Accessibility Challenges for Visually Impaired Students and Their Online Writing Instructors

Oswal, Sushil K.; Hewett, Beth L.

doi:10.2190/raac7

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…This study answers calls in business communication for more theoretical knowledge of interpersonal communication (DeKay, 2012;Hynes, 2012;Robles, 2012) by demonstrating how ableist assumptions about work are often implicitly reinforced in interpersonal communication. While critical technical and professional communication scholars have utilized disability studies to rhetorically examine and teach ableist constructions of technical and professional texts and pedagogies (Larkin, 2013;Meloncon, 2013;Oswal & Hewett, 2013;Oswal & Meloncon, 2014;Palmeri, 2006;Pass, 2013;Walters, 2010;Wilson, 2000), findings from this study suggest that technical and professional communication students and practitioners need to learn how to critically examine and reimagine widely accepted, defining features of work and working bodies in order to promote accessibility in workplaces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Reimagining Work: Normative Commonplaces and Their Effects on Accessibility in Workplaces

Konrad

2018

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

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This article investigates how normative attitudes about work construct barriers to workers who are blind and visually impaired. The researcher collected narratives about rhetorical experiences from blind and visually impaired participants in the United States and analyzed accounts of these workplace interactions to identify rhetorical commonplaces that drive arguments about work. These commonplaces reveal the ableist assumptions that construct access barriers and constrain rhetorical possibilities for disabled workers' self-advocacy. The author proposes that business and professional communication students and practitioners should engage in collaborative approaches to flexible thinking and leadership necessary for reimagining work in ways that promote accessibility.Lisa is a former kindergarten teacher from the United States who is visually impaired. When her visual impairment made it difficult for her to see students raising their hands to be called on, she taught students how to participate in turn-taking conversation. While Lisa's young students recognized the value of her adaptive strategy, her employer did not. Lisa recalled that one employer said, "You don't have control of the classroom because they're not raising their hands." In contrast, a subsequent employer, who viewed the same adaptive strategy as valuable, said, "That's brilliant because it's teaching them how to have conversation rather than dictating!" Lisa's example begs

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Reimagining Work: Normative Commonplaces and Their Effects on Accessibility in Workplaces

Konrad

2018

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

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“…To expand on professional communicators’ understanding of accessible design, this article advocates grounding discussions of accessibility and usability in disability studies. Moreover, though I recognize accessible classrooms are also legally protected and we should strive to ensure our classrooms are accessible (Armstrong, 2009; Case & Davidson, 2011; Coombs, 2010; Nielsen, 2013, 2016; Oswal & Hewett, 2013), this article’s focus is to prepare students to create these accessible documents.…”

Section: The Disability Gap In Professional Communication Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, disability studies approaches have been so far absent from business communication research and scholarship of pedagogy. To show the relevance of disability studies to business and professional communication, I draw from the related discipline of technical communication (Colton & Walton, 2015; Elmore, 2013; Gutsell & Hulgin, 2013; Jarrett, Redish, & Summers, 2013; Meloncon, 2013; Oswal, 2014; Oswal & Hewett, 2013; Palmeri, 2006; Walters, 2010).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Transformative Usability in the Business and Professional Writing Classroom

Nielsen

2018

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

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This article addresses the importance of teaching transformative usability and accessibility concepts through the lens of disability studies in general business and professional communication courses. It argues that when students learn to analyze audiences, include diverse users, and foresee accessibility before the final draft because they practice user-centered design, their documents become more accessible for all users and situations. It presents a four-unit course plan that integrates disability studies and usability, including legal requirements. The unit plan advocates considering disability and diverse users and uses at the beginning of the design process.

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“…Recent scholarship picks up Palmeri's initiative to address issues of disability and accessibility, promoting concrete practices to teach undergraduates (Pass, 2013;Youngblood, 2013) and instructors (Oswal & Hewett, 2013) about the important legal and ethical ramifications of ableist approaches to design. Reporting a national survey about online writing instruction, Oswal and Meloncon (2014) encouraged scholars and teachers in TPC to "think about how power and privilege could impede accessibility and accommodation" (p. 273).…”

Section: Disability and Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Communication

Jones

Moore

Walton

2016

Technical Communication Quarterly

180

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This article presents an antenarrative of the field of technical and professional communication. Part methodology and part practice, an antenarrative allows the work of the field to be reseen, forges new paths forward, and emboldens the field's objectives to unabashedly embrace social justice and inclusivity as part of its core narrative. The authors present a heuristic that can usefully extend the pursuit of inclusivity in technical and professional communication.

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Accessibility Challenges for Visually Impaired Students and Their Online Writing Instructors

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Reimagining Work: Normative Commonplaces and Their Effects on Accessibility in Workplaces

Reimagining Work: Normative Commonplaces and Their Effects on Accessibility in Workplaces

Exploring Transformative Usability in the Business and Professional Writing Classroom

Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Communication

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