In 2023, NCA PRD introduced a special award for the Top DE&I Paper that examines issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the field of public relations. This award is graciously sponsored by the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Tennessee. 

We are happy to announce the first recipient of the award:

“Branding Neurodiversity: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Communicative Capitalism Among Neurodiversity Workforce Intermediaries” 

This study explores the critical nexus of communicative capitalism, neurodiverse employment, and DEI in public relations research. Through a critical discourse analysis of the owned and shared media of 15 neurodiversity workforce intermediaries (NWIs), we investigate how NWIs brand neurodiversity and their relationships with their publics against the backdrop of communicative capitalism. Our analysis unearthed power-laden tensions in traditional and novel brandings of neurodiversity employment, as well as ambivalent orientations that concurrently advocate for social change and economic productivity. Our results show that attempts at change empowerment are short circuited by capitalist logics that value only those narrow elements of neurodiversity that fit within a business case for diversity.

Scott E. Branton, University of Arkansas
Astrid M. Villamil, University of Missouri
Joel Lansing Reed, University of Arkansas