Examining (in)visible disability in an obesity-prevention Instagram campaign

Presented by Stephanie Mantilla; co-author: Associate Professor Jennifer Smith-Merry

Presentation for Digital Health Week 2021

…people with disabilities are over-represented in many target populations [of public health campaigns] … yet their presence in these target groups is not recognized nor accommodated.

—(Krahn et al., 2015, p. 204)

Sample size across the Girls Make Your Move Campaign:

  • 1,214 image-based posts

  • 1,257 images

    • Results
    The healthy disabled

    When I speak of people who are "healthy disabled," I mean people whose physical conditions and functional limitations are relatively stable and predictable for the foreseeable future.

    —Susan Wendell (2001, p. 19)
    The unhealthy disabled
    The 70 posts that visually represented females with disability either represented: healthy visible disability or healthy invisible disability. E.g. Izzy appeared in 9 image-based posts.
    16 posts framing unhealthy invisible disability as a condition to avoid.
    The complicated relationship between unhealthy invisible disability & exercise.

    The study also points to the problematic way the healthy body is positioned against the invisibly disabled body. It would be more productive if we had conversations that engaged in the discourses between healthy and unhealthy invisible disability and exercise.

    Post sources: @how.u.feeling and @rea.strawhill