College Composition & Communication - Volume 52, Issue 3, 2001

The five authors call for increased awareness of disability in composition studies and argue that such an awareness can productively disrupt notions of “writing” and “composing” at the same time it challenges “normal”/“not normal” binaries in the field. In six sections: Brueggemann introduces and examines the paradox of disability’s “in-visibility” White considers the social construction of learning disabilities; Dunn analyzes the rhetoric of backlash against learning disabilities; Heifferon illustrates how a disability text challenged her students; Cheu describes how a disability-centered writing class made disability visible; all five conclude with challenges and directions for composition studies in intersecting with disability studies.

The Word. In the beginning was the word, in principio erat verbum, in the words of the Vulgate version of the gospel according to John. In medieval manuscripts of this gospel, verbum and the words surrounding it are usually prominent in some way (large, ornately decorated); the text enacts itself and the words became an icon for their own meaning. The prophet John continued by equating his God with the Word and attributing the making of all things to this God/Word.

I examine my involvement with writing centers as an example of how we can look at the choices we’ve made within our areas of expertise to see why they attract us. In my case, the flexible, collaborative, individualized, non-evaluative, experimental, non-hierarchical, student-centered nature of writing centers is an excellent fit. An earlier version of this article was delivered as the Exemplar’s Address at the Fifty-first Annual CCCC in April 2000.