Restricted Access: Media, Disability, and the Politics of Participation

Postmillenial Pop

by Elizabeth Ellcessor

How reconsidering digital media and participatory cultures from the standpoint of disability allows for a full understanding of accessibility

While digital media can offer many opportunities for civic and cultural participation, this technology is not equally easy for everyone to use. Hardware, software, and cultural expectations combine to make some technologies an easier fit for some bodies than for others. A YouTube video without closed captions or a social network site that is incompatible with a screen reader can restrict the access of users who are hard of hearing or visually impaired. Often, people with disabilities require accommodation, assistive technologies, or other forms of aid to make digital media accessible―useable―for them.

Restricted Access investigates digital media accessibility―the processes by which media is made usable by people with particular needs―and argues for the necessity of conceptualizing access in a way that will enable greater participation in all forms of mediated culture. Drawing on disability and cultural studies, Elizabeth Ellcessor uses an interrogatory framework based around issues of regulation, use, content, form, and experience to examine contemporary digital media. Through interviews with policy makers and accessibility professionals, popular culture and archival materials, and an ethnographic study of internet use by people with disabilities, Ellcessor reveals the assumptions that undergird contemporary technologies and participatory cultures. Restricted Access makes the crucial point that if digital media open up opportunities for individuals to create and participate, but that technology only facilitates the participation of those who are already privileged, then its progressive potential remains unrealized. Engagingly written with powerful examples, Ellcessor demonstrates the importance of alternate uses, marginalized voices, and invisible innovations in the context of disability identities to push us to rethink digital media accessibility.

Genres: Disability, Nonfiction, Sociology, Technology

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 29, 2016

Reviews

[Turquoise · Rating 2 out of 5]

The topic of this book is very important and I was very eager to dive in given the dearth of materials on its focus. Unfortunately, the language is more jargon than substance. The author uses a lot of big words to say very little. Additionally, the book tries to do too much (numerous levels of analysis, all touched upon relatively briefly) and thereby leaves the reader wanting so much more about each level examined. It seems like this came out of a dissertation and it is somewhat surprising that the advisor did not suggest a more focused investigation.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I also read this book for a class. While it was interesting I feel like I didn’t learn as much as I wanted to. The book is very detailed and very informative and a good background for starting to learn about accessibility and people with disabilities.