Communication and Language

International News

Hatiye Garip’s whimsical comic embraces tactility and audio to create an accessible publication. “With raised spot gloss and an audio bundle, The Land of Uncertainty is paving the way for publications that attend to the needs of blind and low-vision folk.” (2023, It's Nice That)

Sebastião Salgado releases photography book for the blind. Providing tactile transcriptions of a photo project. (2023, Digital Camera World)

Plain English Weekly “A weekly newsletter packed with advice, tools and resources to help you write clearer, more accessible content. Sent on Wednesdays by Iain Broome.” (2023, Plain English Weekly)

How can we enhance inclusivity in warnings? 5 elements of ensuring early warnings of disasters inclusive. (2023, Prevention Web)

Complex to Clear: Tips for Easy-to-Understand Communication (2023, Inclusion International)

Comics beyond sight A highly visual case for blind access – beautifully illustrated questions about how to make visual design of comics accessible. (2023, MIT Technology Reviews)

The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility. What happened? “For people who can’t speak, there has been depressingly little innovation in technology that helps them communicate.” (2023, MIT Technology Review)

Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability First edition in 2023. (2023, JCSCD)

People need to understand information to live their lives independently: about easy-to-read. (2023, Inclusion Europe)

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Ethiopia

Working for inclusivity, accessibility: launch of a new Talking Books initiative to make educational texts available in audio format. (2022, The Reporter Ethiopia)

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Nigeria

Book Famine: How policies in Nigeria limit visually impaired persons’ access to books. (2023, Premium Times)

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South Africa

Ending the book famine: Copyright guide launched for blind and visually impaired. (2023, Gadget)

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Cambodia

Cambodia’s first information needs assessment for persons with disabilities

“Economic information was found to be of highest demand. Particularly, information related to jobs or income opportunities would be more desired.” (2024, UNESCO)

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India

An online library for blind and print disabled with a collection of nearly 700,000 books in DAISY format combining audio and text. (2022, Kashmir Images)

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Indonesia

Information gap affecting the disabled “Instead of accessing official information, many disabled people had to rely on advice from family and friends, who may not have been well informed” (2022, D+C)

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Israel

"Nagish" opened its app to the deaf and hard of hearing for free and unlimited use, for real-time transcription of phone calls. (2023, Vertex Ventures)

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Jordan

Language in Medical Worlds: Hearing Technology for Deaf Jordanian Children "The focus on the acquisition of orality and speech for deaf Jordanians, to the exclusion of other forms of language and communication, can result in deaf Jordanian children not being able to communicate—in any modality—as well as their having a diminished sense of belonging to broader deaf collectivities." (2022, Medical Anthropology)

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Palestine

Communication, inclusion and psychological wellbeing among deaf and hard of hearing children: A qualitative study in the Gaza Strip:

“Key themes identified in the analysis included lack of accessible communication, community exclusion, negative attitudes towards hearing impairment and deafness and the impact on deaf and hard of hearing children's sense of self”. (2023, PLOS Global Public Health)

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Turkmenistan

Speak my language: a first for digital voice communication in Turkmen. “Thanks to this project, people with screen readers will be able to download the text-to-speech voice in Turkmen.” (2023, ATScale)

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Europe

Speech Impairment and Yiddish Literature, or: On the Obligation to Communicate and the Responsibility to Listen (2023, Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability)

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United States

Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language A book by Terra Edwards, an ethnographic study of the DeafBlind protacticle movement:

“When the world is collapsing around you, and existence is at stake, how can language be of use, where are its limits, and how can we understand the forms of meaning that lie beyond it?” (2024, Oxford University Press)

Netflix's new top documentary 'Tell Them You Love Me' highlights a misleading promise An essay arguing that ‘“Facilitated communication” has sparked passionate debate for years. But despite overwhelming scientific evidence against the method, its persistence remains.’ (2024, MSNBC)

Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Alice Wong on how using AAC tech changed her relationships:

“As I tried to adjust to my new body. I had to adjust to the way I presented myself to the world as a nonspeaking person. I had a new disability identity and was part of a new segment of the disability community. It was a bit intimidating being an outsider who is slowly easing into a new way of being while still mourning my voice, which expressed so much of my personality. I entered a world where time has slowed down. Conversations are now stilted, extended in a way that gives me anxiety and pressure to keep up with normative speaking speeds and patterns.” (2024, Teen Vogue)

A disability advocate preserves his voice with iPhone For physician and disability advocate Tristram Ingham, Apple’s new speech accessibility features provide reassurance amid an uncertain future (2023, Apple)

Personal Voice Should be a Game Changer for Me. It's Not. “If you know you are at risk of losing your speech, chances are you - like Nick - may not be able to read and recite sentences in these optimal conditions.” (2023, Reach Every Voice)

I Lost My Ability to Speak After Surgery. Here’s What the the Passy Muir® Valve Means to Me.

“The worlds of speech and silence intersect and overlap. Silence isn’t static or limiting. Silence is not an empty void. Silence has a landscape of its own. Silence has its own dimension, a space that enables another way of thinking and being. There is dignity in all forms of communicating.” (2023, Teen Vogue)

DeafBlind people are creating a new language a video feature on protactile, “a language of touch”. (Has audio-description and ASL, 2023, PBS)

How tactile graphics can help end image poverty. “Tactile graphic design is an art of transformation: what appeals to the eye may be cluttered and chaotic to the fingertips.” (2023, MIT Technology Review)

Jordyn Zimmerman is redefining communication as a nonspeaking advocate for disability rights, describing “augmentative and alternative communication”:

‘It’s essentially all the ways someone may communicate besides speaking. It refers to any tool or method or support to help someone be heard or understood. The “augmentative” is usually meant to add to someone’s speech, and the “alternative” is usually meant to be instead of someone’s speech. For me, iPad paired with a text-based application serves as the tool that allows me to reliably and effectively be heard and understood.’ (2023, the 19th)

DeafBlind Communities May Be Creating a New Language of Touch. “Protactile began as a movement for autonomy and a system of tactile communication. Now, some linguists argue, it is becoming a language of its own” (2022, New Yorker)

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Australia

Facilitated communication: Does the 'miracle tool' really help non-verbal people speak? (2024, BBC)

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