Disability terminology: the use of "disability," "disorder," and "illness" in academic writing.

PURPOSE: The ways in which words are used to describe and discuss people with disabilities has long been an area of social concern. Previous research has demonstrated that language can overtly and subtly influence cognitions and perceptions of individuals, but there is less research on how language relates to perceptions of individuals with disabilities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A content analysis of 236 peer-reviewed articles was performed to explore differences in the frequency of the use of "disability," "disorder," and "illness" in academic articles related to eight common conditions: deafness, blindness, multiple sclerosis, quadriplegia, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and addiction. RESULTS: Results indicated that there were differences in how disability language was used by academic writers. Specifically, "disability" appeared in the writing more frequently in articles related to physical disabilities, "disorder" appeared most frequently in articles related to anxiety and depression, and "illness" appeared most frequently in articles related to schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: This observed difference in frequency use could reflect differences in the context and meaning of the use of these conditions. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

The way individuals write and talk about conditions may indicate the way they think about the conditions.When compared to articles written about physical conditions, the term "disability" is used less by academic writers than when discussing mental conditions.This suggests that academic writers may view mental conditions as less "prototypical" disabilities (compared to physical conditions).Careful consideration should be given to the language used when discussing all types of disabilities.When writers, media professionals, policymakers, and the public are educated on the diverse range of conditions and the unique challenges they present to individuals, only then can rehabilitation be truly comprehensive and effective.

Art Advocacy: Applying a Public Memory Rhetorical Framework to Health Crisis Communication.

Health campaigns and public health messaging strategies often rely on text-based efforts to communicate with audiences. As research grows in the areas of health and visual media, this essay puts a rhetorical framework of public memory in conversation with health campaign communication to show possibilities for audiences who are less likely to be moved by traditional institutional health narratives. The artifact for analysis is an art installation by Domenic Esposito, who in 2018 designed and placed a large scale "Opioid Spoon" at the headquarters of Purdue Pharma in Stamford, Connecticut. After situating public art as an effective way to advance health crisis messaging, we then preview the next phase of this research project that analyzes COVID-19 art as a counterpublic health narrative. We conclude by suggesting future health communication scholarship engage with the intersections of public health art, memory, and advocacy in order to reflect more accurately how communities experience health inequity.

Health Hyperbolism: A Study in Health Crisis Rhetoric.

The Ebola virus had only been in the United States for 2 months before it became a major national health concern. However, while some citizens panicked about the looming health crisis, others remained calm, offering explanations for why a rapid spread of the virus was unlikely. Examining the distinctions between these different reactions can contribute to a better understanding of the coping strategies citizens use when facing a health crisis. We consider how citizens respond to fear by focusing on whether or not hyperbolic rhetoric was used as a means for processing and managing fear. Approximately 400 tweets and Facebook posts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House, and The Alex Jones Show were examined to make conclusions about how citizens respond to messages from these mediated forums. At the intersection of health communication and critical rhetoric, we advance an operational definition of health hyperbolism derived from public response to opinion leaders. Ultimately, we find that health hyperbolism contains language illustrative of distrust, blame, anger, misrepresentation, conspiracy, and curiosity.

Work related attitudes of naval officers before and after retirement.

Prospective expectations for retirement and retrospective accounts of past work experiences are typically used in cross-sectional empirical studies of retirement. Unfortunately, little is known about the accuracy of such accounts. Therefore, in the present longitudinal study, we built on the work of Beehr and Nielson (1995) by examining the consistency of these accounts over time using data from 672 military retirees over a four- to five-year period. Mixed evidence for the consistency of these attitudes across time was found. Specifically, our results are much weaker than Beehr and Nielson's results, thus suggesting that longer time intervals between measurements may erode the accuracy of prospective estimates and retrospective accounts. Results are discussed in terms of the uniqueness of the military retirement and how civilian retirement and military retirement are becoming similar.