Disability Advocate and Scholar Speaks to Old Dominion Audience
Elizabeth Ellcessor and Avi Santo, chair of the Department of Communication & Theatre Arts
An "invisible standardization" of practice around emergency infrastructure in the United States erects barriers for Americans attempting to access the systems, a visiting scholar told an Old Dominion University audience on Monday, Feb. 11.
Elizabeth Ellcessor, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia who studies the intersection of disability and technology, visited the ODU campus over two days, conducting a workshop with faculty members and delivering a public address to a full Burgess Room in the University's Batten Arts & Letters Building.
In her talk "Call if You Can, Text if You Can't" - about disability challenges of U.S. emergency 911 infrastructure - Ellcessor suggested that the complex layering of the 911 system, and the expectations for its use, can disadvantage people with different communication deficits.
"Scholarship in organizational communication emphasizes the rigid question-and-answer structure of 911 calls" which prompt people making the calls to justify their need for services, Ellcessor said. "Those who cannot engage with this expected communication structure, such as non-native English speakers, may experience delays or refusals of services."
Ellcessor played public service announcements and showed promotional posters from campaigns organized to promote services like text-to-911, which are billed as a way for more Americans to access emergency systems. But even the ways those services are promoted demonstrates the bias of the innovation toward able-bodied citizens, she said.
Ellcessor showed public service announcements which demonstrated the alleged value of the innovations through the eyes of people whose ability to communicate via voice was affected by an external pressure, such as a home invasion. The spots included public service announcements released by the state of Indiana which conclude with the tagline: "Voice is best."
"This differentiated valuation of communication," Ellcessor said, "positions not only voice communication as 'best' but indicates those who can speak are best."
Even the tagline of her speech, "Call if You Can, Text if You Can't" - which has been adopted for public service announcements about emergency communication infrastructure in many jurisdictions - privileges able-bodied communication, Ellcessor said.
"Essentially, the structuring of this phrase around capacity communicates that texting is only for use in exceptional circumstances, and that deafness and disability are thus exceptions from taken-for-granted communicative capacities."
On Tuesday, Feb. 12, Ellcessor conducted a workshop for faculty about disability issues in the higher education classroom.
Her visit to Old Dominion University was co-sponsored by ODU's College of Arts & Letters, the Department of English, the Department of Women's Studies, the Institute for the Humanities, the Center for Faculty Development, the Center for High Impact Practices, the Office of Educational Accessibility and the Office of Institutional Equity & Diversity.