The CDA shows a focus on the use of metaphor in text, particularly the framing of the PAIPDI as the "turning point" in Portugese policy through the use of a new definition of disabilities and vocabularies as such. Uses of terms such as "innovative," "radical," and "reorientation," emphasize this "paradigm shift." Emphatic terms also show a administrative commitment to the plan's promises.

PAIPDI: Texture of the Text

The discursive practices latent in the PAIPDI reflect the link between the text and the sociocultural context and the relationship between the political and scientific approaches used to shift disability policy from a charity to human rights concern.

PAIPDI: Discursive Practice

While discursive practices reveal the use of discourse within the text, sociocultural practices reveal the power dynamics behind the establishment of the PAIPDI and the implications on the disabled population. 

PAIPDI: Sociocultural Practices

1. Examination of the linguistic features of the text
2. Exploration of processes related to the production and consumption of texts (discursive practices)
3. Consideration of the wider social and cultural context to which the text as a “communicative evident” belongs (sociocultural practices)

University of Notre Dame

CDA's are useful in giving insight into sociopolitical changes. The author follows Norman Fairclough's approach of CDA which uses a three-dimensional model. The CDA analyzes discourse and other non-discourse practices within the social context, from a dialectical standpoint. Discourse as such is defined as phenomenon involving social interactions and influences, including institutions, belief systems, and material practices.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of PAIPDI

Pinto, P. C. (2011). Between the lines: A critical discourse analysis of disability policy in Portugal. Disability Studies Quarterly, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v31i3.1678 

Between the lines: A critical discourse analysis of disability policy in Portugal

The author describes their analytical process as "sociological intervention," which according to Alain Touraine (1978) is the active participation of the researcher in collective action to better understand it as such.

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