A Critical Metaphor Analysis of Disability Identity and Ideology in the Thai Undergraduates’ Home for Children with Disabilities Website Project

Abstract

This study examines how the Home for Children with Disabilities and disability identities were construed by Thai undergraduates in their website project through an analysis of metaphors. Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) was the framework for analyzing the use of metaphors and the participants’ enactment of identity and social representation. The critical analysis revealed four dominant themes: ‘JOURNEY’, ‘FAMILY’, ‘OBJECT’ and ‘HOPE’ all utilized to reproduce the Home for Children with Disabilities identity as a ‘warm’, ‘effective’ and ‘altruistic’ organization  that provides their children with forms of care and compassion. The analysis, in addition, showed the participants’ representation of disability identity as a non-static and changeable entity. Children with disabilities were seen as ‘capable of becoming self-supporting’. Additionally, the semi-structured interviews conducted with the participants indicated that social oppression was believed to be the cause of disability-related issues and that true understanding was needed to terminate social discrimination.