dialectics and disability

The notion of relational dialectics, developed as an interpersonal communication theory, resonates with me because it helps explain the tensions individuals encounter in their relationships. I find it much more appealing than cognitive dissonance theory, which suggests we seek to reduce dissonance and that reducing that dissonance is possible. Relational dialectics recognizes the inherent tensions in relationships--we learn to manage them, but they're always there. So although it's an interpersonal theory, it's useful for the authors of the text to include it in Chapter 6.

The authors list six dialectics, connection-autonomy, openness-closedness, novelty-predictability, equality-inequality, instrumentality-affection, and impartiality-favoritism, applying them to relationships in organizations.

A few years ago I presented a paper at the Association of Internet Researchers in which I examined dialectics about disability identity in blogs written about disability by persons with disabilities. I was especially interested in blogs because historically identity is grounded in the body, but the internet severs that relationship, allowing persons with disabilities freedom from being constrained by physicality in online identity construction.

In conducting a close reading of five exemplar blogs, I found four dialectics: individual-societal (disability as a private and public experience), difference-unity (unique identity and commonality with others), permanence-temporary (stability/change in identity and the temporal nature of disabilities), and dependence-independence (control and relying on others). I found that individual-societal was the most prevalent--the one the five bloggers grappled with the most. Dependence-independence was also crucial, although it didn't receive as much attention. The latter two weren't emphasized as much.

Although this research isn't directly about organizational communication, it provides insight into identity construction for persons with disabilities.

~ Professor Cyborg