In DIGITAL 367, “Networked Disability Cultures,” Professor David Adelman provides students with a variety of media—podcasts, films, digital zines, and more—to dive deeper into the intersection of disability and the digital world. Taking films as an example, this course not only shows students different character perspectives but also exposes them to different movie-watching experiences: what is it like to watch a film without audio? Without visuals? What happens when we investigate not just cinematography, but subtitle design?
In this online course, Professor Adelman fosters a welcoming community where students can collaborate and learn from one another. Class discussions cover disability culture through media, the arts, healthcare infrastructure, acts of activism, and more.
Professor Adelman shared, “This course allows students to think deeply about what it means to produce culture online—how does one do so ethically? Who gets to produce culture? And the argument of course, at least in part, is that disabled people do. That disabled people have always produced culture. That we are not passive.”
For Electrical Engineering student Hiba Jaffer, she was impressed by the range of disabilities that were covered, both physical and mental, and the number of perspectives that her classmates brought to discussions.
For Hiba’s final project in the course, she loved the freedom that students were given to choose a topic they were passionate about. Inspired by her brother, who is nonverbal and relies on technology to communicate, Hiba wrote a research paper about the history, perception, and use of speech-generating devices.
The hope is that students walk away with an informed critical lens to analyze new technologies—who are they designed for? There is no “universal” user. Who is the intended audience vs. actual audience?
For example, voice control or speech-to-text features are often considered useful for multitasking and hands-free driving, but this function may be crucial to someone who doesn’t have the dexterity to type. The audiobook was originally created for those who are visually impaired, so that reading the words on a page wasn’t the only way to experience a story. But now, audiobooks are commonly used regardless of ability; a tool originally designed for one group can benefit everyone. The materials that students engage with teach them to challenge the “norm” and consider new perspectives.
“This course also allows us to understand the shifting nature of disability,” Professor Adelman said. “There is no one universal ‘Disability Culture,’ but many disability cultures. Indeed, disability can be desirable to many different communities and across many different registers. Fundamentally, this course invites people to understand disability not as an ‘othering’ tragedy, but as a condition of possibility.”
