[Ohio-talk] FW: [DIC] DIC End of Year Report

[Smith, JW]

Dear NFBO Family, Friends and Colleagues:

I would be interested in your feelings and thoughts about item 2 in the rather lengthy post below after my signature.

Iwas not at this particular meeting so I don’t know if I could have impacted the discussion if I had been their, but many of you know how sighted people love to make determinations about us and things about us, with out us, right?

I’d like too forward some appropriate comments on to this group from real blind people or you can do it yourself by following the instructions at the end of the post.

I just saw this so let me know your reactions ok?

Jw

Dr. jw Smith
School of Communication Studies
Scripps College of Communication
Schoonover Center, Rm. 427
Athens, OH 45701
smithj at ohio.edu<mailto:smithj at ohio.edu>
T: 740-593-4838


From: Disabilities Issues Caucus [mailto:DIC at LISTS.NATCOM.ORG] On Behalf Of Jim Cherney
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 11:57 AM
To: DIC at LISTS.NATCOM.ORG
Subject: [DIC] DIC End of Year Report

From Jim Cherney, DIC Chair

I apologize for delaying this report about what happened at NCA; it’s been a long end of the semester! But since it’s so late, I’m going to take the opportunity to make it an “end of the year” report on DIC issues in general.

It's a long post, so I divided it into subsections addressing the following:

1. Change to Language in Bylaws
2. “Blind Review” and Ableist Terminology
3. Task Force on Diversity and Inclusivity
4. DIC Bylaws Amendment
5. DIC Elections
6. New Business?

*********

1. Change to Language in Bylaws

At the Legislative Assembly meeting in 2015, Joy Cypher and I realized that the most recent (at the time) proposed bylaws contained language that potentially discriminated on the basis of ability. Article III.7: “Executive Committee of the Board of Directors,” specified in part that: “The Executive Committee may hold meetings using telephone or electronic means that allow participants to hear and speak to each other” (italics added).

I asked Nancy Kidd, then the NCA Executive Director, about the logic behind this language. Particularly for our organization, it seemed to me that a less discriminatory phrase that served the same purpose would read “allow participants to communicate with each other.”

Nancy confessed that ze did not know when this language became part of the proposed document, as it appeared in earlier versions of the bylaws that had been in effect for some time. Ze completely understood the problem, and promised to contact the NCA attorney and develop more appropriate language. In May 2016, ze wrote me that based on hir advice the next version of the bylaws would use the phrase “allow participants to actively deliberate with each other.” (I believe that this resolves the potential problem, but if anyone sees an issue with this language, please let me know.)
*********

2. “Blind Review” and Ableist Terminology

This next item was widely discussed and covered in CRTNET, and Phaedra Pezzullo (among others) posted on Facebook, so I’ll be brief.

As I was our planner for the 2016 convention I had the opportunity to bring up an issue with those responsible for the guidelines for NCA submissions. Specifically, I wrote Michelle Randall, NCA’s Director of Conventions and Meetings who plays a key role in the process of assembling the convention, asking NCA to remove the language “blind review” and “blind copy” from its suggestions for how to word an appropriate call for proposals. Since the individual units are all responsible for the wording of their own calls, NCA does not control how those read, but these terms were being used on NCA’s website and in its directions to the planners.

I suggested that NCA recognize the way that this use of “blind” relied upon and perpetuated the ableist stereotype that associates blindness with ignorance, and should use instead another term. I offered “anonymous review” and “anonymous copy” as alternatives. Michelle readily agreed that NCA should adopt less ableist terminology, and after speaking with other NCA administrators ze reported that they would use the phrases “peer review” and “unidentifiable copy” in place of the problematic terms in their own literature, and encourage the units to consider adopting similar terms in their calls.

The change rippled through the units, and planners from several of them contacted me and reported that they were amending their calls. Others told me that they were raising the concern with other organizations to which they belonged, and I have heard that this produced some results. For example, I was contacted by David Mcmahan, President of the Central States Communication Association, expressing support for the effort and reporting that their executive committee planned to adopt new language in future CSCA calls.

