Reframing Disability in Manga by Yoshiko Okuyama (review)

Can manga act as an agent for social change and empower disabled individuals in Japan? In Reframing Disability in Manga, Yoshiko Okuyama explores this question by analyzing fifteen manga that portray D/deaf, blind, and autistic people, as well as individuals with mobility impairments and gender identity disorders. Building on previous scholarship about disability in Japan, such as Karen Nakamura's A Disability of the Soul and Carolyn Stevens's Disability in Japan, Okuyama demonstrates how representations of the daily activities of people with diverse physical and cognitive impairments in manga may serve as a catalyst for changing public perceptions and attitudes toward inclusion, especially among readers who do not regularly interact with disabled individuals and their families¹ Indeed, Okuyama is personally invested in such transformations of consciousness around disability, due in part to her lived experience as a care provider for a family member with a mental health condition.

By interviewing the creators and distributors of manga, Okuyama illustrates how some members of the industry are intentionally (and unintentionally) opening the doors for dialogues about issues faced by disabled individuals: for instance, romantic relationships and environmental accessibility. Okuyama does not claim to provide a comprehensive account of such issues, nor does she suggest that her case studies, which discuss some conditions but exclude others, are anything but subjective. Instead, Okuyama justifies her selection criteria based on available resources and authorial intent to provide an authentic and accurate description of the lives of disabled persons and their families. While constrained in numerous respects, including the conspicuous absence of voices from Japan's disabled communities and other readers who might mobilize the examined manga for social change, as well as limited discussion of the historical context in which those manga were produced, Okuyama's study convincingly argues that the medium may inform future activism and advocacy.

Reframing Disability in Manga is divided into two parts, which are bookended by a critical introduction and conclusion that help clarify its objectives, methods, sources, and scope for readers. Part 1, "Representation of Disability: Past and Present Perspectives," begins by introducing key definitions, terminology, and general theories of disability developed by activists and scholars in global contexts, as well as problems surrounding the media representation of disability in Japan. Part 2, "Reframing Disability in the Imagined World of Manga," then analyzes narrative structures and visual tropes of disability in manga to illustrate how the medium might facilitate social change. In the paragraphs that follow, I briefly walk through each part of Reframing Disability in Manga to highlight its contributions, constraints, and limitations, as well as avenues for additional research.

Okuyama starts by examining the cultural and historical origins of discrimination against disabled persons in Japan to contextualize her arguments about manga and social change. In her words, "revisiting the historical narratives of people with physical or intellectual differences is important because it helps us see not only the attitudinal changes but also the age-old ideas about such differences that are still ingrained in Japanese culture" (p. 5). The bulk of Okuyama's analysis focuses on myths and legends about disability in relation to the Buddhist concept of inga, which she defines as "karma" (p. 6). She asserts that "for centuries, the Buddhist concept of karma has lingered in the Japanese psyche," and "most of the writings by Japanese disability rights activists so far pose inga as the most influential idea leading to prejudice against people with disabilities in modern-day Japanese society" (pp. 6–7). According to Okuyama, such longstanding prejudices against disabled persons have resulted in limited public awareness and understanding of their conditions, often leading to further segregation and exclusion. However, the situation has started to change in recent years, in part because of the expansion of the disability rights movement and popularization of the social model of disability during the 1980s, which have allowed activists to reframe disability in a positive light using manga and other media...