Unearthing the concepts that bury us

Abstract

This chapter begins with the claim that the prominent definition of dialogue as co-present speech is insufficient, if not damaging, to non-neurotypical persons. Not only are people with disabilities excluded from socially relevant dialogues about their own experiences, but the dialogues between people with disabilities are not granted the status of dialogue. As an autistic individual, filmmaker, and activist, my aim is to first, deconstruct the assumptions at the base of this exclusion and, most importantly, replace them with my own experience of multimodal intersubjectivity. My analysis of a transcript I created from my own film is the data for my argument. I advocate for a multi-sensory, multimodal approach to communication and disability.