ABSTRACT
Not long ago, Dawn was reading a manuscript for a journal. It was a disability-related
study, so it was not surprising that the editor would send it to her. The author(s) started
out with the claim that the communication discipline was not yet involved with disability
research. Experienced scholars know that this type of claim is always risky because, even
if generally true, the manuscript will be sent to the one person doing some research in
that area. Dawn gently told the author that it was probably best not to leave the dock on a
manuscript while simultaneously missing the boat! It was easy to refute this author’s
claim by pointing to the work of a large group of scholars, all of whom are represented in
this volume. The editors are glad to see this book come out so that scholars and
practitioners inside and outside of the discipline of communication studies can see the
significant scholarly contribution available. The editors see this volume as a very
meaningful contribution by members of a discipline to an important area of research.
