The Language of Disability

As an interdisciplinary field of study, Disability Studies explores concepts of disability from many perspectives, seeking to identify social, cultural, historical, political, and economic factors that influence how disability is conceptualized and how people respond to it. This inquiry also involves examining the words and symbols that are commonly used to describe disability, and rhetorical methods are well suited to such an analysis. For those who may be interested in contributing to the discourse in this way, I'm reposting a call for papers addressing the topic of disability and rhetoric:


Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Disability Studies Quarterly: Disability and Rhetoric

The profound insight of Disability Studies is its conception of disability as a representational system rather than as a medical problem, a deficit, or a personal tragedy (Thomson, 1997). In this view, disability is regarded not as a settled physical or cognitive fact but rather as a discourse, a collection of figures and narratives, tropes and topoi, speakers and audiences that suggest identities and positions in the world to those participating in the discourse. The analysis of disability, then, necessarily goes beyond medical and psychological perspectives to consider how words and other symbols may be used, recalling Kenneth Burke (1969), by human agents, “to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents” (41). Disability, to say it another way, is inherently rhetorical and may best be understood through methods of rhetorical inquiry and analysis.

To that end, a special issue of the Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) will address the topic of rhetoric and disability. While Disability Studies has revealed the essentially discursive nature of disability, rhetorical theory and analysis promise to further the discussion by contributing a unique set of methods, terms, and concepts. Rhetorical method is a particularly important concern, and we are especially interested in essays that illustrate diverse methods and modes of rhetorical analysis as these relate to disability. Essays may analyze the workings of rhetoric in printed works about disability but also in other media, including film, music, web-texts, graphic novels, and other forms of sound and image.

We define “disability” broadly to include physical, cognitive, and intellectual difference. The ideal essays will enrich understandings of the relationship of rhetoric and disability, but will also serve as models for future scholarship in studies of symbolic representations of disability. Potential issues or topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:


- Disability as, in, or and rhetoric
- Disability and or as trope
- Disability rhetorics in the media
- Disability rhetorics in the classroom, workplace, or home
- Disability rhetorics and narrative
- Disability and digital rhetorics
- Activism and rhetoric
- Disability and audience
- Disability and rhetorical appeals, the rhetorical canons, and/or the rhetorical triangle
- Disability and legal/governmental rhetorics
- Rhetorics of accessibility
- Rhetorical constructions of disabled identity

Timeline
Queries or abstracts sent by February 1, 2010
Full submissions due July 1, 2010
Final revisions due November 31, 2010
Publication in the Winter 2011 issue of DSQ.

Submission guidelines
Manuscripts must be in the form of a Word document and:

- Have a cover page that includes the author's name, institutional affiliation, and contact information
- Have an abstract of 100-150 words
- Be between 3,000-6,000 words in length (approximately 10-20 double-spaced pages)
- Provide full references for all citations
- Include a brief biography of the author (50-100 words)
- Follow DSQ guidelines: http://www.dsq-sds.org/about/submissions#authorGuidelines


Please send queries and submissions to John Duffy (jduffy@nd.edu) and Melanie Yergeau (yergeau.1@osu.edu).

References
Burke, K. (1969). A rhetoric of motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Thomson, R. G. (1997). Disability, identity, and representation: An introduction. In R.G. Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 5-18.

Ending Waitlists

Community services and supports for people with developmental disabilities in the United States often have extremely long waiting lists because the states have not provided sufficient funding for these programs. After a person finally starts to receive services and supports, which can take years, they will be lost again if the person moves to another state. Federal action is needed as part of the health care reform effort to put an end to this inexcusable situation.

One group that has been active in lobbying to keep federal lawmakers' attention focused on the waiting list problem is NOEWAIT, the National Organization to End the Waitlists, which has been circulating a petition to federal lawmakers. I signed it some time ago and meant to blog about it, but got busy with other things and did not write a post about it until now, after Stephanie mentioned it—thanks for the reminder Stephanie!

NOEWAIT is currently looking for people to get involved in their network across the United States. I've reposted an excerpt from a recent message below:


NOEWAIT (National Organization to End the Waitlists) IS SEEKING COORDINATORS TO ASSIST IN EXPANDING NETWORK

We now have NOEWAIT state coordinators and representatives in the following states:

AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MO, NC, NE, NJ, PA, TN, TX

But we have no coordinators or representatives from other states.

