When I selected the recent collection of essays on Deep Reading written by top scholars in our field, I really expected to see reading and disability addressed. There were only three articles which mentioned reading in digital environments, and none of those mentioned disability or accessibility much at all. I found this surprising. But when each scholar wrote about the paucity of writing in general about reading and writing or reading-leading-to-writing, the lack made more sense. We need work in these areas! Scholars in our field really ought to study disability research, set up protocols and research, and help teachers understand better how difference can impact reading in our online classes.
Distractions and attention spans, various modes and tools, apps that read texts orally, translation devices, tools to mark and annotate texts, and even the effect that prolonged screen reading can have on our eyes and brains are all part of the concerns teachers and students face as they try to work together to learn and grow. I am fearful that someday, as my online class begins, I’ll suddenly find out that I have students with a range of abilities and disabilities that impact reading, and I won’t have the knowledge or even access to knowledge I need to help them succeed in my class as writers.
In Harris, et. al. “A Call for Purposeful Pedagogy-Driven Course Design in OWI,” we are urged to think carefully about the readings we select. “If a reading does not directly advance a course objective, then it should be removed.” But what if the reading cannot even be read or understood by the student or some of the students? What purpose does it serve? Certainly, not advancing the course objectives! We, in Writing Studies, rely so heavily upon model or mentor texts as well as instructional texts—it is well worth our time to make sure that they are accessible and ready for student engagement.
At Emory, we are required to have a statement that, as Oswal says, spells “out a summary of the institution’s and writing program’s disability accommodation policy and how to implement it” (273). However, these institutional statements are very broad and really do not cover how to deal effectively with particular issues like a student’s ability or lack of ability to apprehend a text. Oswal further notes that “accessibility is no longer optional” (272). I feel that I have been trained to teach writing, and I have developed and learned many techniques for helping students with other abilities to write. I even have helped students learn how to speak in public when stymied by fear and trembling and feel confident that I could help any student with speaking issues. I have to admit that my field has not prepared me, nor do I know how to seek help, for reading issues when the text can take on a variety of formats as in an online course.
I would like to learn.
