Rhetoric Society Quarterly May 2020

Cassandra Isn’t Doing the Robot: On Risky Rhetorics and Contagious Autism

Melanie Yergeau

Abstract

Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder (CADD) is a trauma-based folk disorder embraced by neurotypical NT advocacy groups. CADD is caused, such groups claim, by having a romantic relationship with an autistic person. Reliant on understandings of autism as a condition of extreme maleness, CADD draws on cis/hetero/normative rhetorics of risk that attend autism's figuration as a disorder of invisible and emotional disrepair, where (not) doing autistics is tantamount to becoming them. In this essay, I examine how CADD proponents exalt divisions between logic and emotion in their appeals to ableist, anti-queer understandings of autistic emotion, communication, and interrelation.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2020-05-26
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2020.1752132
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
disability studies
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (42) · 2 in this index

  1. Alexander Jonathan (2016)
    Sexual Rhetorics: Methods, Identities, Publics
  2. Anderson Joyce Rain (2015)
    Survivance, Sovereignty, and Story: Teaching American Indian Rhetorics
  3. Asperger Partner. “Help for NT Spouses Whose Partner Has Asperger’s/High Functioning Autism.” Asperger Partne…
  4. Asperger Partner. “Intimacy and Romance in NT-AS Relations.” Asperger Partner, 25 Mar. 2015, http://www.asper…
  5. Aston Maxine. (2003)
    Aspergers in Love: Couple Relationships and Family Affairs
Show all 42 →
  1. Aston Maxine. (2008)
    The Asperger Couple’s Workbook: Practical Advice and Activities for Couples and Counsellors
  2. 10.1080/14681994.2011.649253
     ↗
  3. Aston Maxine. (2014)
    The Other Half of Asperger Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder): A Guide to Living in an I…
  4. Aston Maxine. (2012)
    What Men with Asperger Syndrome Want to Know about Women, Dating, and Relationships
  5. Attwood Tony. (2012)
    The Partner’s Guide to Asperger Syndrome
  6. 10.1080/14791420.2018.1533989
     ↗
  7. 10.1038/s41380-019-0454-9
     ↗
  8. 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17101129
     ↗
  9. Davis (2011)
    Creaturely Rhetorics
    Philosophy & Rhetoric
  10. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). 5th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
     ↗
  11. Ford Katy. (2016)
    Broken: My Story of My Relationship with an Undiagnosed Aspergers Partner
  12. Hawhee (2011)
    Toward a Bestial Rhetoric
    Philosophy & Rhetoric
  13. Heilker, Paul, and Melanie Yergeau (2011)
    College English
  14. Holliday Willey, Liane (1999)
    Pretending to Be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome
  15. Hutten, Mark (2019)
    YouTube
  16. 10.5406/illinois/9780252038372.001.0001
     ↗
  17. Jarratt Susan C. (1998)
    Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured
  18. Johnson Nan. (2002)
    Gender and Rhetorical Space in American Life, 1866-1910
  19. Kim Cynthia (2015)
    Nerdy, Shy, and Socially Inappropriate
  20. 10.1177/1363460711406463
     ↗
  21. Micciche Laura R. (2007)
    Doing Emotion: Rhetoric, Writing, Teaching
  22. Ne’eman, Ari (2009)
    Autistic Self Advocacy Network
  23. Nicholson, Ian (2013)
    Woman with Asperger’s
  24. 10.1007/s10803-018-3557-2
     ↗
  25. Onaiwu, Morénike Giwa. “Why I Decided to ‘Come Out’ of the Autism Closet.” Just Being Me. Who Needs “Normalcy…
  26. “Ongoing Traumatic Relationship Syndrome/Cassandra Phenomenon (OTRS/CP).” FAAAS, Inc., 2019, http://www.faaas…
  27. Prendergast, Catherine (2001)
    Embodied Rhetorics: Disability in Language and Culture
  28. 10.3998/mpub.1612837
     ↗
  29. Pritchard Eric Darnell. (2016)
    Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy
  30. Ratcliffe Krista. (1995)
    Studies in the Literary Imagination
  31. 10.2307/j.ctt5hjqwx
     ↗
  32. (2009)
    Rudy Simone on 22 Things a Woman Must Know If She Loves a Man with Asperger’s Syndrome
  33. Sheffer Edith. (2018)
    Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna
  34. Simone Rudy. (2009)
    22 Things a Woman Must Know if She Loves a Man with Asperger’s Syndrome
  35. 10.7330/9781607323884
     ↗
  36. Swift, James. “A Link between Autism and Mass Murder?” Uncommon Journalism, 1 June 2014. http://uncommonjourn…
  37. 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000030
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Mar 2026
    Teaching Radical Love: Implementing Critical Positive Communication Pedagogy in the Classroom ↗
    Vincent Russell; Grace Cheshire; Gabriel Wisnewski-Parks
    writing pedagogy teacher development professional writing race and writing gender and writing disability studies
  2. Literacy in Composition Studies Feb 2026
    The Schooling of Gestural Listening ↗
    Laura Feibush
    literacy studies disability studies
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly Jan 2026
    Top Stories and Deaf News: Accessible Information and Communication in The Daily Moth ↗
    Janine Butler
    disability studies
  4. Journal of Academic Writing Dec 2025
    Academic Writing Otherwise: Templates, Technologies, and Relational Practices ↗
    Hatice Çelebi; Magnus Gustafsson; Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams
    disability studies
  5. Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Dec 2025
    Eyes are More than Cameras: The Rhetorical Infrastructure of Vision Care and Its Impact on Patients with Eye Movement Disorders ↗
    Brian Le Lay; Bill Keith
    rhetorical criticism disability studies