The Online Writing Center: Reaching Out To Students With Disabilities
Stéphanie Riès · Texas ScholarWorks (Texas Digital Library) · 2017
The case for online Writing Center services has been built upon arguments of geographical needs, cost effectiveness, and overall time efficiency. A largely overlooked population who would benefit from these online services is that of students with disabilities. Stephanie Kerschbaum comments on this overlooked population in her text on multimodality stating, “Far too often, disability is an afterthought rather than considered at the incipient design of the digital text.” The case for Online Writing Centers is no different. As centers grapple with which programs to use and how to train tutors to work in this environment, they overlook the use of online tutoring for students with disabilities. In exploring how this interface can preserve identity and promote accessibility, Writing Centers can create a greater outreach to a diverse student body.