Unlike deafness and disability, speech-related disorders-voluntary/involuntary voicelessness, mutism, and their imperatives-have largely remained undertheorized both as scholarship and praxis. Given the primacy and over-privileging of vision, a consideration of the nature of voice/voicelessness is critical and urgent. Framed in metaphysical, metaphorical, and existential terms, Georgia Webber's graphic memoir Dumb (2018), which narrates the protagonist's temporary loss of voice, is perhaps the first graphic medical text that coheres around issues related to voice/voicelessness in its entirety. Taking these cues, the present article, after briefly reviewing the significance of voice in human life and the relationship between voice and identity, provides a close reading of how Webber negotiates her lost acoustical agency in an otherwise abundant soundscape. Intriguingly, Webber also utilizes her voicelessness as a metaphor to reflect on her own marginality in an ableist society. Finally, the essay explores how Dumb projects drawing/comics-making and self-care as recuperative projects that not only help Webber to process her suffering caused by voicelessness but also aid her in reclaiming her lost voice and to acuminate practices of self-preservation.

中文翻译：

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“失去你的超能力”？图形医学、清音和乔治亚·韦伯的哑巴

与耳聋和残疾不同，与言语相关的障碍——自愿/非自愿清音、缄默症及其命令——在学术和实践方面在很大程度上仍未得到充分理论化。鉴于视觉的首要地位和过度特权，对有声/无声性质的考虑是关键和紧迫的。Georgia Webber 的图形回忆录 Dumb (2018) 以形而上学、隐喻和存在主义的术语为框架，讲述了主人公暂时失声的故事，这可能是第一部完整地围绕与声音/清音有关的问题的图形医学文本。根据这些线索，本文在简要回顾了声音在人类生活中的重要性以及声音与身份之间的关系之后，仔细阅读韦伯如何在原本丰富的音景中协商她失去的声学机构。有趣的是，韦伯还用她的无声作为隐喻来反思她自己在健全社会中的边缘地位。最后，这篇文章探讨了 Dumb 如何将绘画/漫画制作和自我保健视为恢复性项目，这不仅可以帮助韦伯处理她因失声而造成的痛苦，还可以帮助她找回失去的声音并加强自我保护的实践。