Michael Ben, Alemu Kibret, T. Claire Davies, and Shital Desai
People with speech impairments continue to face barriers to employment inclusion despite advances in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), assistive technologies, and AI-mediated communication tools. This paper examines workplace communication inclusion as a systemic design challenge rather than a problem of technology access alone. Drawing on qualitative data from a hybrid participatory workshop held at York University in October 2024, the study analyses lived-experience narratives and stakeholder discussions involving people with speech impairments, clinicians, researchers, caregivers, educators, an employer, service providers, and community partners. Transcripts were first coded thematically in ATLAS.ti and then translated into system variables and relationships between variables. These relationships were consolidated and visualised in Kumu to examine how communication access, workplace accommodation, social recognition, institutional trust, and emerging technologies interact.
The findings show that workplace communication inclusion is shaped by institutional conditions, relational communication practices, and technological tensions. Exclusion is reinforced when assumptions about competence, fast speech-based workplace norms, limited AAC literacy, and unclear governance structures constrain participation. Inclusion, by contrast, depends on social patience, communication partner attention, reliable AAC access, workplace accommodation, and recognition of multimodal communication as legitimate professional participation. The paper identifies design implications for workplaces, AAC systems, and AI-mediated communication, arguing that inclusive work futures require redesigning communication environments rather than only improving individual technologies.
Keywords: speech impairment, AAC, workplace inclusion, communication, participatory research