*********

3. Task Force on Diversity and Inclusivity

One of Stephen Hartnett’s initiatives was creation of a task force to develop an NCA policy on Diversity and Inclusivity. I was invited by former NCA President Kathleen Turner to join the task force to represent concerns associated with access and ability. The task force’s work is discussed in detail in the March 2016 Spectra (although my name was inadvertently omitted from the list of members identified in the article). Throughout the year, the Task Force has worked via monthly conference calls to develop an appropriate policy and related programs to promote diversity and inclusion in NCA and its affiliated institutions.

That work is still in development, and a report on its activities would be premature, but I do want to affirm that the Task Force has been very interested in making access a key part of the evolving policy and addressing issues of ability in its project. In particular, in several places we have added terms addressing access in the policy. For example, we now use the language “a more diverse, inclusive, and accessible environment” to describe one of our goals for the organization, and use the phrase “access, diversity, and inclusivity” to identify the focus of the task force.

I will continue to work with the task force for the duration of its mandate.

*********

4. DIC Bylaws Amendment

Sandy Pensoneau-Conway proposed an amendment to the bylaws to make it possible for members not present at the business meeting to run for office in our elections, and to use alternative mechanisms to conduct elections outside of the meeting. The amendment was modified and adopted, and it appears in the version of the bylaws that Sandy distributed on our listserve in November 2016.

Because of wording elsewhere in the bylaws, our current policy continues to limit those who vote in the election to the members present at the meeting. A few of the officers have begun a conversation about problems with (and the rationale behind) this practice, and will likely present an appropriate amendment at the 2017 meeting.

*********

5. DIC Elections

Results of the elections held at NCA and online after the conference:

Vice Chair Elect: Keith Nainby
Student Representative: Kourtney Maison
LA Representative: Lindy Davidson
AAIC/Diversity Council Representative: Brian Grewe
Nominating Committee Representative: Jim Cherney

These officers will join those currently installed:

Chair: Jim Cherney
Vice Chair: Brian Grewe
Access Committee Chair: Davi Kallman
Secretary: Allison Brenneise

For those who wish to plan ahead, in 2017 we will elect a new Vice Chair Elect, Student Representative, and Secretary.

*********

6. New Business?

Some have discussed the idea that we should make the Student Representative a 2-year term, and I would like to hear your thoughts on the idea. If I find sufficient interest, then I will include an amendment to that effect on our agenda in 2017.

Please feel free to email me personally at jlcherney at gmail.com<mailto:jlcherney at gmail.com> or to send a post to the DIC list. To do the latter, send your post to Allison Brenneise (brenneise at siu.edu<mailto:brenneise at siu.edu>) so she can send it out to all the DIC members.

*********

Thank you to all who have contributed to these efforts, and my most sincere apologies to those whose accomplishments I neglected to mention. If you have anything you would like to add to our list of successes, please send it to me and I will send out an updated report.

I hope that 2017 turns out as productive as 2016, and that you're all having a nice winter break!

Later,
jim



This is a listserve for members of the Disability Issues Caucus of NCA.

The DIC Secretary moderates this list, so send your posts to Caucus Secretary Erin McAloon at em270413 at ohio.edu<mailto:em270413 at ohio.edu>

The DIC asks that you:

1. Send replies to posts to the Secretary, as posts that "reply to" the list will bounce back.

2. When replying to a message please delete the message to which you are replying. This will help avoid clogging in-boxes.

3. Instead of posting articles, please send only a link or a citation with a brief summary of the article. This will respect copyright laws.

Thank you!

________________________________

To unsubscribe from the DIC list, click the following link:
http://lists.natcom.org/scripts/wa.exe?TICKET=NzM2MzU2IHNtaXRoakBPSElPLkVEVSBESUMgIChZ%2BssksM0B&c=SIGNOFF

To read NCA's Listserv Terms, click on the following link: http://www.natcom.org/listservterms.