<div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default">Hi all,<br><br><i>Speechless</i>,
 a sitcom debuting tonight on ABC in the US, will be the first TV show to feature
 a disabled lead character who uses an augmentative and alternative 
communication system instead of oral speech to express themselves.  <br><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default">In advance of the premiere, I've written an op-ed for <i>VICE Motherboard</i> on the show's potential to generate conversation about the complex intersections of voice, agency, 
and technology -- particularly in today's political environment:<br><br><a target="_blank" href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/what-abcs-new-tv-series-speechless-can-tell-us-about-voice">http://motherboard.vice.com/<wbr>read/what-abcs-new-tv-series-<wbr>speechless-can-tell-us-about-<wbr>voice</a><br><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default">The commentary is based on my book <i>Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality</i> (MIT Press, forthcoming 2017):<br><br><a target="_blank" href="https://merylalper.com/giving-voice/">https://merylalper.com/giving-<wbr>voice/</a><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default">Feel free to pass the article along!  Also happy to hear any and all feedback.<br><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default">Best,<br></div>Meryl</div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><b>Meryl Alper</b><br></div>Assistant Professor<br></div>Department of Communication Studies<br></div>Northeastern University<br></div><div>Holmes 217<br></div><div><a href="mailto:m.alper@northeastern.edu" target="_blank">m.alper@northeastern.edu</a><br></div><div><a href="http://merylalper.com" target="_blank">merylalper.com</a><br></div></div></div></div></div>