Communication ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-19-2023

Abstract

The websites of disability resource centers at six universities are used in a discourse analysis to forefront ways in which the Whiteness of disability is upheld. The main research question, built using a DisCrit (Disability/Critical Race theory) lens, is: how do the institutional discourses of disability resource centers reproduce or challenge particular identities for college students with disabilities? The research sub-question explored in this dissertation that built off of this wider scope is: how are the politics of intersectionality addressed in such discourses? Then, in the second analysis chapter, two more analytical categories are discussed that were generated from my discourse analysis: problematizing disability as only a social construct and the politics of naming disability support services offices. Overall, this dissertation aims to generate conversations about how race and disability are constructed via the discourses presented on the university websites and the potential consequences of such presentations.

Language

English

Keywords

Critical Intercultural Communication, Disability/Critical Race Theory

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Communication

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Department of Communication and Journalism

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Susana Martinez Guillem

Second Committee Member

Dr. Michael Lechuga

Third Committee Member

Dr. Ilia Rodriguez

Fourth Committee Member

Dr. Nancy Lopez

Fifth Committee Member

Dr. Davi Kallman

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