This passage was quite interesting since it seems that with every advance in technology there is a need for some to hearken back to the "good 'ol days". For those who are not white men without disabilities, those days weren't really all that good.

The "calls to re-embrace physical books, pens, and paper" may seem normal to me, but to someone who cannot see or a veteran without any hands, using a pen and paper because that's what your grandfather used as a correspondent in French Indochina doesn't really help. According to Rick there is a dispute between the efficacy of using hand written notes and digital notes. To me those who would want to make hand written notes a form of best practice are not thinking about audiences with disabilities. Similar to the Schryer article, the notes that are taken may be read or used for research by someone who wasn't the original author. Notes that are taken with a pen and pad will automatically be unusable to the blind. Someone who is blind would be able to use a voice recorder to take in the same information without losing any of the information in the process. That of course can depend on the content they are recording.

In my opinion, it seems as though education is moving further and further away from traditional books and paper as well. Newspapers put their content online and publishers can put novels on a Kindle. By doing this, newspapers and traditional publishers, while moving away from a traditional form of information consumption are also opening themselves up to other audiences that could be impaired. Fonts can be made bigger and words can be read aloud, improving the reading experience for those with bad vision or those with no vision at all.

To me this is one of the more interesting and saddening quotes of the article. Robert McRuer notes that as we age all of us will eventually succumb to one disability or another. This reminds me of the saying, "...we start dieing the day we're born". That hits home for me as well since I've seen my own vision degrade over the years. When I do not have my glasses on, I rely on familiar shapes and my memory of what certain words look like since I can't make out each individual letter.

When we as technical writers are creating content whether for the web or any kind of print media, we need to be conscious of potential disabilities. When we write for the web, some of that content may always be on the web. People will age with the content. What could have been clear and effective writing in the present, could be confusing or even wordy in the future. There may be no solution to making sure our content is just as effective now as it will be 50 years from now. By planning for as many disabilities and trying to reach as many audiences by using every mode possible, we as writers could get close this Utopian ideal. As I learned from a Lynda.com tutorial, good writing is already SEO optimized. I believe that applies to all writing. Good writing is good writing. Shakespeare lives on because his content was good enough to outlive changes in language. By accounting for disabilities we too can improve the chances of our writing outlasting ourselves.

When I'm performing chores around the house, I like to have something visual on in the background. Usually that takes the shape something on Netflix, usually The Office or some kind of sporting event. However, sometimes I get adventurous and I will put a movie on that has subtitles. I then find that when I am sweeping the floor I can't just listen to the noise and speech and understand generally what is going on. I have to keep looking up to read the subtitles. Then I stop cleaning.

I thought of this when I read this quote by Jonathan. There were video clips during the discussion but those who were hearing impaired would have trouble understanding the content when they can't hear what is being said, especially if that audio is voice over. While I'm not trying to compare my difficulty to theirs, a user's interaction with the video content can be hampered without proper attention to something as simple as subtitles. I find it interesting that even hip hop concerts are beginning to incorporate ASL translators too sign the lyrics of the song. This is something I find massively impressive as some rappers rap faster than others. This way even though there are no subtitles, someone who is deaf can understand what is being said and follow along.

As people become more conscious of those with disabilities I look forward to see how languages like ASL could be incorporated into more public events in the future.

I find this passage interesting since Jonathan was confronted with his own "audiocentric privilege" by attending a DSDJ event that was geared primarily for those who speak American Sign Language and he, as a non-ASL attendee, was left out of many of the proceedings due to his lack of linguistic (American Sign Language) understanding.

We spend so much time thinking about how someone who is deaf is left out, but very rarely are we personally experience what this is like in real life. Traveling to other countries I have come close to this feeling since I did not speak Italian or French (the French didn't appreciate me trying to speak German) and was left out of conversations, billboards and television. Like I assume a deaf person would, I needed to pay attention to facial movements and hand gestures.

Something that could help us all is to try to attempt to watch a video without sound, take notes and see if we come close to figuring out what the actual film is about without listening. This again could apply to our website since any video we could use, could benefit from having a video that is accessible to the deaf by adding subtitles and transcriptions, which also increase optimization.

I find this passage interesting in that Ron Mace explains what it is that we technical writers are trying to do. He explains that in (information) architecture, all products and environments need to be "usable to the greatest extent possible..." He also mentions and I agree, that this connects very well with the article by George Williams.

