Ableist Rhetoric

Ableist Rhetoric

How We Know, Value, and See Disability

James L. Cherney

“Cherney shows how the powerful but mostly invisible rhetoric of ableism shapes beliefs about disability. Carefully argued case studies—from The Exorcist, to the cochlear implant debate, to the Casey Martin controversy—illustrate how ableism operates through the warrants of ‘deviance is evil,’ ‘normal is natural,’ ‘body is able’ and across epistemic, ideological, and visual dimensions. They form the heart of the book, making it accessible and engaging for use in an undergraduate rhetoric or disability studies course.”—Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson, coeditor of Embodied Rhetorics: Disability in Language and Culture