Disability Dialogue with Bill

How to Improve Your Writing by Standing on Your Head

Hello everyone,

This month we have been focusing on education, improving our writing, and ways to develop better techniques for our oral presentations. I have an article that will compliment are learning’s we have accomplished this month so far.

Having a disability myself, I find I need to make sure I am concise and meaningful when I am writing. I want to get my point across on the first attempt with as little duplication of efforts as possible. Especially when I want the reader to recognize I am an authority on the subject, stay focused, get my point across and buy off on my idea, or educate the reader; depending on goal of article or message I am writing. I personally think this article will help me towards these goals. I hope it helps you as well.

Ubiquity Volume 8, Issue 33 WRITING TO MAKE SENSE OF WHAT YOU KNOW

Clear, concise, persuasive writing is a fundamental skill needed by every educated person whatever his or her profession. Unfortunately, very few people ever truly master it. Not because it is so difficult, but because schools seldom teach its true essence. IT people, perhaps more than most, know the importance of understanding the fundamentals of a discipline (e.g. mathematics) before it can effectively be put to use. Although a professional writer, Philip Yaffe has degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of California. His articles on persuasive communication (writing & speaking) reflect this background by going straight to the essence of the matter. His article in this issue of Ubiquity, How to Improve Your Writing by Standing on Your Head, should be read together with his previous article The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication

Read How to Improve Your Writing by Standing on Your Head.

Have you ever written in this style and technique? Did it work for you? Where did this type of writing assist you? Are you disabled or have other challenges where this style of writing helped you?

Look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts.

Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

Mathematics of Persuasive Communication

Hello all,

Do you need help writing & speaking so others will buy into your ideas, resulting in getting the outcome you planned for? Are you disabled or have other challenges and attending school like we heard and talked about in Disabled in Higher Education? Do you need to go about accomplishing tasks just a little differently then others to be the most effective for you?

If you can benefit from learning other ways to go about writing and giving oral presentations that may fit your style, I think you will find the following article beneficial.

ACM Ubiquity - The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication
The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication by Philip Yaffe
At first glance mathematics and persuasive communication – writing, and particularly public speaking - would seem to have little in common. After all, mathematics is an objective science, whilst speaking involves voice quality, inflection, eye contact, personality, body language, and other subjective components. However, under the surface they are very similar.

Above anything else, the success of an oral presentation depends on the precision of its structure. Mathematics is all about precision. It is therefore not so odd to think that applying some of the concepts of mathematics to oral presentations could make them substantially more effective.

Read the entire paper “The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication” to learn some techniques that might help you.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Reading this paper brought back memories of some of the techniques I used when preparing and delivering my employee of the year award acceptance speech. Not having any eyesight myself, I had to make sure I wrote my speech, studied and delivered my oral presentation with precision so results would flow smoothly and give the message I wanted to convey.

Let me know after reading how this paper might help you. Any other thoughts of how to help us give better oral presentations or write better to get the results we all want?

Look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

Disabled in Higher Education

Hello one and all,

Are any of you who have disabilities or other challenges thinking about going on to higher education? Do you lack self confidence? Are you afraid of the unknown? If so I found the perfect video for us.

ONLINE VIDEO: The Next Step
This 19-minute video from the Texas Developmental Disability Council presents personal stories from five Texans with disabilities who enrolled in colleges, universities or technical schools. The video is well-produced - fun and engaging. It gives first-hand observations of the higher education experience for people with disabilities. Video takes a little while to load; be patient. It is well-worth the wait!
If you use a screen reader, push enter on your computer’s keyboard after waiting a few minutes; will start the video.

To watch The Next Step Higher Ed Video go to http://www.txddc.state.tx.us/resources/publications/NextStepVideo.asp

Those of you who attended classes and could not use standard printed text know it can be a challenge getting the class materials in some accessible format you can completely understand, like all others students in class. After I have passed the class I feel like I achieved something meaningful and worthwhile towards my goals. I was also glad I did not let the obstacles and inconveniences stop me.

We would love to hear your thoughts and comments. After watching video do you have more confidence to overcome the unknown and be successful at whatever you want to achieve? I hope after watching or listening to video you will not give up on your goals and inspirations.

Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/