Abstract

Within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we often talk about access as something relating largely to disabled people and their experiences with technologies.  However, by doing so, we end up relegating the access requirements that are met per default as an unmarked norm, governing our expectations and technological contexts of who is intended to primarily engage with technological artefacts.  In this talk, I lay out the deficit-oriented approach predominantly found in technology research around disability and delineate a potential different way of understanding experiential dimensions of technologies through access affordances based on a relational understanding of disability. I close by illustrating how this concept allows us to  conceptually and actually open up the (technological) design spaces to practically engage with a long overdue notion of disability justice in HCI that works beyond a functional understanding of access. 

Bio

I research marginalised perspectives on embodied computing through a lens of Critical Access. My work informs design and engineering supporting the development of technologies that account for the diverse realities they operate in. In my interdisciplinary collaborations with neurodivergent and/or nonbinary peers, I conduct explorations of novel potentials for designs, methodologies and innovative technological artefacts. Currently, I lead a small team investigating how we experience access with interactive technologies as part of an ERC Starting Grant. https://www.experiencing-access.eu/