Stamped allegories of disability: representations of the disabled body on postage stamps

Abstract

This study examines the representations of the disabled body by unpicking the messages transferred through the artistic illustrations of disability found in 250 postage stamps. The theoretical framework employed derives from cultural, critical and feminist disability studies, while the tripartite model of disability served as a critical framework to the analysis of the representations of the disabled body. The first-level coding led in the classification of postage stamps into eight categories according to the impairment. The second-level coding involved visual semiotic analysis for an in-depth cross-categorical analysis with emphasis on the representation of the disabled body on a number of selected stamps and is presented in two main sections: (i) the disabled body as the impaired body and (ii) the disabled body among other bodies. Such research is useful for disability studies and its interdisciplinary directions that seek to challenge dominant oppressive representations and rhetoric around the disabled body.