Unsettling Ableism: A Discursive Analysis of a Medical Education Journal Club on Disability Accommodations

• In Event: Centering Criticality in Medical Education

Abstract

The study aimed to examine how ableism and its subversion manifested in a medical journal club for graduate students. Drawing upon Critical Discursive Psychology, we conducted a discourse analysis of five video recordings (4 h 20 m) of medical education journal club meetings that occurred synchronously between two institutions in the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States. This analysis revealed two discursive patterns: (1) participants engaged in varied forms of delicate talk in conversation about disability accommodations, and (2) participants used storytelling as a practice for constructing and avoiding definitive stances toward accommodation practices. This study's findings have implications for studying language use and ableism in other medical education contexts to inform equitable practice.

Authors

• Francesca A. Williamson, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Chutavion Walker, Indiana University
  Presenting Author

• Darcy E. Furlong, Indiana University
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Nina Lester, Indiana University Bloomington
  Presenting Author