Notes from 48th International STC Conference
Chicago, Illinois, May 13-16, 2001

Year II and Growing: A Report from STC's Special Needs Committee

Mark Hanigan, Dan Voss, Gloria Reece, Fabien Vais, Andy Malcolm

Mark Hanigan is Immediate Past President of STC and helped Judy Skinner convert her vision of a Special Needs Committee into a reality. Dan Voss is the incoming manager of the SNC. His focus area was the ethics of special needs. Gloria Reece focused on Web site accessibility for the visually impaired, Fabien Vais on overcoming mobility restrictions, and Andy Malcolm on deafness.

Session Description: This session included a brief overview on how the Special Needs Committee (SNC) came into existence, what it has accomplished to date, and its goals and objectives for the coming years, followed by a progression covering four topics, listed with the presenters below. The committee's charter is to help technical communicators with disabilities overcome their special needs in the practice of our profession and to help end users with disabilities access the products technical communicators create.

Note: Since we were conducting this progression, I obviously couldn't take notes. However, here are links to visuals and handouts from the overview and the progression tables.

Overview -- Mark Hanigan and Dan Voss

• "How Did the Special Needs Committee Get Started?" Tech paper by Mark Hanigan published in the Proceedings to the 2000 conference in Orlando.
• "Year II and Growing: A Report from STC's Special Needs Committee". Presentation includes a look back, with Dan Voss speaking for Judy Skinner, covering accomplishments of the SNC to date; and a look forward, as Voss outlined and statused the goals and objectives pertaining to special needs in the 2001-2005 STC Strategic Plan.
• "Serving Special Needs in Technical Communication". Tech paper by Dan Voss that was originally published in the journal of the American Translators Association (ATA), The Chronicle, in February, 2001, and reprinted in the Proceedings to this conference. It summarizes the history of the Special Needs Committee, outlines its goals and objectives for the years ahead, and appeals to the ATA to form a sister committee and join us in the effort to improve professional opportunities for those with disabilities in our professions.
• "My Brain Works, My Legs Don't!... Let's Take the 'Dis' out of Disabilities". Landmark tech paper by Judy Skinner, Manager Emeritus of the Special Needs Committee, published in Proceedings to the 2000 conference in Orlando.

Ethics and Special Needs -- Dan Voss

• "The Ethics of Special Needs: It's a Matter of Fairness". Presentation summarizing how special needs relate to the six ethical guidelines governing the Society, focusing on the areas of legality, professionalism, and fairness.
• "The Ethics of Special Needs: It's a Matter of Fairness". Tech paper published in the Proceedings, providing in-depth discussion of the subject areas covered in the above presentation.

Web Site Accessibility for the Visually Impaired -- Gloria Reece

• "Usable, Accessible Web Pages for Low Vision: Criteria for Designers". Tech paper by Gloria Reece published in the conference Proceedings.

Deafness -- Andy Malcolm

• "Deafness, an Introduction". Presentation by Andy Malcolm at the progression table.

Mobility Restriction -- Fabien Vais

• "Dealing with Special Mobility Needs: A Lesson in Patience and Coping". Tech paper by Fabien Vais, published in Proceedings.

Home page for STC's Special Needs Committee.

Meet the Special Needs Committee (well, some of us, anyway!)...

Top, from left: Mark Hanigan, Immediate Past STC president; Anke Harris, Dan Voss, SNC Manager; Carolyn Watt, Connie Kiernan. Bottom, from left: Cynthia Lockley, Judy Skinner, SNC Manager Emeritus; Andy Malcolm, Fabien Vais. Not present: Linda Bell, Jodie Gilmore, George Hoerter, Gail Lippincott, Suzanne Lowing, Gloria Reece, Steve Madison, Lori Gillen, Helen Marty.