The idea of universal design is to include as many audiences as possible. We may never reach them all, but in the pursuit of that lofty ideal we will find the most success as technical writers.

I also like that Mace uses the word "environment". This is a great way to describe how we interact and will continue to interact with websites for example, in the future. In creating this content, we are creating an environment that should be usable to multiple audiences. By creating an environment for just one small audience we are creating content that has bad usability and will eventually become obsolete as users find better and more efficient ways to communicate.

Universal Design is a necessary ideal when trying to appeal to as many audiences as possible. I like how Yergeau et al acknowledges that universal design is a "means rather than an end". In both readings, I believe that the ideals of universal design to reach all audiences may be impossible, but the pursuit of it is worth the trouble. He also goes on to explain that there will never be a text that is all things to all people. I believe that this means we need to strive to achieve universal design, but also know in the back of our minds that it may be impossible. Since the purpose of technology is to assist humans, our job is to assist those humans by doing our best to apply the concepts of universal design to our work. There may always be someone that is left out of our designs, but as long as we try to include as many people as we can we will find ourselves included on the team as well as employed.

I think this is a great quote about how the world has and does view those with special needs. As a past history major one always has to research a little more when the word "eccentric" is used. Often that word can describe a whole litany of conditions when used in older texts.

I also like the phrase that Rick uses, "Eccentric and extraordinary bodies have the potential to puncture the illusion of the universal..." People that have special needs are actually the people that can be the reason that the needle of technology is pushed forward. As Williams mentions, "All technology is assistive in the end." Some may look at those with disabilities as holding back efficiency by requiring assistance. But that assistance is what can push technology forward, especially when applied to universal design. By making technology easier to use for as many audiences as possible, we are improving not only the tech but helping puncture the illusion that Rick mentions in the above quote.

This is a definition that comes up again in William's article about Universal Design. Building physical and digital environments can provide barrier free access to people with disabilities. By doing this with Universal Design those with disabilities can operate more independently and rely on humans less. But Rick goes on to explain that at times, technology fails and humans can still offer assistance that technology cannot yet provide.

I can understand that when one goes through life with special needs, they may start to feel like a burden to the people around them. This guilt can force someone to use technology, especially if that person doesn't have anyone they can depend on to help them consistently. Technology can fill that gap. But as the author explains there are limitations, but those limitations are what will fuel future innovation.

American Sign Language uses embodied actions, manual gestures and facial expressions. Jonathan explains that all of these expressions are crucial in creating a system of grammar for those with speaking disabilities. He mentions that Flash Video clips are crucial for content. I'm not sure how exactly this helps, but in my own experience I have seen this help with autistic and disabled children from my time as a substitute teacher with Atlanta Public Schools.

During my day with an elementary level special needs class I noticed that at times the students could easily work on a task such as math for a few minutes, no longer, before losing interest or becoming frustrated. However, when they were placed in front of a computer and provided a video about math, they were not only immediately engaged, but visibly happier. Having taken this class thus far, I now find that experience even more interesting considering our reading assignment. When other modes of communication were presented to children with learning disabilities the same information that had minutes before been ignored on paper was now, it seemed, being learned and a more full comprehension accomplished.

In our strategy, we need to see where we might be able to add a video or a visual element that may help not only a child, but an adult as well. These children will eventually become adults and will need this type of assistance in the future. Since technical writers are in the business of taking something that is complex and making it simpler and easier to understand, it would behoove us think about this when possible in creating our content. Text only content is boring to most, but with someone who may be suffering from a learning disability it could be almost impossible to understand the material. This would be very frustrating if the content was a necessary part of their daily life.

I believe that Jane Bringold is correct in her assertion that Universal Design is a bit Utopian. The "Utopian Ideal" of Universal Design seems more theoretical than practical. I would compare this to translating languages in literature. There are words, phrases and feelings that may not exist in one language but are very important and intrinsic in another. To me, in translating different media to other mediums, there will always be something that is lost. Whether just watching a movie with no sound and subtitles or reading a book and then viewing the movie, elements of the original content will be lost for different audiences. Therefore striving for a that "Utopian Ideal" is not a worthless endeavor since it will bring us closer and closer to Universal Design and thus closer better comprehension of content. But there may always be a slight disconnect between mediums. So when applied to technical writing, I believe that our goal is to get as close as we can to Universal Design so that our content can be as inclusive and effective as possible. The more audiences the content can speak to, the more valuable that content can be. Also, the more valuable the creator/writer of that content will be...