Performing the self: Social identity construction by blind and visually impaired YouTube vloggers.

Abstract

This article investigates how blind and visually impaired (BVI) YouTubers construct and perform their social identities through strategic self-representation. Drawing on Social Identity Theory and Erving Goffman’s performance model, it analyses 60 YouTube channels to examine how disability is negotiated within broader identity constellations, including gender, profession and interest groups. The study finds that BVI identity is thematically foregrounded in most channels, yet rarely in isolation: creators who explicitly centre blindness also display a greater number of salient identity categories and produce more diverse content. Analyses further show significant associations between BVI salience and certain genres, with central-BVI channels more likely to feature lifestyle and entertainment content, thereby ‘normalising’ blindness within mainstream formats. At the same time, vloggers mobilise identity enhancement strategies, such as portraying competence in highly visual domains (beauty, cooking, filmmaking and technology), to challenge ableist expectations and reduce social distance with sighted viewers. These performances are accompanied by selective omissions, with politically charged, socio-economic and intimate topics, indicating careful management of vulnerability and audience appeal. The findings demonstrate that BVI vlogging constitutes a performative, intersectional and inherently advocacy-oriented practice, even when activism is not explicit. The article contributes a nuanced understanding of online disability (self-) representation and offers an analytical framework for future research on identity performance, stigma and digital media practice.