Boston University – Alice Wong

Summary

Alice Wong, the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project, was asked by Boston University to change her remarks which she had pre-submitted before a virtual talk at Boston University’s School of Public Health.  Out of a fear of being disinvited, Wong changed her remarks, though there was no explicit threat of being disinvited.

Because she cannot speak, Wong requires questions in advance of public appearances. This allows her to type answers ahead of time to more efficiently use a text-to-speech app. In her pre-written responses for her appearance at BU, she included the phrase “F U Dr. Fauci” and the names of several other public health officials she criticized.

Wong said the event organizers did not distribute a code of conduct or speech policy when she was invited to speak. Nor did they make clear their intention to pre-review and screen her remarks. In her blog, she wrote: “Never ever did I think my access needs would be used to have me modify my remarks which would never happen at a live event unless they cut off my microphone or pulled me off the stage.”

Days before the scheduled talk, a school official wrote to Wong, asking that she change “F U Dr. Fauci” to “I disagree with Dr. Fauci” and to remove the names of the other officials. In doing so, the school inadvertently transformed a simple accessibility request into an opportunity to muffle the activist’s speech.

The BU official claimed the request was in accordance with the School of Public Health’s speech guidelines, saying in an email to Wong that “we do not encourage calling out people who are not present” and “we do not lend our platform to speech that is non-rebuttable.”

In her blog, Wong said she changed her remarks out of fear of being disinvited. While the email from the school official did not include an explicit threat of disinvitation, the chilling effect of the request was nonetheless felt.

In addition, in an email to PEN America, Wong said the event organizers did not distribute a code of conduct or speech policy when she was invited to speak. Nor did they make clear their intention to pre-review and screen her remarks. In her blog, she wrote: “Never ever did I think my access needs would be used to have me modify my remarks which would never happen at a live event unless they cut off my microphone or pulled me off the stage.”