Supporting Comprehension of a Professor’s Speech.
Faculty members benefit from disability services and human resources for assistance when needed (AAUP, 2012; Harbour, 2004; Stone, et al., 2013; Brown & Leigh, 2018), and to ensure that faculty is provided accommodations by law (e.g., the ADA). However, faculty report hesitation in requesting accommodations due to concerns about evaluations (Grigely, 2017; Brown & Leigh, 2018), or due to perceptions that disability implies weak job performance (Bulk et al. 2017; Roulstone & Williams, 2014). Faculty with life-long disabilities may not recognize a need for accommodation because they view struggling with certain tasks as “normal,” which may be a reason few students with disabilities pursue advanced degrees (AAUP, 2012; Brown & Leigh, 2018). In turn, this results in a few professors with disabilities to serve as role models for students with disabilities. Faculty who have sought help from disability resources report (a) difficulties navigating performance standards, (b) conceptualizations that individual impairment is individual responsibility, and (c) inconsistent policies that imply that disabled faculty do not fit in higher education (Stone et al., 2013; Titchkosky, 2008). This UROP presents a case study of a faculty member who has a communication disability called dysarthria. The project took a systematic approach to identify and trial augmentative and alternative communication strategies to support the comprehension of the faculty member’s speech by potential students. The objective was to improve his communication in the classroom by implementing communication supports that will aid students’ comprehension of materials.