Heilker and Yergeau

Summary:

In this article "Autism and Rhetoric" Paul Heilker and Melanie Yergeau discuss how important it is for us as a society to accept autism as a rhetoric. They explain that if we accept it as a rhetoric, that we could have a better understanding of the disease, and that it would possibly help in the advancement of research on the disease. Heilker gives personal examples of how his autistic son reacts to different scenarios and how he deals with the disease. Yergeau also discusses her experiences and the way that autism has effected her life. The article also wants the reader to focus on rhetorical listening, which can help us understand the everyday lives of people from different discourse communities.

Synthesis:

When I started to read I connected this article with Malinowitz and his discussion on the gay and lesbian community. The both are similar because they talk about how we should accept different discourse communities because we can benefit by learning about different discourses. Another author that I connected this with was Glenn and the farming industry. Glenn discusses the advertisements that the industry puts out to persuade the public to buy their meat. This is similar to how people put out ads to get people to donate and help out for a good cause. Both articles discuss the importance of advertisement. Another author that I felt connected to this reading was Devitt. Devitt talks about how certain discourse communities can be used to communicate with those outside a of that community. This is similar to how autistic people use television, movies, etc, to communicate. 

Response	Quotation
I found this quote significant because we see so much advertising of autism, but a lot of the public is not properly informed of what the disease does. We should focus more on informing the public first, instead of mindlessly displaying ads all over the place.	“We are being swamped by a massive increase in fundamentally uncertain yet persuasive discourse” (Heilker 261).
I liked this quote because it shows how we as people should respect those with autism and value their thoughts and opinions, just as we would to any other person.	“If autism is a rhetoric, then we are beholden to respond to it with cultural sensitivity, ethical care, and pedagogical complexity” (Heilker 262).
I thought this was an excellent way to describe how rhetoric is used in our society. It helps connect society together by allowing people to communicate.	“Rhetoric appears as the connective tissue peculiar to civil society and to its proper finalities” (Heilker 262).
This was an important quote because it describes how important it is to practice rhetorical listening. It allows us to open up our minds to new ideas and ways of life, and helps us isolate biased thoughts.	“Rhetorical listening signifies a stance of openness that a person may choose to assume in relation to any person, text, or culture” (Heilker 265).
Heilker makes a good point here. If we become more open-minded and change the way we view autism, I feel that we could better understand the effects that the disease has on people.	“Indeed, adopting a rhetorical perspective on autism and rhetorically listening to autistics could radically revise what we think we know about autism, could fundamentally challenge some of our most foundational assumptions about autism and autistics” (Heilker 266).
I found this quote particularly interesting, because it is asking teachers and students to view autism as a rhetoric and to respect them for who they are. By doing this, we can appreciate their contributions to society and respect who they are.	“If we can come to see our autistic students through the lens of rhetoric more than through a stock and overdetermined lens of autism, we might come to better appreciate what they do have to offer instead of fixating on what they do not” (Heilker 269).

Thoughts:

I thought this was a very interesting article. I really liked how both authors gave examples from their own lives, and how they communicate with those outside their discourse community. I feel that we should be more accepting of people with disabilities because both parties can learn a lot from one another. The concept of rhetorical listening was also a very good idea. This was an easy and informational read.