In “Trying to Embrace a ‘Cure’: [Op-Ed]”, author Sheila Black persuades her audience to consider the effects of technology that could cure disabilities by effectively using various appealsin response to a rhetorical situation.
Rhetorical Situation
Exigence
Black’s exigence is the new treatment that has recently been announced for X-linked hypophosphatemia, a genetic form of dwarfism that Black and two of her children live with. Black explains that the treatment could allow people with XLH to absorb more phosphorus, increasing growth and working as a cure for the illness. Black explains that a cure would be beneficial, as it would eliminate suffering from XLH. However, she expresses concerns about the creation of a cure. Black explains that …show more content…
Black says that XLH is rare, so much of her audience has likely never heard of it. Therefore, most of her audience doesn’t understand XLH very well. As a person with XLH, part of Black’s goal is to apply her experience to open her reader’s eyes to issues they may not realize alone since they haven’t experienced the illness. For example, Black explains that the culture of people with XLH- the struggles they encountered from their illness and from other people- would be erased if a cure was found. Additionally, Black wants her audience to consider the impacts a cure for XLH could have in the future. Black wants her audience to consider the possibility of gene-changing technology being used unethically and try and determine a line where such technologies are unethical. Finally, Black says that the “knowledge contained in the disability community is perhaps the best place to start, for who better to consider such questions than those of us who have lived with being different?”, encouraging her audience to listen to other voices in the disability community when considering the ramifications of a cure for …show more content…
She says that there is nobody better to consider such issues “than those of us who have lived with being different”. The idea that people with “lived experience” of being genetically different from others are the best people to determine when gene changing technologies resonates as logical within the reader, as such people can determine when a technology is being used to end suffering or inconvenience and when it is being used for unethical purposes. Black’s use of logos, ethos, and pathos appeals persuades the reader to further consider the ramifications of a cure for
Rhetorical Situation
Exigence
Black’s exigence is the new treatment that has recently been announced for X-linked hypophosphatemia, a genetic form of dwarfism that Black and two of her children live with. Black explains that the treatment could allow people with XLH to absorb more phosphorus, increasing growth and working as a cure for the illness. Black explains that a cure would be beneficial, as it would eliminate suffering from XLH. However, she expresses concerns about the creation of a cure. Black explains that …show more content…
Black says that XLH is rare, so much of her audience has likely never heard of it. Therefore, most of her audience doesn’t understand XLH very well. As a person with XLH, part of Black’s goal is to apply her experience to open her reader’s eyes to issues they may not realize alone since they haven’t experienced the illness. For example, Black explains that the culture of people with XLH- the struggles they encountered from their illness and from other people- would be erased if a cure was found. Additionally, Black wants her audience to consider the impacts a cure for XLH could have in the future. Black wants her audience to consider the possibility of gene-changing technology being used unethically and try and determine a line where such technologies are unethical. Finally, Black says that the “knowledge contained in the disability community is perhaps the best place to start, for who better to consider such questions than those of us who have lived with being different?”, encouraging her audience to listen to other voices in the disability community when considering the ramifications of a cure for …show more content…
She says that there is nobody better to consider such issues “than those of us who have lived with being different”. The idea that people with “lived experience” of being genetically different from others are the best people to determine when gene changing technologies resonates as logical within the reader, as such people can determine when a technology is being used to end suffering or inconvenience and when it is being used for unethical purposes. Black’s use of logos, ethos, and pathos appeals persuades the reader to further consider the ramifications of a cure for