Call for contributions

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Scope of the conference

Disability is estimated to affect approximately 15% of the world's population (WHO and World Bank 2011). Because it substantially alters the global economic and social development (Albrecht 2014), the issue of disability cannot be separated from an in-depth understanding of the consumption practices and experiences of individuals, regardless of the nature of their impairment.

A significant part of the sociological, anthropological, historical and philosophical work on disability published since the 1970s falls within the field of disability studies (e.g. Winance 2016). This interdisciplinary field of research "challenges the popular view that disability equates with human failing" (Goodley 2017: xi). This prolific field of research gives rise to eclectic and critical work with strong theoretical contributions.

A major paradigm shift has been the transition from the individual to the social model of disability. While the former attributes the occurrence of disability to the individual's physical/bodily impairment, the latter considers that disability results from "society's failure to provide appropriate services and adequately ensure [that] the needs of disabled people are fully taken into account in its social organization" (Oliver 1996: 32). However, the social model of disability is in turn subject to strong criticism because of its insufficient consideration of the impairment and its subjective experience (e.g. Anastasiou and Kauffman 2013; Shakespeare and Watson 2001). According to Feely (2016: 863), adopting an assemblage-based perspective would offer a nuanced view of disability by considering it "as a material phenomenon without a return to essentialism."

For their part, scholars in marketing and consumer behavior have, for several decades, focused on the consumption of people with disabilities. As such, the existing literature mainly deciphers the barriers to access inherent in commercial environments. It also focuses on the contribution of existing legislative frameworks to improving the living environment of consumers with disabilities (e.g. Kaufman-Scarborough and Baker 2005; Yu, Tullio-Pow and Akhtar 2015). Despite its notable contributions, this work often remains relatively descriptive (Nau, Derbaix and Thevenot 2016) and mostly portrays these consumers as vulnerable individuals (Beudaert 2020). Furthermore, the material environment in which consumers evolve appears to be a source of vulnerability, but the duration of the situation of vulnerability, its dynamic/static character as well as the possibility of overcoming it remain little addressed to date (Pavia and Mason 2014).

On the basis of these different observations, how can research linking disability and consumption enrich, or even go beyond, the usual perspective based on the social model of disability? What are the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that can increase our understanding of the consumption of individuals with disabilities? These are the questions pursued by this "Second Interdisciplinary Conference on Disability and Consumption." Given its interdisciplinary nature, this conference is open to all epistemological and methodological approaches.

Submissions addressing other levels of analysis than the final consumer and coming from other sub-disciplines of management than marketing and consumer behavior (e.g. innovation management, human resources management, corporate strategy) are particularly welcome, provided that they help shed light on consumption phenomena related to disability. Work submitted may address a variety of impairments, including—to name but a few—motor, sensory, cognitive, mental, neurodegenerative and aging-related disorders. As an indication, and without being an exhaustive list, the following themes can be addressed:

• Consumption as a space of emancipation vs. vulnerability for consumers with disabilities

• Advocacy, activism, and changemaking in markets and policy

• Ableist/crip approaches to disability and the way they are shaped, perpetuated and deconstructed through individuals’ interactions with the marketplace

• Representations of disability in cultural works/computer-mediated communication on disability (e.g. disability memes, depiction of disability in mass media)

• Inclusive tourism and access for tourists with disabilities

• Service captivity, benevolence and consumers’ interactions with frontline staff

• Disability, online shopping and digitalization

• Intersectionality, disability and consumption

• Disability across the consumer journey or life trajectory

• Global marketplaces and the geographies of disability

• Care relationships and support for people with disabilities

• Embodied experience of impairment and related sensations

• Appropriation, bricolage and disability

• Design and ergonomic solutions for people with disabilities

• Visible vs. invisible impairments

• Ethical aspects of research dedicated to consumers with disabilities

• Disability-related research methods (e.g. caregivers’ role during the interview, participatory approaches, challenges raised by communication difficulties)

Submission guidelines

The submission period is now closed.

References

- Albrecht G. L. (2014). Préface. In I. Ville, E. Fillion, and J.-F. Ravaud (eds), Introduction à la sociologie du handicap : histoire, politiques et expérience (pp. 9–13). Bruxelles: De Boeck.
- Anastasiou D. and Kauffman J. M. (2013). The social model of disability: dichotomy between impairment and disability. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 38(4), 441-459.
- Beudaert A. (2020). Towards an embodied understanding of consumers with disabilities: insights from the field of disability studies. Consumption, Markets & Culture, 23(4), 361-375.
- Feely M. (2016). Disability studies after the ontological turn: a return to the material world and material bodies without a return to essentialism. Disability & Society, 31(7), 863–883.
- Goodley D. (2017). Disability studies: an interdisciplinary introduction. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
- Kaufman-Scarborough C. and Baker S. M. (2005). Do people with disabilities believe the ADA has served their consumer interests? Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39(1), 1-26.
- Nau J.P., Derbaix C. and Thevenot G. (2016). Market offers and the construction of a stigmatised identity: insights from the case of motor-disabled persons. Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 31(4), 47-64.
- Oliver M. (1996). Understanding disability: from theory to practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Pavia T.M. and Mason M.J. (2014). Vulnerability and physical, cognitive, and behavioral impairment: model extensions and open questions. Journal of Macromarketing, 34(4), 471-485.
- Shakespeare T. and Watson N. (2001). The social model of disability: an outdated ideology? In B. M. Altman and S. N. Barnartt (eds), Research in social science and disability: exploring theories and expanding methodologies (Vol. 2, pp. 9–28). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
- WHO and World Bank (2011). World Report on Disability. World Health Organisation.
- Winance M. (2016). Rethinking disability: lessons from the past, questions for the future. Contributions and limits of the social model, the sociology of science and technology, and the ethics of care. ALTER. European Journal of Disability Research, 10(2), 99-110.
- Yu H., Tullio-Pow S. and Akhtar, A. (2015). Retail design and the visually impaired: a needs assessment. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 24, 121–129.