• Timeline of disability
• Restraint
• Otherness and Internalisation
• Pain
• Coping and acceptance
• Positives

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Discussion of my research

• Within group differences were more prominent,
  theory of otherness not adequate
• Recognition of stigmatisation
• Conceptualisations formed through the interview
• Presents a far more complex picture regarding
  body image, where we see an interplay between
  social experience, identity and
  conceptualisations of disability

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From conclusions to future research

• My research suggests that we need to be aware of
  conceptualisations of disability prior to
  examination of an individuals body image
• Complex interplay of variables
• Further research needs to specify condition,
  extent of disability, etc.

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Society - research continuum

• New identities needed for disabled people
• Less social stigmatisation
• Research which illustrates a balanced view of
  disability and promotes disability awareness in
  society

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Food for thought

• What sort of research designs would your employ
  with regards to disability research? (body image/
  identity)
• What variables would you need to consider?
• How would you disseminate your findings?