Enabling and Disabling representations

This chapter explores the continuum of Enabling and Disabling representations in the Visual Discourses of Disability (ViDD) framework, with a focus on the emotive dimension and the construal of power in discourse. It argues that visual rhetoric and editorial decisions on news values through composition, activity type and affective cues can shape how disability is perceived and how disabled subjects are socially positioned. Emotive elements influence whether viewers read an image as empowering or marginalizing, depending on the interpersonal meanings evoked. By analyzing how visual texts use emotion to construct perspectives on disability, the chapter highlights the role of affect as a powerful semiotic resource that can either challenge or reinforce dominant stereotypes in visual culture.