UW CREATE

Ph.D. student Ather Sharif targets personalized design, visualizations, ableism

Headshot of Ather Sharif outside on a sunny balcony with blue sky behind him

Media sites offer digital graphics for important information such as election polling data, stock market trends, and COVID-19, excluding many users. CREATE Ph.D. student Ather Sharif‘s research on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) focuses on designing data visualizations to be accessible by people with low vision or who are blind. “We have built a world where people…


Feldner and Steele’s ‘Reimagining Mobility’ series featured in The Daily

Collaboration and diverse perspectives and approaches are at the heart of CREATE’s mission to make technology accessible and make the world accessible though technology. One program developed by CREATE faculty looks at mobility solutions and ways to eliminate barriers. Hosted by CREATE associate directors Kat Steele and Heather Feldner, the Reimagining Mobility Conversation Hub brings…


Year 1 Impact Report

Front page of the accessible Year 1 CREATE impact report with highlights and photos from research

A whirlwind year of accessible technology research, education, collaboration, fundraising and recognition is highlighted in CREATE’s Year 1 Impact Report.


Faculty and Alumni win awards at ASSETS 2021

ASSETS 2021 logo, with elaborate typeface and bright orange and yellow outlines

CREATE faculty and alumni scooped up several awards at the ASSETS 2021 conference. Paper Impact Award: Mankoff, Best Paper award: Katharina Reinecke, Best Artifact: scia11y team.


Go Baby Go Car Adaptation Workshop

UW Go Baby Go, co-directed by CREATE Associate Director Heather Feldner, is excited to announce its fall workshop where we will build ten Go Baby Go cars for local children with disabilities and their families! UW and CREATE students, postdocs, and faculty (especially from engineering, computer science, and rehab programs), local clinicians, and parents/caregivers are all…


Reimagining Mobility: Urban Accessibility – from Crowdsourcing to AI

Sign up for the Conversations In December 2021, CREATE faculty Anat Caspi and Jon Froehlich discussed the innovative ways they are using AI, crowdsourcing, and translational research to reimagine urban accessibility. Teams from the UW Makeability Lab and the UW Taskar Center for Accessible Technology have worked to develop and deploy tools like AccessMaps, OpenSidewalks,…


Reimagining Mobility: Collecting Data. Creating Plans. Removing Barriers?

On November 18, 2021 Dr. Yochai Eisenberg shared successes and challenges in the pursuit of accessible pedestrian networks. We discussed community mobility as it relates to accessible pathways, use of public transportation, and modes of travel to destinations. Dr. Eisenberg described a systematic mobility evaluation, detailed some of the findings, and shared the conclusion that…


Reimagining Mobility: Inclusive Architecture

On October 13, 2021 Karen Braitmayer shared images from her experience of— and critical goals for— inclusive architecture. Noting that the best and brightest designers might come in bodies that are different than employers expect, she called for design schools to welcome students with disabilities and for design firms to hire and support the careers…


Help make the WSDOT website more accessible

Anthro-Tech is looking for people who use screen readers and other assistive technology to participate in a usability study on the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) website redesign. During a study session, the facilitator will show the participant the new website and ask them to use it to complete a few tasks. Sessions will take place…


Recruiting for Tactile Map Participants

UW researchers are seeking participants for a paid study. Who: People who are blind or low vision who use a screen reader and are 18 years or older.What: Participants will be asked to test 3D-printed tactile maps. Sessions are 60 minutes. For details, see the signup survey.Where: UW Seattle campus.When: August.Compensation: $40 and a travel…


CREATE Community Day and research showcase

CREATE Community Day 2021 was a rich program that included an important discussion of the concerns and approaches to just, sustainable accessibility research that puts the needs of community members with disabilities front and center.

CREATE members highlighted what their labs are doing, with time to hear about a variety of individual projects. Read on for a sample of the presentations.


$1M NIDILRR award for leadership training program

A team of CREATE faculty has received a five-year, $1M grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) for the project, “ARRT: Postdoctoral Training in Physical Computing and Fabrication to Support Innovations for Community Living and Participation.” Congratulations on the funding to the team members: Co-PI Jennifer Mankoff, Ph.D and…


Grad student Kelly Mack receives a Dennis Lang award

Kelly Mack, a young white woman with wavy brownish hair, smiles for the camera. She wears a blue floral blouse.

Kelly Mack, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and mentored by CREATE Founding Co-Director Jen Mankoff, received a Dennis Lang Award from the UW Disabilities Studies program and the following praise: “Kelly is dedicated to improving accessibility for disabled students at UW through her research, service, and mentoring and allyship. Her thesis work will examine…


Jon Froehlich named Outstanding Faculty Member by the UW College of Engineering

Congrats to CREATE Associate Director Jon Froehlich on being selected for the Outstanding Faculty Award by the UW College of Engineering! As noted by the College, Froehlich went to extraordinary measures to support his students’ learning during the pandemic. He fundamentally transformed physical computing courses for virtual platforms, assembled and mailed hardware kits to students’…


CREATE Research Showcase – Spring 2021

Schedule of events for the 2021 CREATE Research Showcase. Open to the public, CREATE faculty and students share research in accessibility.


The Future of Assistive Technology: A Panel Discussion

Anat Caspi participated in a panel discussion on the future of assistive technology and how recent innovations are likely to affect the lives of people with disabilities.


Reimagining Mobility: Inclusive Living and Home Design

Barry Long is an advocate for people with disabilities who is helping to make real estate more accessible. Watch our third Conversation Hub session, where Long shares past challenges and future improvements in inclusive, visitable homes.


Accessible CS Education workshop focuses on inclusive experiences

Amid a global pandemic, innovative thinkers have been hard at work developing plans to improve equity in modern learning environments. The Accessible Computer Science Education Fall Workshop was held November 17-19, 2020, and jointly sponsored by Microsoft, The Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, and CREATE. Each day of the event focused on strategies to improve…


Research Workshop for Undergraduates with Disabilities

Two student participants at the 2019 OurCS workshop use virtual reality goggles and hand controllers

CREATE and UW AccessComputing co-sponsored a 3-day research-focused workshop for undergraduates in computing fields who have disabilities.


Education: Accessibility and Race

Collage of the logo for Chicas Talk Disability podcast and a screenshot of an online panel discussion with many people of color.

The Fall 2020 CREATE Accessibility Seminar focused on the intersection of Race and Accessibility. This topic was chosen both for its timeliness and also as part of CREATE’s commitment to ensure that our work is inclusive, starting with educating ourselves about the role of race in disability research and the gaps that exist in the field.


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