Rhetoric is not ideas that are necessarily true, certain, or stable, but rather it is ideas that are contingent possible, and probable.

Aristotle's Definition of Rhetoric

We do not know what causes autism, so our understanding of what is autism and what makes someone autistic is fundamentally uncertain - it is based on us assigning traits viewed through public discourse and norms to be autistic.

Autism As Aristotle's Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the discursive medium of deliberating and choosing, especially in the public sphere.

Dilip Gaonkar's Definition of Rhetoric

We have multiple definitions of autism, as illustrated by differing depictions in books, television, public awareness ads, and on social media.

Autism and Gaonkar's Rhetoric

The do not challenge the societal portrayal of autism's linkage with whiteness.

What These Rhetorical Constructions Have in Common

It can been seen as suggesting autism is radically democratic, that how we and the medical field view autism has an ability to be shaped by our definitions
It also suggests autism is exclusive, the fact that our definitions have made autism into a disability that is viewed as affecting only white people.

Effects of Autism As Rhetoric

- Aristotle's definition of rhetoric
- Autism as Aristotle's rhetoric
- Dilip Gaonkar's definition of rhetoric
- Autism as Gaonkar's rhetoric
- What these rhetorical constructions have in common
- Effects of autism as rhetoric

University of Wisconsin - Madison

In this piece, Paul Heilker examines autism as a form of rhetoric and how the various forces, media portrays, autistic community understandings, and cultural forces, work to construct autism as an overwhelmingly white phenomenon in public discourses. 

Autism, Rhetoric, and Whiteness

Heilker, P. (2012). Autism, rhetoric, and Whiteness. Disability Studies Quarterly, 32(4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v32i4.1756 

Autism As Rhetoric

- The media and autism as rhetoric
- Autistic community discourses and autism as rhetoric
- Cultural forces and autism as rhetoric 

Forces That Shape Autism As Rhetoric

- How Rhetoric and Social Construction Create "Truth"


The Implications of Autism as Rhetoric and Whiteness

In the following nodes, I use identity first language to refer to autistic individuals. I chose to use this language because it is the language I use as an autistic individual, it is the language used in the article, and it is the language preferred by a majority of autistic individuals in the United States (where the research and researcher for this article is based). 

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