Dear all,
We are very happy to announce the next session for the autumn quarter:
“Investigating Accessibility in the Writing Process with Dyslexic Adults in Higher Education”
Emily Wang
PhD student, Northwestern University, Technology and
Social Behavior
November 13th , 12.30- 1.50 pm
Saieh Hall, Room 141
LIGHT REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED!
Please join us for a warm, thoughtful and engaged discussion!
Here is the abstract for the article to be read before the meeting:
Writing and editing text are ubiquitous tasks in professional work. However, these activities present accessibility issues for many people with disabilities, such as individuals with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a lifelong disability characterized by frequent misspellings and reading difficulties, and is a challenging condition in the professional world where spelling and grammar mistakes matter. To better understand how dyslexia impacts the writing process in higher education, we conducted qualitative interviews and observations with 11 dyslexic adults in different academic majors. Our findings reveal how dyslexia impacts more than just spelling performance in a single user: dyslexic adults must navigate their disability experiences in an ecosystem of various assistive technologies, mainstream productivity tools, work relationships, and ableist expectations for academic writing. We contribute insights towards understanding how dyslexia is constructed as a disability in higher education and design opportunities for assistive writing tools.
The article, to be read before the meeting can be accessed here: https://drive.google.
To receive updates about future events, subscribe to the Disability Studies Workshop listserv here: https://lists.uchicago.
All Disability Studies Workshop events are free and open to the public. Unless otherwise noted, events this quarter will be hosted in Saieh Hall, Room 141. Attached is a map of Saieh Hall. Saieh Hall is wheelchair accessible and this map provides information on access features. We are committed to making the workshop accessible; if there are accommodations that would be of use to you, please do not hesitate to contact the study group coordinators – Shruti Vaidya (shrutiv@uchicago.edu) and Sharon Seegers Marie (sharons@uchicago.edu)
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
Shruti and Sharon