Critical Discourse Analysis

An interdisciplinary research methodology that examines how language and texts both reflect and shape power structures, ideologies, and social practices. Originating from the work of Michel Foucault, CDA uses abductive reasoning — moving between theory-driven deductive analysis and data-driven inductive analysis — to uncover implicit assumptions and ideologies embedded in written or spoken communication. In accessibility research, CDA has been used to examine how discourses around disability, housing, and independence in computing literature may inadvertently reproduce ableist assumptions or institutional logics.