“The conflict of hell and home”: disabled transgender identity formation and community building through social media

Social media is an integral part of everyday life for many people, despite often being vilified within the media and without consideration for the benefit to marginalised communities. Disabled trans people as a doubly marginalised group are often geographically and socially isolated from community, creating a need for virtual connections. This thesis investigates how disabled trans people engage with identity formation and community building through social media, challenging the claims that position social media as inherently problematic or detrimental to wellbeing. Using thematic analysis of diary-interview data with 13 disabled trans (varying gender and disabled identities) individuals aged 21 to 44, I explored prosumption of content on social media. Utilising a queer and crip theory foundation (Butler, 1990; McRuer, 2006), this thesis considers the possibilities and pitfalls afforded through social media engagement for disabled trans people. I argue that rather than being manipulated by large social media platforms, disabled trans people knowingly and strategically engage constantly with online identity negotiation through the siloing of identity and the creation of counterpublics. Identity work on social media highlights how disabled trans identity is brought into being. Disabled trans people have a nuanced understanding of the opportunities provided and the potential risks of social media use and are active in their manipulation of platform functionality. This research disrupts normative positionality of social media as inherently negative and detrimental, rather highlighting the importance in people’s lives. Disabled trans people inhabit a space in-between two identity communities, requiring constant identity negotiation to find support, understanding and community. This research argues that social media use is not universal but rather exist within larger socio-political contexts with highlight the entangled nature of social media use. Disabled trans people engage in innovative resistance practices to create identity formations and community on social media that are not possible offline.