Professor going mute. Anyone heard of such a thing? What happened?

[Alstromeria]

I'm a faculty member in a very tough situation. I've developed a neurological condition that makes me mute much of the time. It's a lifetime thing, but it used to be very intermittent, and now it keeps me from classroom teaching sometimes--had to take a leave last semester because I couldn't speak at all, for several weeks. It's not clear whether, or how much, I will recover, but the kicker is that, when I push myself too hard to keep talking, I am more likely to fall mute for longer periods of time. So I can't really push my limits.

I'm at an R1, supervise a bunch of grad students, etc. (work in the humanities but supervise grad students in more than one department). My school is decent about accommodations and so on but our union rep/equivalent has basically said that I could be out of luck because talking is considered an essential function of my job. Beyond that, I'm just not sure how I would teach if I'm mute or largely mute, no matter how creative I got. I can write lectures (though not always give them myself) and supervise a grad student with an AAC (as you can imagine, they love this). Has anyone ever known a professor to go mute? Did they ever stay on and keep working at the university? Any brainstorms here, other than switching lines of work entirely and hoping to become an independent scholar somewhere?

[Kron3007]

I know it isn't ideal, but there is plenty of technology to facilitate text to voice.  I can't see how you could be let go for going mute when there are viable solutions such as this, but I am in Canada and have been shocked about employment standards in some states.

Steven Hawking seemed to make it work...

[OneMoreYear]

For the teaching piece specifically, could you teach online asynchronous classes, so you can record the mini-lectures when you are able to speak (and re-use them over several semesters),and you would not need to lecture on-demand?

 

[Puget]

I'm sorry for your troubles-- Unless you are teaching singing or something, I can't see how speaking with your own voice can be considered a legitimate requirement. Text-to-speech seems like a perfectly reasonable accommodation. I would think you would have a very good ADA lawsuit case if they try to fire you rather than let you use that accommodation.

[Ruralguy]

Yes, it seems to me that text to voice can help as well as what people mentioned about asynchronous lectures, or maybe just loading up on student activities and guest lecturers (which can be weird if you are teaching calculus or a language, but hey, this is a special situation).

You don't have to comment any further on your condition, but if there are any unexplored medical avenues, you may wish to explore them.


Oh, and as Puget alludes to, issues of accommodation in the U.S. are federal in that they are dictated by federal law that must be adhered to, and thus attempts at reasonable accommodation must be made before anyone just gives up or fires someone (by the way, most schools would just be more likely to not accommodate you and let you twist in the wind rather than fire you, which would lead to many more difficulties). Even if you are in Right to Work State, federal law, a union (you clearly have one) and your own contract (if tenure track/tenured) can protect you to a large degree (though your union rep is correct that if the employer can show that the job simply can't be done with your disability, and they have nowhere else they can put you,
then they can maybe fire you---but there are so many places they can put you before they just get rid of you.

For instance, I know of a deaf professor in my field. Although there are many degrees of deafness as well as ways people can adapt, he really had trouble with big lectures, which was nearly all of them at this school, so
they let him fulfill most of his teaching obligation by organizing curriculum/lab development and other matters related to setting up intro labs. My point is that there are almost always alternatives, so dumping you would be seen as way too extreme by almost anybody.

Hang in there, this seems doable. Granted, a lot of folks at most schools aren't used to this sort of thing, but if you ask around and talk to people in other offices (might find cooperative folks at computing center or library) you can probably find a solution.

[Parasaurolophus]

The internet ate my original reply.

Between the ADA and institutional sick leave policies, etc., I think you're not as out of luck as the union rep made out.  Definitely talk to both HR and the disabilities office, which will have some experience with this very accommodation for students. In particular, you can definitely use text-to-speech software to record lectures and to answer questions in real time. The disabilities office will have a better idea of what your workaround options are.

I had a prof with a similar problem in UG. He was great, actually, and we worked around his mute days.

[Hegemony]

Online asynchronous classes can be a lifesaver for various conditions. I don't have any lectures in mine at all (the studies show that students don't listen all the way through, if at all). So mine are entirely "voiceless," though I have slides, written-out "lectures," videos, and lots of other kinds of material.

I second getting the disabilities office involved, and if they are unhelpful, a lawyer who is expert at the ADA. This is in no way a career-stopper.

[Ruralguy]

I'll third the disabilities office, though at some smaller schools they can be completely focused on students.
Even in such a case, they may be able to at least help in terms of helpful software and hardware since students are likely to have had any disability you can think of, at some time or another.

[Chemystery]

For the teaching piece specifically, could you teach online asynchronous classes, so you can record the mini-lectures when you are able to speak (and re-use them over several semesters),and you would not need to lecture on-demand?

 

Even if you can't teach asynchronous online, the suggestion to record lecture videos when you are able seems like a very good one.  That way you could have an archive you could draw from on days when you aren't able to talk rather than needing to cancel class.

I lost my voice part way through a biochem class once, maybe ten years ago.  It was mostly back the next week, but I spent the weekend looking for text to speech programs that might have some chance of pronouncing biochemistry terms correctly. 

[kaysixteen]

All these suggestions have real merit, but the students do have some rights too.   The clear point here is that, *in real class time*, the professor has to be able to answer spontaneous student questions.

[fleabite]

All these suggestions have real merit, but the students do have some rights too.   The clear point here is that, *in real class time*, the professor has to be able to answer spontaneous student questions.

Text-to-speech technology allows that. The student asks a question; the professor types a reply which is translated into speech.

[Parasaurolophus]

All these suggestions have real merit, but the students do have some rights too.   The clear point here is that, *in real class time*, the professor has to be able to answer spontaneous student questions.

Text-to-speech technology allows that. The student asks a question; the professor types a reply which is translated into speech.

Even just using a projected screen does that, provided the students can read.

[Ruralguy]

Also, if you tell students in advance that you may not be able to answer every question spontaneously, but you will answer them, then I think you are covered.

[Caracal]

It could probably work, but I think you'd have to redesign classes around it. A ten minute recorded mini lecture where students could ask questions and they could be answered through a text to speech program, followed by other activities that could also work with text to speech may work. What wouldn't work is just prerecording a 50 minute lecture or something.

[AJ_Katz]

"My school is decent about accommodations and so on but our union rep/equivalent has basically said that I could be out of luck because talking is considered an essential function of my job."

I think it could easily be argued that communication is an essential function, but not talking. 

Contact the ADA Office today.  Bring all of these ideas about possible accommodations to them and get that conversation started now.