[Commlist] CFPs — Disability at ICA’26

We are an international group of disability communication and media 
scholars who have been active at the International Communication 
Association (ICA). To find out more about our work, 
visitwww.icadisability.com <http://www.icadisability.com/>. We are 
hoping to organize panels around disability, communication, and media 
for the ICA 2026 conference, which will be held in Cape Town from 4–8 
June 2026. The main theme of the 2026 conference isCommunication and 
Inequalities in Context. For more information on the conference and the 
theme, see:https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA26-theme 
<https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA26-theme>

More broadly, we hope to galvanize interest in disability, 
communication, and media at ICA. We are planning to submit various 
panels to divisions/interest groups at ICA and have tentatively invited 
disability scholars to chair them. This is part of a larger move to 
organize and center disability at ICA. We are building upon our efforts 
last year at ICA 2025, where we organized four panels spotlighting 
disability, communication, and media research (as well as other earlier 
efforts).

We welcome submissions from postgraduates, early-career, emerging, and 
established scholars, activists, or practitioners that:

  *
    Take on a critical disability studies lens, one which centers
    disability as a generative form of knowledge and/or identity.
  *
    Submissions should consider both the specific ICA division/interest
    group’s call and the main conference theme.
  *
    See below for more details on the various ICA divisions/IGs targeted
    (and requirements)


Do consider sending in a submission for consideration by10 October 2025 
(Anywhere on Earth)(toicadisability /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(icadisability /at/ gmail.com)>.

If accepted, we will put up your submissions as a panel to the 
respective division/IG for consideration.

We endeavour to get back to you regarding acceptance to our panel 
submissions by 22 October 2025.

Please also note the following:

  *
    Your submission should indicate the specific CFP that you are
    interested in.
  *
    We need to balance diversity in the panels (as defined by ICA), so
    please do indicate any relevant information in your author bios.
  *
    All presentations should ideally be made in person. However, per ICA
    policy, limited exceptions may be made for disability
    accommodations. If you would like to request specific disability
    accommodation to present virtually, please indicate this in your
    submission to us.


We are also happy to discuss ideas, so feel free to reach out.

Any questions should be directed (toicadisability /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(icadisability /at/ gmail.com)>.


CFP 1: Activism, Communication, and Social Justice

Proposed Panel Chairs: Abdul Rohman (RMIT Vietnam) and Filippo Trevisan 
(American U)

In this panel, we are keen to explore how media (especially digital 
forms) is leveraged for disability activism and justice. Submissions may 
address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  *
    Discrimination, exclusion, and inequalities in media platforms used
    for disability activism
  *
    Inequalities within and across disability activisms
  *
    Disability activism addressing inequalities
  *
    Disability activism in the Global South


If interested, please submit:

  *
    Title and 150-word abstract for your paper
  *
    100-word bio for each author, touching on your qualifications
    regarding the proposed topic
  *
    For more info, see: https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ACSJ_CFP
    <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ACSJ_CFP>


CFP 2: Children, Adolescents, and the Media

Proposed Panel Chair: Chelsea Temple Jones (Brock U)

In this panel, we are keen to explore all media and technologies aimed 
at and/or used by or representing young disabled people (generally birth 
through late teens), as well as the contextual issues surrounding this 
selection and use. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the 
following topics:

  *
    Disability discrimination, exclusion, and inequalities in media and
    technologies used by young people
  *
    Young disabled people’s media use in the Global South


If interested, please submit:

  *
    Title and 150-word abstract for your paper
  *
    100-word bio for each author, including your names, ranks,
    affiliations, and contact information
  *
    For more info, see: https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/CAM_CFP
    <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/CAM_CFP>


CFP 3: Communication & Technology, Digital inclusion and technology in 
the home

Proposed Panel Chair: Jenny Kennedy (RMIT U)

In this panel, we are keen to explore questions of digital inclusion, 
specifically focusing on technology in the home, disability, and 
inequality. We also encourage intersectional research across disability, 
gender, race, age, and geographies.

