Work

Interrogating the ethics of visual methods: A critical disability studies critique of photovoice

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Photovoice is widely regarded as a critical participatory method that promotes social change by centering the visual narratives of marginalized communities. This paper offers a methodological and epistemological critique of photovoice grounded in critical disability studies, examining the ethical tensions that arise from its reliance on visibility as a pathway to recognition and social change. Drawing on the concept of ocularnormativity, we argue that photovoice reproduces dominant hierarchies of knowledge by relying on a postpositivist epistemology that equates visual imagery with legitimacy, and by relying on visual tropes of dysfunction, decay, and debility to signify harm. These tropes rely on disability aesthetics to make oppression legible to a wider audience, but with ethical consequences rarely acknowledged in the literature. Using cripistemology as a guiding framework, we interrogate how photovoice, as a participatory visual method, risks reinscribing ableist ideologies. Rather than simply reform the method, we ask researchers to imagine how cripping photovoice may better align the method with the aims of disability justice. This paper contributes to ongoing conversations about the ethics of representation and accessibility in qualitative research.

Source: Methods in Psychology

DOI: 10.1016/j.metip.2026.100252

Authors: Danielle Kohfeldt, David Bolt, Robert Majzler

Institutions: California State University, Long Beach, Liverpool Hope University, University of California, Santa Cruz

Language: English

Topic: Participatory Visual Research Methods

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,840