Seeing What We Know: Disability and Theories of Metaphor

The article examines the role of disability in George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s popular theories of cognitive metaphor and metaphor acquisition, and concludes that these theories are ableist in assuming that bodies have particular physical/cognitive/sensory experiences and related metaphorical expressions. In response, a disability approach to metaphor is suggested that engages the diversity of disability; refrains from policing metaphor; encourages transgression from the disability community; and invites creative and artistic reinterpretations of metaphor. This new approach is grounded in a critique of the metaphor knowing is seeing, which is commonly employed in academic writing and engaged in Lakoff and Johnson’s work.