Meryl Alper, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies

Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality, by CAMD faculty member Meryl Alper, will receive the 2018 Outstanding Publication in the Sociology of Disability Award. The book, which is also the first book-length study of iPad use and adoption, explores the idea of “voice” in children and young teenagers who used an iPad app that converted symbols to audible words to help them communicate. Alper examines the common idea that mobile and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies act to “give voice to the voiceless.”

“It is a great honor to receive this award from the American Sociological Association and the Disability and Society section,” Alper explained. “As a communication scholar, the book award represents to me the growing value of interdisciplinary disability research at the intersection of media, sociology, and technology studies. Giving Voice makes a number of practical recommendations for clinicians, technology designers, and policy makers, so it is my hope that the award helps the book reach an even larger audience of stakeholders.”

The Awards Committee was impressed by Alper’s use of sociological methods and theory. She examined how communication technologies both reduce inequality by giving voice to children with disabilities but also reinforce existing social inequalities between children and their families.

Congratulations to Meryl for her hard work and well deserved award! If you want to learn more about her book, click the link to a recent News@Northeastern feature below: