Meryl Alper

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies (College of Arts, Media, and Design) at Northeastern University. I also hold the positions of Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (Bouvé College of Health Sciences) and Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Cultures, Societies & Global Studies’ Health, Humanities, and Society Program (College of Social Sciences and Humanities & Bouvé College of Health Sciences).

At Northeastern, I study the social, cultural, and health implications of communication technologies, with a focus on disability, digital media, and children and families’ technology use. I am especially interested in the opportunities and challenges that media and technology provide young people with disabilities and their families in the digital age. I approach this research through both social science methods and humanistic inquiry.

You can find some of this work in my books, Digital Youth with Disabilities (MIT Press, 2014) and Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality (MIT Press, 2017), which was awarded a 2018 PROSE Award Honorable Mention from the Association of American Publishers and the 2018 Outstanding Publication in the Sociology of Disability Award from the American Sociological Association. My latest book, Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2023), explores the media and technology practices of young people on the autism spectrum, as well as what it means to be “social” in a socially mediated world. Kids Across the Spectrums has been honored as a 2024 Choice Outstanding Academic Title from the American Library Association (top 10% percent of ~5,000 works reviewed annually in Choice) and with a 2024 Honorable Mention for the Best Book Award from the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) Section of the American Sociological Association.

I locate my scholarship at the intersection of communication studies, science and technology studies, and disability studies. In my research and teaching, I also draw on my professional experience in educational children’s media as a researcher, strategist, and consultant with Sesame Workshop, PBS KIDS, Nickelodeon, and Disney.