Mission

Our focus in this project is to conduct an analysis on reality television shows that emphasize the rehabilitation of citizen subjects suffering from addiction or have an appearance that is considered not attractive within mainstream constructions of beauty. We aim to utilize a disabilities studies and queer studies framework to analyze the intersections of shows that strive to normalize individuals that are depicted to exist outside of a normative, productive, able-bodied ideal. As “Americans often perceive disability – and therefore people with disabilities – as embodying that which Americans fear most: loss of independence, of autonomy, of control; in other words, subjection to fate,” we aim to situate this fear within a discourse of voyeuristic rehabilitative reality television (Longmore 7).