This volunteer position will assist in circulating information on ending the waitlist for services and gaining portability of services for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities by building the NOEWAIT network and developing relationships with and communicating with families, self advocates, the community, local, state and federal elected and appointed officials.

The requirements are:

Enthusiasm, organizational ability, a mission to end waitlists in your state and across the country and communication skills.

NOEWAIT will provide you with lists of individuals in your state who have indicated an interest in solving the waitlist crisis, and additional resources and ideas.

This volunteer position may, at times, require up to several hours per week, but you can adjust the work flow to meet your needs. You will be a participant in an email listserv with other state coordinators and representatives, sharing ideas and solving challenges.

We need individuals from every state, the District of Columbia and the Territory of Puerto Rico to volunteer to take on this endeavor. If interested in helping to end the waitlist and gain portability of services, please contact:

Denver Fox, Ed.D.
Moderator, National Organization to End the Waitlist
Noewait@Noewait.net

Eradicate Autism Speaks

Apparently in today's America, you can be hailed as a philanthropist if you are seeking to "eradicate" a minority group. Of course, it helps if your husband recently was the CEO of the media entity responsible for publishing this Goebbels-esque propaganda. Many of us already knew what a genocidal loon Suzanne Wright is, but just in case anyone needs more proof, here it is:

Philanthropist wages fight to eradicate autism

(Update: After I wrote this post, the title of the article was altered to read "Philanthropist wages fight to cure autism.")

In the interview, this was her response to a question about how long Autism Speaks plans to host celebrity fundraising events: "Hopefully until we eradicate autism. Once we finish autism, then we’re not doing this anymore."

Well, you know what, Suzanne, if decent people eradicate your repulsive organization first, you won't be doing this anymore either. And it may not be long before that happens. On Tuesday, ASAN will have protesters at a much publicized Autism Speaks celebrity event in New York City. I've reposted the ASAN announcement below.


By Ari Ne'eman, ASAN President.

We'll be gathering at Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, 154 West 57th Street in New York City from 6 PM to 8 PM this coming Tuesday, November 17th, to hold up signs and hand out flyers to Autism Speaks sponsors going in to their New York City concert with Bruce Springsteen and Jerry Seinfeld. Come join us! Please RSVP to aneeman@autisticadvocacy.org or go to the facebook event page here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?invites&eid=205191180125

Please distribute to your friends, contacts and listservs!

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

1. Autism Speaks talks about us without us. Not a single Autistic person is on Autism Speaks' Board of Directors or in their leadership. Autism Speaks is one of an increasingly few number of major disability advocacy organizations that refuse to include any individual with the disability they purport to serve on their board of directors or at any point in their leadership and decision-making processes. In large part this is due to Autism Speaks' public relations strategy of presenting Autistic people as silent burdens on society rather than human beings with thoughts, feelings and opinions.

2. They use fear and stigma to try and raise money off the backs of our people. Autism Speaks uses damaging and offensive fundraising tactics which rely on fear, stereotypes and devaluing the lives of people on the autism spectrum. Autism Speaks' advertising claims that Autistic people are stolen from our own bodies. Its television Public Service Announcements compare having a child on the autism spectrum to having a child caught in a fatal car accident or struck by lightning. In fact, the idea of autism as a fate worse than death is a frequent theme in their fundraising and awareness efforts, going back to their "Autism Every Day" film in 2005. Indeed, throughout Autism Speaks' fundraising is a consistent and unfortunate theme of fear, pity and prejudice, presenting Autistic adults and children not as full human beings but as burdens on society that must be eliminated as soon as possible.

3. Very little money donated to Autism Speaks goes toward helping Autistic people and families: According to their 2008 annual report, only 4% of Autism Speaks' budget goes towards the "Family Service" grants that are the organization's means of funding services. Given the huge sums of money Autism Speaks raises from local communities as compared to the miniscule sums it gives back, it is not an exaggeration to say that Autism Speaks is a tremendous drain on the ability of communities to fund autism service-provision and education initiatives. Furthermore, while the bulk of Autism Speaks' budget (65%) goes toward genetic and biomedical research, only a small minority of Autism Speaks' research budget goes towards research oriented around improving services, supports, treatments and educational methodologies, with most funding going towards basic research oriented around causation and genetic research, including the prospect of prenatal testing. Although Autism Speaks has not prioritized services with a practical impact for families and individuals in its budget, its rates of executive pay are the highest in the autism world, with annual salaries as high as $600,000 a year.

