%0 Journal Article %A Purcell-Gates, Laura %A Fisher, Emma %D 2019 %T Puppetry as reinforcement or rupture of cultural perceptions of the disabled body %U https://data.bathspa.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Puppetry_as_reinforcement_or_rupture_of_cultural_perceptions_of_the_disabled_body/7498328 %R 10.17870/bathspa.7498328.v1 %2 https://data.bathspa.ac.uk/ndownloader/files/13893467 %K puppet %K puppetry %K disability %K drama %K theatre %K performance %K Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies %K Drama %K Disability Studies %K Drama, theatre and performance studies %K Welfare, insurance, disability and social security law %X This article proposes puppetry as a practice uniquely situated to intervene in ideological constructions of the disabled body both onstage and off. Examining our current and recent practice-based research that uses puppetry to intervene in cultural perceptions of disability, we put forth a provocation, asking readers to consider the ways in which puppetry practices can be deployed to enable performances by disabled puppeteers as well as in ways that engage with cultural constructions of disability. We suggest that puppets, as bodies that are materially constructed, can both reinforce and rupture such constructions.