Giving Voice

Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality

Meryl Alper (Assistant Professor, Northeastern University)

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English

MIT Press
20 January 2017

Communication studies; Disability: social aspects; Impact of science & technology on society

Series: Giving Voice

How communication technologies meant to empower people with speech disorders-to give voice to the voiceless-are still subject to disempowering structural inequalities.

Mobile technologies are often hailed as a way to ""give voice to the voiceless."" Behind the praise, though, are beliefs about technology as a gateway to opportunity and voice as a metaphor for agency and self-representation. In Giving Voice, Meryl Alper explores these assumptions by looking closely at one such case-the use of the Apple iPad and mobile app Proloquo2Go, which converts icons and text into synthetic speech, by children with disabilities (including autism and cerebral palsy) and their families. She finds that despite claims to empowerment, the hardware and software are still subject to disempowering structural inequalities. Views of technology as a great equalizer, she illustrates, rarely account for all the ways that culture, law, policy, and even technology itself can reinforce disparity, particularly for those with disabilities.

Alper explores, among other things, alternative understandings of voice, the surprising sociotechnical importance of the iPad case, and convergences and divergences in the lives of parents across class. She shows that working-class and low-income parents understand the app and other communication technologies differently from upper- and middle-class parents, and that the institutional ecosystem reflects a bias toward those more privileged.

Handing someone a talking tablet computer does not in itself give that person a voice. Alper finds that the ability to mobilize social, economic, and cultural capital shapes the extent to which individuals can not only speak but be heard.

By: Meryl Alper (Assistant Professor Northeastern University)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780262533973
ISBN 10: 0262533979
Series: Giving Voice
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 20 January 2017
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Meryl Alper is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University and a Faculty Associate with Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She is the author of a MacArthur Foundation Report, Digital Youth with Disabilities (MIT Press).

Winner of 2018 PROSE Award Honorable Mention, Media and Cultural Studies 2018
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Winner of <PrizeName>2018 PROSE Award Honorable Mention, Media and Cultural Studies</PrizeName> 2018
Winner of <PrizeName>Winner, 2018 Outstanding Publication in the Sociology of Disability Award given by the American Sociological Association. </PrizeName> 2018
Winner of Winner, 2018 Outstanding Publication in the Sociology of Disability Award given by the American Sociological Association. </PrizeName> 2018