October 13, 2023
What are the opportunities for research to engage the intersection of race and disability?
What is the value of considering how constructs of race and disability work alongside each other within accessibility research studies?
Two CREATE Ph.D. students have explored these questions and found little focus on this intersection within accessibility research. In their paper, Working at the Intersection of Race, Disability and Accessibility (PDF), they observe that we’re missing out on the full nuance of marginalized and “otherized” groups.
The Allen School Ph.D. students, Aashaka Desai and Aaleyah Lewis, and collaborators will present their findings at the ASSETS 2023 conference on Tuesday, October 24.
Spurred by the conversation at the Race, Disability & Technology research seminar earlier in the year, members of the team realized they lacked a framework for thinking about work at this intersection. In response, they assembled a larger team to conduct an analysis of existing work and research with accessibility research.
The resulting paper presents a review of considerations for engaging with race and disability in the research and education process. It offers analyses of exemplary papers, highlights opportunities for intersectional engagement, and presents a framework to explore race and disability research. Case studies exemplify engagement at this intersection throughout the course of research, in designs of socio-technical systems, and in education.
Case studies
- Representation in image descriptions: How to describe appearance, factoring preferences for self-descriptions of identity, concerns around misrepresentation by others, interest in knowing others’ appearance, and guidance for AI-generated image descriptions.
- Experiences of immigrants with disabilities: Cultural barriers that include cultural disconnects and levels of stigma about disability between refugees and host countries compound language barriers.
- Designing for intersectional, interdependent accessibility: How access practices as well as cultural and racial practices influence every stage of research design, method, and dissemination, in the context of work with communities of translators.
Authors
- Christina N. Harrington, Assistant Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon
- Aashaka Desai, Ph.D. student in the Allen School, advised by Jennifer Mankoff and Richard Ladner
- Aaleyah Lewis, Ph.D. student in the Allen School, advised by James Fogarty
- Sanika Moharana, Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon
- Anne Spencer Ross, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Bucknell University
- CREATE Director Jennifer Mankoff