Abstract
The unfamiliar and strange apps and workarounds that many found themselves using during the COVID-19 pandemic have become an important ally in my daily life. Honestly, they have been critical to my very existence. I have largely become mute during the pandemic, meaning I have lost my ability to speak due to a progressive neurological disorder. In this piece, I will explain how I have communicated better with my peers and my community because of various workarounds developed to promote social distancing during this pandemic. I will also reflect on these experiences via Burke's concepts of screens existing as a way of "direct[ing] the attention and shap[ing] the observations" of others. While this is not research in the strictest sense, it is lived experience that is embedded with a few theoretical communication applications.
Recommended Citation
Wais-Hennen, Erin M.
(2021)
"Silent but Not Incommunicado: How the Pandemic Helped Overcome My Communication Barriers,"
Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 6:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol6/iss1/3