Ashleigh Haw: Building information resilience through accessible communication practice: The case of migrants and people with disability in Australia

Datum
12. Mai 2025 

Online Lec­ture

Dr Ash­leigh Haw, Uni­ver­si­ty of Can­ber­ra: „Build­ing infor­ma­tion resilience through acces­si­ble com­mu­ni­ca­tion prac­tice: The case of migrants and peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ty in Australia”

Date: Mon­day 12 May, 2025
Time: 12–1pm AEST
Loca­tion: Room 4.69 RSSS Building

Join Zoom Meeting
https://anu.zoom.us/j/85293466550?pwd=aHRXMVFZMUM4T1o2U0pNYWhkWjFJZz09

Meet­ing ID: 852 9346 6550
Pass­word: 0000

Abstract:
Dur­ing any cri­sis event, trust­wor­thy com­mu­ni­ca­tion is cru­cial for fos­ter­ing safe and informed soci­eties. Dur­ing the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic, how­ev­er, con­sid­er­able dis­par­i­ties in access to reli­able infor­ma­tion (includ­ing vital health advice and resources) were observed; espe­cial­ly for migrants and peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ty. These com­mu­ni­ties are, con­se­quent­ly, more vul­ner­a­ble to the neg­a­tive impacts of ‘infor­ma­tion dis­or­ders’, which encom­pass both unin­ten­tion­al mis­in­for­ma­tion and inten­tion­al dis­in­for­ma­tion (mis/disinformation), how­ev­er, their expe­ri­ences and needs remain under­ex­am­ined in research and pol­i­cy efforts to address the per­va­sive prob­lem of infor­ma­tion disorders. 

In this pre­sen­ta­tion, Ash­leigh will dis­cuss the find­ings and impli­ca­tions aris­ing from inter­view and focus group dis­cus­sions with 16 Mel­bourne-based ser­vice providers, advo­cates, and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers; many of whom have lived expe­ri­ence with migra­tion and/or dis­abil­i­ty. A reflex­ive approach to Inter­pre­tive The­mat­ic Analy­sis – draw­ing on Struc­tur­al Racism the­o­ry and a Crip Stud­ies approach to dis­abil­i­ty jus­tice – revealed that a lack of access to reli­able and trust­wor­thy infor­ma­tion about the cri­sis – includ­ing local and nation­al poli­cies, health advice/guidelines, and avenues for sup­port – rou­tine­ly led migrant com­mu­ni­ties and peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ty to engage with harm­ful mis/disinformation about the threat of the virus, the effi­ca­cy of vac­cines, and poten­tial med­ical interventions. 

In pre­sent­ing these find­ings, she will draw on exist­ing lit­er­a­ture and the­o­ry sur­round­ing evi­dent con­nec­tions between acces­si­ble com­mu­ni­ca­tion prac­tice and infor­ma­tion resilience in diverse soci­eties. She will also present rec­om­men­da­tions for research, pol­i­cy, and prac­tice seek­ing to mit­i­gate the social, eco­nom­ic, polit­i­cal, and health inequities that arise from (and help to facil­i­tate) infor­ma­tion dis­or­ders in times of crisis. 

Ash­leigh Haw is a Senior Lec­tur­er and Researcher in Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Media at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Can­ber­ra. Her work focus­es on under­stand­ing and advanc­ing social inclu­sion in medi­at­ed com­mu­ni­ca­tion, with a spe­cial inter­est in illu­mi­nat­ing how mar­gin­alised com­mu­ni­ties engage with (and are impact­ed by) news and dig­i­tal media rep­re­sen­ta­tion of their needs and expe­ri­ences. Ashleigh’s most recent research used Covid-19 as a case study to exam­ine the social and health impli­ca­tions of medi­at­ed exclu­sion and mis/disinformation for migrants and peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ty dur­ing glob­al cri­sis events, empha­sis­ing notable impli­ca­tions for research and prac­tice at the inter­sec­tions of inter­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, social pol­i­cy, and crit­i­cal dis­abil­i­ty studies.