Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Apr 2022 Open Access

Tweeting Zebras: Social Networking and Relation in Rare Disease Advocacy

Tristin Brynn Hooker The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

This article applies the lens of genre to the social media advocacy of three patient-activists—self-identified “zebras” whose rarely diagnosed conditions are frequently comorbid—who, through performing consistent genre moves, and using the capabilities of social networking to translate personal experiences into public discourse, amplify visibility, and normalize their voices as collective advocacy. Ultimately, through networked communication, these patient-activists perform emergent connections between their conditions outside of the traditional legitimization networks of biomedicine with the aim of gaining legitimacy in public and clinical settings.

Journal
Rhetoric of Health and Medicine
Published
2022-04-26
DOI
10.5744/rhm.2022.5005
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Topics
genre theory discourse analysis social media public rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Majdik et al. (2024)
    Rhetoric of/with AI: An Introduction
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly

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