A Visit with Author Ashley Shew

Professor Ashley Shew is the author of this year’s Common Read Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Shew will share a heartwarming keynote followed by a Q&A.

In a warm, feisty voice and vibrant prose, Against Technoableism shows how we can create better narratives and more accessible futures by drawing from the insights of the cross-disability community. To forge a more equitable world, Shew argues that we must eliminate “technoableism”—the harmful belief that technology is a “solution” for disability; that the disabled simply await being “fixed” by technological wizardry; that making society more accessible and equitable is somehow a lesser priority.

Shew is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech since 2011, and specializes in disability studies and technology ethics. Her books include Animal Constructions and Technological Knowledge and Spaces for the Future (coedited). Shew received a Certificate of Teaching Excellence in 2017 and a Diversity Award in 2016, both from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Also in 2016, she received the Sally Bohland Award for Excellence in Access and Inclusion from the Virginia Tech office of Services for Students with Disabilities.