April 4-6, 2024 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Innovations in Health Communication
Innovations in Health Communication
Abstract: Senate After Stroke: Employing Critical Disability Theory to Interpret the Temporal Nature of Illness and Political Discourse
Approximately every 40 seconds, someone experiences a stroke in the U.S. (CDC, 2023). Strokes are responsible for over 140,000 deaths each year and are the leading cause for long-term disability. Because the physical manifestation of strokes can result in biomedical changes to an individual’s ability to communicate, stroke survivors may face significant challenges in their communication skills during recovery (Wray et al., 2019). Oftentimes, however, individuals are able to recover in private while the same cannot be said for public figures, especially political candidates running for office (Melillo & O’Connell-Domenech, 2023). In May 2022, Pennsylvania Senate Candidate John Fetterman experienced a life-changing stroke in the midst of his campaign against Republican Candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz (Cohen, 2022). The stroke and recovery process became a major talking point during that time. Fetterman did not resume public events until mid-August, two months before the election, and he frequently explained the nature of his disability and reassured constituents he remained fit for office (Burns & Allen, 2022). The Senate race consisted of one debate, where Fetterman again addressed his road to recovery post-stroke. The physicality of his stroke and recovery were further compounded by news reports of treatment for additional biomedical and mental health concerns (Karni, 2023).
To theoretically ground our study, we look to critical disability theory (CDT). CDT is a multidisciplinary approach to analyze disability, describing disability as a cultural, historical, relative, social, and political phenomenon (Hall, 2019). Relevant to the present study, CDT challenges norms and social structures which stigmatize disability (Minich, 2016). Here, we use CDT to understand how the Oz-Fetterman debate situates disability in broader social contexts, and its implication(s) for audiences. Specifically, we undertake a discourse analysis (Jaworski & Coupland, 2006) of news media coverage on the Fetterman-Oz debate and subsequent narratives discussing his health. To guide our analysis, we ask: How are health and disability portrayed before, during, and after a political campaign?
We employ a mixed-method approach for the discourse analysis in three ways. First, to capture a niche look into this specific political debate discourse, we critically examine the 38-page transcript of the debate and qualitatively focus on language construction, word choice, strategic health messages, and time spent speaking between the two candidates. Secondly, using Factiva, we searched the term “Fetterman” from October 18, 2022 through November 1, 2022 to capture one week before and after the debate took place on October 25, 2022, resulting in 1134 news articles in which we topic model with ANTMN (Walter & Ophir, 2019). Finally, we collect relevant video news stories and media coverage of Fetterman’s health post-debate to include additional health issues that he has experienced in the public sphere, including personal health statements about depression and fatigue. In doing so, we are able to conduct a narrative discourse analysis that examines the temporal nature of illness and political discourse. While we are still collecting data, findings will be interpreted through CDT and implications for political figures in a health context will be discussed.
To theoretically ground our study, we look to critical disability theory (CDT). CDT is a multidisciplinary approach to analyze disability, describing disability as a cultural, historical, relative, social, and political phenomenon (Hall, 2019). Relevant to the present study, CDT challenges norms and social structures which stigmatize disability (Minich, 2016). Here, we use CDT to understand how the Oz-Fetterman debate situates disability in broader social contexts, and its implication(s) for audiences. Specifically, we undertake a discourse analysis (Jaworski & Coupland, 2006) of news media coverage on the Fetterman-Oz debate and subsequent narratives discussing his health. To guide our analysis, we ask: How are health and disability portrayed before, during, and after a political campaign?
We employ a mixed-method approach for the discourse analysis in three ways. First, to capture a niche look into this specific political debate discourse, we critically examine the 38-page transcript of the debate and qualitatively focus on language construction, word choice, strategic health messages, and time spent speaking between the two candidates. Secondly, using Factiva, we searched the term “Fetterman” from October 18, 2022 through November 1, 2022 to capture one week before and after the debate took place on October 25, 2022, resulting in 1134 news articles in which we topic model with ANTMN (Walter & Ophir, 2019). Finally, we collect relevant video news stories and media coverage of Fetterman’s health post-debate to include additional health issues that he has experienced in the public sphere, including personal health statements about depression and fatigue. In doing so, we are able to conduct a narrative discourse analysis that examines the temporal nature of illness and political discourse. While we are still collecting data, findings will be interpreted through CDT and implications for political figures in a health context will be discussed.