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Everyday Interaction
Involving People with
Severe Learning Disabilities:
Taking a Critical Approach
Dr Stephanie Brewster
Disability Studies Conference
7th September 2010
“Language is not only an instrument of
communication or even of knowledge, but
also an instrument of power”
(Bourdieu 1977, p648).
What’s the problem?
AAC non-use
Intersection of research into
• Interaction
• Power relations
• Disability
• Learning disability
• AAC
Taking a critical approach
• to critically evaluate an aspect of society with the
aim of improving it.
• challenging commonly held assumptions, to
expose situations of inequality and oppression
• emphasis is on power.
• Critical discourse analysis rests on the
assumption that discourse is both influenced by,
and influences power relations in society.
Turn taking and topic control
• Usually collaboratively achieved
• But rights and obligations are not equally
distributed (Fairclough)
• Successfully taking a turn or raising a topic
provides control of the immediate
interaction. Someone unable or unwilling
to do so lacks this immediate opportunity,
and long term may be regarded as lacking
influence.
Mary: (Uses R hand to look in box)
Harry: Get the green one. Green. Green.
(Pause) Green. (3 sec) Look for the
green one. (Pause) Green one. Green.
(Pause) Where’s green? (4 sec) The
one you were holding before. That was
green. (4 sec)
Mary: (Picks up white bead. Smiles)
Harry: (Looks at bead) That’s not
Mary: (Laughs. Holds bead towards Harry)
Harry: (Points to bead) Oh, that’s not green.
Cheryl: Where’s the hairdressers? Where do
you have your hair cut? Show me.
Mary: (points to item in book)
Cheryl: there you go!
Mary: (laughs)
Cheryl: and…where do we go…where do we
go to buy your magazine? (looks at
book, at Mary then at book) (3 sec)
Where… (2 sec)
Mary: (points to item in book)
Cheryl: yes!
Mary: (looks at and points to item in book)
Fran: Cheryl. (Pause) You know Cheryl. (Pulls
M’s hand off book. Looks and points at
another item) And who is this one? (2 sec)
Mary: (looks at and points to different item)
Fran: (looks at and points to same item as
above.) This one
Mary: (looks at and points to item indicated by
Fran)
Fran: Look at this one. Ruby
Mary: looks and points at CHERYL
Fran: (Moves book, pushes M’s hand aside)
Who is this?
Politeness
Sarah: Claire.
Claire: yes.
Sarah: I’ve dropped it again
Claire: you’ve dropped it again. (picks it up)
What do you say? You’re meant to say
thank you.
Asymmetry in the rules of
discourse
• staff may demand/prompt the use of
politeness vocabulary from residents but
residents do not demand the use of
politeness vocabulary from staff.
• Paradoxically, staff may insist on
politeness to achieve greater symmetry,
through reciprocal use of such terms.
“When I ask you something I always say
please, don’t I?”
Conclusions
Interactions between residents and staff are
characterised by asymmetries of :
• power relations (social inequality)
• individual communicative competence.
AAC intervention aims to enhance communicative
competence, but this is not necessarily effective
at reducing asymmetry of power relations.
Asymmetrical power relations inhibit AAC use and,
conversely, lack of AAC use creates and
maintains this power imbalance.
• AAC could transform existing power relations
• Conversely, transformations in power relations
could enable the flourishing of AAC.
• provision of AAC is not on its own sufficient to
ensure its use within discourse
• existing discourse patterns contribute to the
failure of AAC to become a functional and
valuable method of communication
References
• Bourdieu, P. (1977). "The economics of linguistic
exchanges." Social Science Information 16(6): 645668.
• Brewster S (2007) “Asymmetries of Power and
Competence and Implications for AAC: Interaction
between adults with severe learning disabilities and their
care staff”. Unpublished Ed.D. thesis, University of
Birmingham
• Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and Power. Harlow,
Pearson Education.
• Ng, S. H. and J. J. Bradac (1993). Power in Language;
Verbal Communication and Social Influence. London,
Sage.
• Shakespeare, T. (2000). Help: Imagining Welfare.
Birmingham, British Association of Social Workers and
Venture Press.