Link to our Joint Letter Against Autism Speaks, signed by over 60 Disability Rights Groups: http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=61

Community and Respect

In the military, as Clay describes in the first post of an excellent series on leadership training and respect, officers salute not only other officers but also enlisted personnel. This is not simply because of regulations and tradition, but because the salute signifies mutual respect between people working together toward a common goal. There is, however, a considerable difference between the rote show of respect for the uniform and the more meaningful respect that must be earned throughout the career of the person wearing it.

Applying this point more broadly to groups other than the military, I would say that meaningful participation in a community is not a matter of symbolic representations of group status such as a uniform or document issued to signify a person's membership in the group. Rather, a community and its culture arise from the many ways in which its people work together, communicate about their shared interests and mutual concerns, and show understanding and good will toward one another. When we pay more attention to symbols than we do to the community that they are supposed to represent, we risk losing the true respect and understanding that should be at the center of the community.

This is particularly the case when the identifying symbols are issued by others who are not part of the community, as Mark Stairwalt discusses in a recent article that draws the distinction vividly by means of a retold story involving tribal identification cards issued by the federal government. I won't quote any of that story here because I don't want to spoil it for readers, but I'll say that it has a powerful impact and that it is well worth following the link. The article goes on to make an analogy to the autistic community and the idea that having official diagnostic papers is what makes a person autistic:


…only some of us are “registered Indians.” Rather than a BIA identification card, some autistic bloggers have been reduced to posting a scan of their autism diagnosis, a “note from the doctor” in order to prove that they know whereof they speak. Others are derided and discredited for speaking about autism from the perspective of self-diagnosis. Most of the demand for this sort of “certification” may come from those who do not identify as autistic (at least not openly), but insofar as any of us take such demands seriously, we remain a house divided, by our own hands.

Protesters Attacked by Flying Burrito Wrap

The ASAN members and cross-disability activists who protested at the Autism $peaks walk in Washington DC on Saturday, October 31st, resisted the temptation to dress in ghoulish Halloween costumes. Not everyone at the walk showed their level of maturity, however, as reported by a protester named Stan:


"I was watching the first large group of Autism Speaks walkers, and one guy looked at us and threw a burrito wrap sandwich at us. It looked like he was throwing a burrito at us. It was like watching a Monty Python burrito attack."


When I mentioned that I thought this deserved a blog post, another person suggested that I should not write negative stuff about the burrito-tosser because he was just a frustrated parent. Given the fact that Autism $peaks goes to great lengths to induce feelings of helplessness, frustration, and despair in parents for their own financial gain, I'd say that guess is probably accurate, so I'll refrain from writing a Monty Python parody of Sir Tossalot. You'll just have to imagine what it would look like.

Instead, I'll list a few reasons why I think a flying burrito wrap would be an excellent mascot for the organization. Their blue puzzle piece is getting old, and any marketing consultant will tell you that new logos and rebranding campaigns are a great way to stir up interest. Why a burrito? Well, it suits Aut$peaks in so many ways... they're cheesy, they're full of beans, and too much ingestion of their propaganda is likely to cause major gastrointestinal distress.

I'm picturing Burrito Bob with a flowing burrito-wrap cape and a big $ on his chest. I was going to sketch him for this post, but I had too much indecision about what his head ought to look like. So many snarky possibilities abound. I decided, instead, to invite those of my readers who enjoy art to design a suitable flying burrito wrap mascot. Post him on a website somewhere and put a link in my comments to give Aut$peaks some well deserved ridicule!


Edit, November 6: Neil Kapit, an autistic cartoonist who has a blog and a DeviantArt page, contributed the Burrito Bob sketch below. Thanks Neil!





Second edit, November 14: Maddy McEwen of Whitterer on Autism, who proudly looks at life through rose-colored spectacles, contributed Rosy the Flying Burrito (stuffed with cash). Much appreciated Maddy!