Lay Person–Legal actor communication dyads and neurodisability: Structural dynamics, risks, and contradictions

Abstract

It is increasingly clear that the law operates in a way that burdens the very cognitive resources needed to navigate it. One aspect of this systemic cognitive burden is the legal actor–lay person communication dyad; these dyads are the behavioral orientation through which the vast majority of lay persons experience the law, and they are marked by cognitive-communication features that create disparity between the legal actor and the lay person, increasing the lay person's risk of poorer-quality communication behavior. This risk is likely greater for persons with neurodisability, which increases the likelihood of impaired cognitive functioning and impaired communication behaviors; however, interactions among neurodisability, cognitive communication, and legal dyads are not well understood. To characterize these interactions, this article models social-legal cognitive communication within the context of neurodisability, describes the cognitive causes and consequences of uneven communication dyads, and explores structural conceptual frameworks within the law that enable and compound systemic communication risk. Finally, the article considers fundamental cognitive-behavioral contradictions revealed by the analysis and discusses what implication such an analysis might have on attempts to reform, or more ideally recreate, the law and its interconnected social-political systems. Such interdisciplinary scientific analysis is a key step in reducing structural communication burdens, resolving systemic contradictions, and improving legal outcomes for persons with neurodisabilities.