Abstract
In the 28 years since the establishment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), individuals with disabilities still live on the margins in social, public, and mediated discourse. Women of color with disabilities, in particular, still struggle to challenge their positionality on the margins due to multifaceted layers of oppression, ranging from sexism, racism, classism, and ableism as further complexities of identity. Yet, in a society with such disregard for and contestation involving disability issues, there is hope with disability activist Vilissa Thompson. In this rhetorical analysis, I examine Thompson as a marginal rhetor whose disability activism serves as a form of public pedagogy to inform the public how to engage in disability discourse in feminist activist spaces. Examined is Thompson’s hashtag #DisabilityTooWhite and her development of the website Ramp Your Voice as a discursive mediated platform of empowerment for people of color with disabilities. Applications for applying intersectional theory in praxis are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Biss, Danielle C.
(2019)
"Getting “Woke” on Intersectionality: Illuminating the Rhetorical Significance of Disability Discourse in Feminist Activist Spaces,"
Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research: Vol. 18, Article 6.
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/kaleidoscope/vol18/iss1/6