Please note that submissions to CAT should focus on ICTs in the context 
of human communication: communicative interaction with or through 
technology.

If interested, please submit:

  *
    Title and 75-word abstract for your paper
  *
    100-word bio for each author
  *
    For more info, see: https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/CAT_CFP
    <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/CAT_CFP>


CFP 4: Disability in Popular Media and Culture

Proposed Panel Chair: Beth Haller (Towson U)

In this panel, we are keen to consider disability and inequality within 
popular media and culture (including acts, artifacts, products, and 
processes). Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the 
following topics:

  *
    Disability discrimination, exclusion, and inequalities in popular
    media and culture
  *
    Disability resistance in popular media and culture
  *
    Disability in popular media and culture in the Global South


If interested, please submit:

  *
    Title and 150-word abstract for your paper
  *
    100-word bio for each author, including your background and
    qualifications regarding the proposed topic
  *
    For more info, see: https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/PMC_CFP
    <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/PMC_CFP>


CFP 5: Visual Communication, Disability embodiment in the media

Proposed Panel Chair: Samira Rajabi (U of Colorado Boulder)

In this panel, we are keen to explore disability embodiment and identity 
in all visual forms: television, video, film, photography, art and 
design, print and digital media, space, and the built environment. We 
especially encourage submissions on disability embodiment in 
visualisations of sports and fitness. Submissions may address, but are 
not limited to, the following topics:

  *
    Inequalities across visual aspects of disability embodiment
  *
    Disparities in certain visual modes and research methods in relation
    to disability


If interested, please submit:

  *
    Title and 250–400 word abstract for your paper
  *
    100-word bio for each author
  *
    For more info, see: https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/VISUAL_CFP
    <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/VISUAL_CFP>


CFP 6: Health Communication in Popular Media

Proposed Panel Chair: Katie Ellis (Curtin U)

In this panel, we are keen to consider how disability and health is 
communicated, represented, and received within all forms of popular 
media and culture.

  *
    Title and 150-word abstract for your paper
  *
    100-word bio for each author
  *
    For more info, see: https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/HEALTH_CFP
    <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/HEALTH_CFP>


ICA 2026 Theme: Communication and Inequalities in Context

The ICA 2026 conference theme invites critical reflection on the 
dynamics between communication and inequality and its tensions across 
different social, cultural and geographical backgrounds. As such, it is 
a call to engage with research exploring the deep divisions and existing 
interpersonal, institutional, and structural inequalities in our societies.

In a world shaped by the unequal distribution of political, economic, 
societal, cultural, and communication resources, considering the complex 
architecture of global inequalities remains a critical issue. 
Communication scholars have long recognized how structural divides shape 
all communication processes, from persistent barriers rooted in 
historical inequities to emerging forms of digital exclusion and 
fragmentation. Today, as disinformation, extremism, polarization, hate, 
oppression, and algorithmic discrimination pose global challenges, the 
specific contexts in which people encounter these phenomena—including 
political institutions, media systems, regulatory capacity, and social 
norms—may fundamentally shape their lived experiences. Thus, it becomes 
crucial to examine how and under what conditions these forces unevenly 
affect different communities and individuals across multiple domains of 
life and in various geographical and cultural settings. For example, 
communication barriers may impact disaster preparedness and response in 
vulnerable individuals; the increasing complexity of digital literacy 
requirements constitutes a significant threat to inclusion, and global 
internet governance and infrastructure decisions create and amplify 
disparities between and within different nations and communities.

Such inequalities and power dynamics are also expressed within/across 
communication research. From gender gaps in publications and language 
barriers for scholars from non-English-speaking countries to the 
invisibility of knowledge produced in the Global South and calls to 
de-Westernize communication research, several divides in communication 
in terms of the subject of study, the body of evidence, analytical 
frameworks, and academic cultures limits our ability to gain insights 
relevant to the current global social and political condition.


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