Coping with dis/ableism in Twitter discourse: A corpus-based critical appraisal analysis of the hidden disabilities Sunflower Lanyard case

During the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, social media intensified their role as a channel for the sharing of opinions about health-related risk prevention measures (Zappavigna, 2012, 2018). Yet, the latter arguably gave way to the promotion of a set of common values which resulted in verbal discrimination and hostility directed at specific groups of people. The article provides an analysis of the appraisal of risk communication discourse regarding mask exemptions in a specialized Twitter corpus, specifically compiled to represent the period March 2020 – March 2021. The data are analyzed according to an approach which draws upon findings in Critical Social Media Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Linguistics. Corpus Linguistics methodological tools are combined with the analysis of context and discourse structural evaluation through qualitative assessments (Baker, 2006; Zappavigna, 2017). The analysis focuses on the lexical and grammatical resources used to express attitude oriented to affect (Martin & White, 2015). It discusses findings related to negative/positive appraisal and adaptive/maladaptive responses, such as activism, solidarity and hate speech in relation to COVID-19 health-related measures and combines the findings on affect with the critical discourse analysis of disablist and ableist discourse. It hopes to contribute to the development of a digital culture of respect and peace and to foster awareness of the core values of inclusion and solidarity in online and offline communication.