14 September 2005 | Uncompleted
"Disabilities" Affecting Conference Participation
an exercise in identifying the variety of challenges to dialogue
-- / --
Introduction
This is an effort to scope out the range of "disabilities" that may undermine effective participation in conferences -- both in terms of willingess to attend and in the effectiveness of dialogue.
The emphasis here is on the less obvious "disabilities".
It is worth recalling that many people of the greatest eminence are recognized as having been constrained by disabilities, whether physical or otherwise, for example: Stephen Hawking, Kurt Gödel (paranoia), John Forbes Nash (schizophrenia), etc.
Physical "disabilities"
- Ability to walk
- Ability to use steps
- Ability to manipulate devices (eg elevators, doors, etc)
- Coordination ability
- Partial or complete blindness
- Partial or complete hearing loss
- Partial or complete speech handicap
- Hypersensitivity to:
- light
- sound
- proximity
- smell: In the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the city council has made it illegal to wear any cosmetic fragrances in most indoor public places, including classrooms, courts, hospitals, libraries, mass-transit buses, and municipal offices. The new ordinance declares that colognes, herbal shampoos, underarm deodorants, and other scented products are hazardous to public health.
- Incontinence
- Dietary constraints
- Narcolepsy: namely an overwhelming excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), even after adequate nighttime sleep. A person with narcolepsy is likely to become drowsy or to fall asleep, often at inappropriate times and places.
- etc
Each of these may require some special form of assistance:
- crutches
- wheelchair
- personal assistance
Challenges are to be found not only in access to meeting rooms, and to seating arrangements, but in use of the podium to make presentations and the means of controlling electronic devices (microphone, earphones, etc) whether as speaker or as participant
Emotional "disabilities"
- Hypersensitivity, especially when these are reinforced by cultural differences
- Aggressivity, especially when these are reinforced by cultural differences
- Phobias
- claustrophobia, notably in relation to elevators
- agoraphobia, notably in relation to plenary halls
- insects, etc
- Neuroses
- Excessive consciousness of self-image:
- unwillingness to use necessary physical aids (eg spectacles, hearing aids, etc)
- need to be the centre of attention
- etc
The effects of these may be cushioned by suitable uses of protocol and "minders"
Mental "disabilities"
- Obsessions
- Fixations
- Intellectual constraints
- Attention deficiency
- Autism:
- Asperger's syndrome: Individuals with Asperger's are considered to have at least normal intellectual capacity and an atypical social capacity. The most common and important characteristics of Asperger's syndrome can be divided into several broad categories -- social impairments, narrow but intense interests, and speech and language peculiarities. 3.6 per 1000 school-aged children definitely meet the criteria for Asperger's syndrome. If merely suspected cases are included, the prevalence becomes approximately 7.1 per 1000
- etc
Addictions
It may be useful to recognize various forms of addiction as "disabilities" affecting (or enhancing?) conference participation:
- Alcohol dependency, notably in teetotal cultures (eg Islam)
- Tobacco dependency, notably where smoking in public spaces is prohibited
- Narcotic drug dependency
- Stimulant dependency
- Anti-depressant dependency
Miscellaneous
- Dyslexias and functional illiteracy or innumeracy
- text
- tables
- diagrams
- maps
- Inappropriate attitudes to opposite sex
- Mysogyny, as an exaggerated aversion toward women, notably where this is reinforced by religious and cultural norms
- Homophobia, notably where this is reinforced by religious and cultural norms
- Hyperactivity
- Exposure to "impurity", notably in the light of caste and spiritual beliefs as they affect shared use of facilities (seats, cutlery, etc)
- Technical incompetence
- electronic devices
Physical "disabilities" as metaphors
It is useful to consider the obvious physical "disabilities" of some as illustrative of possible information processing "disabilities" of others.
- "Ability to walk": understood here as the ability to move between locations and to change a point of view
- "Ability to manipulate devices": understood here as the ability to use browser to navigate the web
- "Coordination ability": understood here as the kind of hand-eye-coordination required in some uses of computers
- "Partial or complete blindness": understood here as the constrained ability to "see" a new idea or a different perspective
- "Partial or complete hearing loss": understood here as the constraibned ability to hear the voice of another
- "Partial or complete speech handicap": understood here as the constrained ability to communicate verbally with another
- Hypersensitivity to:
- "light": understood here as an aversion to excessive levels of clarity and illumination, notably as offered by others
- "sound": understood here as an aversion to excessive levels of "talk"
- "proximity": aversion to being crowded, conceptually or otherwise?
- "smell": aversion to people of the "wrong vibration"
- "Incontinence": perhaps usefully to be associated with logorrhea
- etc
response: change of perspective
- collective
- organizational
- individual
not us and them; need is not problem, problem is handicapped, from being a problem to being a citizen
accessible
podium, stairs
beyond wheelchairs
disability: seen, not seen -- handicapped
handicap depends on context
meetingpersons with special expectations
disability should meansas little as possible
action/competence:
- increase response
- going through intermediary
- environment:
- wheelchairs (not polarity)
presume to make decisions for those with disability
write about
- pity
- fear
- charity
- inspiration
- access ????
- reframe: non physical
- types of environment -- environment
- logorrhea: talking all the time
- vanity
- shifting the boundaries of what is considered relevant to effective participation
- protocol / ethical
- smoking
- impairment -- disabled
- event: accessibility -- communication -- participation >>> differently abled
- people do not give info on disability
- shadow side of keynote speakers
- how is any person disabled, who is not
- obesity
- aging
- VIPs
- feminism
- criminality
- interface with
- security, bodyguards
- safety
- prejudice
turing test
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