Rhetorical Hiccups: Disability Disclosure in Letters of Recommendation

Amy Vidali University of Colorado Denver

Abstract

This article positions letters of recommendation as important and troubling indicators of faculty beliefs about diversity and access in higher education. I focus on the disclosure of disability, both by examining the history of disclosing stigmatized difference and by analyzing five letters of recommendation for an aspiring graduate student with a traumatic brain injury. I suggest that faculty must revise their letter-writing practices and engage in a type of rhetorical forecasting that questions well-intentioned disclosures of difference and imagines how various letters form a composite sketch of a candidate.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2009-03-16
DOI
10.1080/07350190902740042
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Citation Context

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