Political Conceptualizations of Disability: How American Presidential Speeches Discuss Disability

• In Event: The Political and Social Dimensions of Ableism and Its Impact on Everyday Life

Abstract

How do American Presidents conceptualize disability? Existing scholarship predominantly interrogates medicine’s understandings of disability as an individual biological deficit. This framework is typically contrasted against the social sciences’ understanding of disability as social oppression. Despite the consequences of political actors' understandings for disability policy, how they conceptualize disability remains largely undertheorized. Identifying how political actors understand disability reveals how political institutions construct disability as well as the frameworks underlying disability-related policy. The present research-in-progress applies descriptive statistical and discourse analysis to 132 disability-related Presidential speeches between 1934 and 2023 to trace Presidents’ conceptualizations of disability. In doing so, the research traces whether presidential conceptualizations vary by party affiliation, have shifted over time, align with medical or social models, and constitute a distinct political model. Preliminary findings show that political discussion of disability is rare and that political disability speech has declined over time. Additionally, preliminary findings suggest that political disability speech is potentially associated with personal connections to disability and party affiliation. This study bridges disability theory and literature on political discourse while advancing a politically-constructed perspective on disability.

Authors

• Evan Tobias Baughman, University of California-Davis

• Drew Halfmann, University of California-Davis