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Regular version of the site

Dis/abling public sphere: transformation of public discourse around disability in today's Russia

On the 27th January 2021 Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova and Olga Verbilovich have presented a paper on "Dis/abling public sphere: transformation of public discourse around disability in today's Russia".

The report examined the processes of transformation of models of public discussion about disability in recent decades. Traditional gatekeepers - the state and state-affiliated organizations - are giving way to new actors and spaces of public expression. Among these actors, grassroots associations and representatives of communities of people with disabilities, parental self-support groups, fundraisers, performative spaces of artistic expression, popular bloggers in social media are gaining greater visibility and public support. The speakers suggested to use the theoretical typology of public sphere models (Ferree, Gamson, Gerhards, Rucht, 2002), referring to empirical evidence from open sources and data from interviews with activists with disabilities, journalists, representatives of public organizations, performative theoretical typology in research on disability in the post-Soviet public sphere. The discussants Evgenia Nim, Elena Pronkina pointed to the need to update the theoretical framework of the study, since the mediatization of the public sphere dictates new perspectives for its analysis, the concept of the "post-public sphere" appears, and it is necessary to more clearly trace the relevance of empirical materials and their correlation with theoretical models. In addition, it is important to touch upon the aspects of the digital divide, because technology, on the one hand, is changing publicity, and on the other hand, these changes do not affect all potential actors with disabilities.