Exploring Disability through Phenomenology: Analysing M.T. Anderson's Feed and Frances Itani's The Deafening

Abstract

This article explores aspects of disability in M.T. Anderson's Feed and Frances Itani's The Deafening through the mechanics of the Phenomenological Theory. The phenomenological approach is defined by a focus on lived experience and subjectivity, with particular attention to how each constructs meaning from their knowledge of disability. In Feed, the characters are cognitively disabled because of a technological impairment in the form of a brain implant that regulates their thoughts, wants, and feelings for them, stripping them of their autonomy and agency. The analysis focuses on how structural aspects of the societal technological systems contribute to this condition of mental disability. In contrast, The Deafening depicts deafness as a socially invalidating disability, such that Grania's situated being was influenced by society's inability to improve access to communication, resulting in her social isolation. Both these works reveal that disability is not a straightforward biological fact; it is a socially reproduced, corporeal experience established through the mediation of external actors. This paper demonstrates the application of phenomenology to the theorisation of disability, examining the factors through which disability is lived and internalised by people in different societal contexts. Therefore, it presents phenomenology as a potentially important avenue for disability studies, as it offers a way to theorise disability.