1.2 Ian Birrell: “As gay people celebrate, the treatment of the disabled just gets worse” Flashcards
Genre
formal opinion piece
Mode
Article
Audience
Adults who read the I, fans of Birrell
Purpose
to raise awareness of the treatment of the disabled
Context
Ian Birrell:
- columnist and foreign correspondent
- previously deputy editor in chief for the independent
- done volume for several other papers
- has a daughter with a disability
- speech writer for David Cameron, politically motivated
“As gay people celebrate, the treatment of the disabled just gets worse”
heading
- juxtaposition between gay rights and disability
- emotive language
- wants us to feel sympathy or enraged
- trying to guilt the reader
Semantic field of celebratory lexis; “honeymoons” “gay marriages” “contented couples” “traditional kiss”
- talking about weddings and honeymoons in a negative light, we’ve gone to a big effort unlike with the disabled community
- “traditional”: pre modifier, normal, should be accepted
- positive attitude highlights difference between how gay and disabled community are treated
“Then embraced into everyday normality…”
ellipsis
- indicates when we need to consider his viewpoint
“Stuck in the shadows of society”
alliteration and metaphor
- personifying the disabled community as a whole
- we ignore them
- no light being shone on the situation
“A group growing fast in our ageing society…”
verb and antithesis
- people with disabilities are infantilised
“With all that optimistic talk of transforming attitudes?…”
rhetorical framing
- guides us towards his pov
“Befuddled British embarrassment at best”
alliteration
- connotes lack of empathy from the public
- we don’t consider what it would be like
“One day this minority might include you, whatever your colour, gender or sexuality”
direct address
- hard hitting ending
- challenges the reader to consider their attitude towards disabled people
