Jan Grue

Discourse analysis and disability: Some topics and issues

Disability is an underexplored topic in discourse analysis. A stronger emphasis on disability issues would be in keeping with the academic principles and political priorities of critical discourse analysis. Simultaneously, a discourse analysis perspective is needed in disability studies. Although that field has produced a considerable amount of discourse-oriented research, it is structured around theoretical models that appear adversarial and incompatible. In practice, many of the incompatibilities dissolve into divisions between different areas of discourse production. A greater awareness of discourse analysis will aid disability studies, both in terms of theoretical development and in furthering its goals of social change.

Critical discourse analysis, topoi and mystification: disability policy documents from a Norwegian NGO

In disability studies, social and medical explanatory models are seen as being conflicting or mutually exclusive, and as mystifying respectively bodily impairment and the agency of social and environmental factors. This article uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to discuss the relationship between such models in policy documents produced by The Norwegian Federation of Organizations of Disabled People (FFO). Analysis of key topoi in the policy documents shows that they display elements of both social and medical discourse, and that the consequences of medically defined impairments are used as justifications for policy interventions in a framework of social justice. While a strict version of the social model is adopted in general programmatic documents, arguments about specific policy fields conceptualize disability as a property of individuals — traditionally, a medical model framing. Analysis of topoi is shown to be a useful tool when CDA is applied to policy texts.

Prestige rankings of chronic diseases and disabilities. A survey among professionals in the disability field

Disabled people constitute the worlds largest minority; too little is known about the internal structure and valuations of that minority. We investigate whether prestige rankings of different chronic diseases and disabilities can be elicited from a community of disability non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A survey was performed in a sample of NGO professionals in Norway in late 2013 and early 2014. Two copies of a questionnaire was sent to 92 national and regional offices of disability NGOs requesting a response from either senior employees or elected officials, preferably one of each. Outcome measures were ratings on a 1-9 scale of the prestige these respondents believed most professionals in their field would accord to a sample of 38 different conditions. We find that there is a prestige hierarchy of chronic diseases and disabilities in the disability field. In this hierarchy, somatic conditions that are strongly associated with medical treatment were placed higher than either conditions that are characterized by permanence, or conditions are associated with psychosomatic etiologies. The elicited prestige hierarchy is at odds with prevalent normative positions in the disability field; there is a lack of fit between some of the fields central political goals and its internal evaluations. We propose that its structure can be explained through a) influence from the medical field, b) organization history, size, and prominence, and c) issues of credibility, shame and blame. Further research should be conducted into the structure and valuations of the disability field in general and people with disabilities and chronic diseases in particular.

Is there something wrong with society, or is it just me? Social and medical knowledge in a Norwegian anti-discrimination law

What is the current relationship between the social and medical definitions of disability in Norway? The Norwegian Discrimination and Accessibility Act, which entered into effect on 1 January 2009, frames its overarching goals in terms of human rights and equal opportunity and studiously avoids the use of medico-diagnostic language. Most of the specific provisions of the law are, however, justified as means of compensation for inherent or pre-existing disadvantage due to impairment. In order to be effective, they must engage with medical, impairment-specific knowledge. Social and medical perspectives and explanatory models that are often seen as conflicting or even mutually exclusive instead become intertwined in the spaces of negotiation that are opened by the law. Thus, elements of what has traditionally been termed the medical model become integrated in a larger framework that is defined by the goals of the social model.

The social meaning of disability: a reflection on categorisation, stigma and identity

As disability becomes an ever more salient concept in international political and legal discourse, its social meaning must be better understood. Traditionally defined in medical terms and as an individual problem, it has for the last several decades increasingly become a socio-politically defined phenomenon. Disability pride has emerged as a social movement patterned after ethnic minority and sexual orientation movements. The one billion people who count as disabled nevertheless have illnesses and impairments that are largely understood as medical problems. Medicine continues to exert great influence on the social meaning of disability in general and the social valuation of various illnesses and impairments in particular. Whereas specific conditions may be socially valued, the overall category and label of disability connotes marginality and stigma. Under these conditions, disability policy, which ought to be a universal concern, risks being construed as a marginal and special-interest issue rather than a broadly relevant topic; this has potentially negative consequences for the majority of disabled people.

The problem with inspiration porn: a tentative definition and a provisional critique

Abstract The term ‘inspiration porn’ is associated with disability advocacy in general and the late activist and comedian Stella Young in particular. It has come into widespread usage over the last few years. I propose the following definition: ‘Inspiration porn is the representation of disability as a desirable but undesired characteristic, usually by showing impairment as a visually or symbolically distinct biophysical deficit in one person, a deficit that can and must be overcome through the display of physical prowess.’ Inspiration porn superficially appears linked only to medical model/personal tragedy framings of disability, but on closer inspection resonates strongly with the disability movement’s advocacy of empowerment and affirmation.

Technically disabled, ill for all practical purposes? Myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome discourse in Norway

After decades of activism, theorization, and model building, disability remains an undesirable marker of individual identity. Under-reporting of disability on a global scale is at least partly attributable to the stigma attached to disabled identity. Another cause, however, may be the lack of fit between the concept and discourse of disability as they evolve in a political, legislative, and organizational context, and the discourse in which everyday experiences as a disabled person are treated. The article examines discourse about myalgic encephalopathy and chronic fatigue syndrome from the Norwegian public sphere, and discusses the relationship between disability, chronic illness, and identity.

A GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS: A DISCOURSE PERSPECTIVE ON ‘MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS’ AND ‘CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME’

‘Chronic fatigue syndrome’ (CFS) and ‘myalgic encephalomyelitis’ (ME) are diagnostic labels that are at the center of ongoing conflicts in the field of health and illness, between doctors, patients, activists, and other interest groups. ‘CFS’ and ‘ME’ have different historical trajectories and are associated with different diagnostic criteria. In many cases, however, they are used interchangeably or synonymously with the umbrella term ‘ME/CFS’. This worsens preexisting conflicts and causes new ones, partly by effecting a confusing array of interpretive possibilities for patients new to the diagnoses and the issues at hand.

ILLNESS IS WORK: Revisiting the concept of illness careers and recognizing the identity work of patients with ME/CFS

The concept of careers has an extensive history in the sociology of health and illness. Among other things, the notion of a career has been used to describe the changing identities of patients diagnosed with mental illness, to identify distinct stages in the progression of various illnesses, and to recognize the cooperative efforts of hospitalized patients. However, the career concept may be reanalyzed as part of an analytical metaphor that makes salient both the agency of people with illnesses and the social structures in which they are enmeshed. This metaphor, ILLNESS IS WORK, can valorize and aid understanding of the identity work and actions of patients with chronic illnesses, particularly illnesses with a low degree of social recognition and medical prestige such as myalgic encephalopathy and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Rhetorics of difference: Julia Kristeva and disability

Abstract In recent years, the philosopher Julia Kristeva has entered the field of disability, both in her academic capacity and as an adviser to the French government on policy and legislative issues. This is not only an indication of Kristevas evolving research interests, but also a symptom of disabilitys increasingly prominent status as a topic of interdisciplinary inquiry. This article undertakes an examination of Kristevas approach to disability, and of its implications. Kristevas approach draws strongly on her philosophical and psychoanalytic background, and aims to bring the disabled and non-disabled closer together, ending the marginalization and isolation of people with disabilities. Rhetorical analysis of one of Kristevas programmatic articles, ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and… Vulnerability’ however, shows that Kristevas approach to disability reifies the very conceptual divides and experiential dichotomies she attempts to transcend. Disability is represented as essentially catastrophic ...