Abstract

Abstract Public address scholars trained in U.S. communication departments have tended not to study rhetoric created by people with disabilities as much as they do other social movements. Here I attribute this relative lack to two ableist assumptions associated with communication’s emphasis on winning arguments: the presumed disqualification of people with disabilities from public argument itself and the normalization of this disqualification based on biases related to rhetorical performance and capability. Overall, I argue this disqualification is the product of how communication scholars have understood and reconstructed the role of the ideal arguer in public affairs and call for more expansive views.

Journal
Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published
2021-03-01
DOI
10.14321/rhetpublaffa.24.1-2.0291
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (3)

  1. Rhetoric & Public Affairs
  2. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Also cites 13 works outside this index ↓
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  12. 35. Stacy Clifford Simplican, The Capacity Contract: Intellectual Disability and the Question of Citizenship …
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