Dreaming Disability Justice in HCI
Cella M. Sum, Rahaf Alharbi, Franchesca Spektor, Cynthia L. Bennett, Christina Harrington, Katta Spiel, Anna Williams
Abstract
While disability studies and social justice-oriented research is growing in prominence in HCI, these approaches tend to only bring attention to oppression under a single identity axis (e.g. race-only, gender-only, disability-only, etc). Using a single-axis framework neglects to recognize people’s complex identities and how ableism overlaps with other forms of oppression including classism, racism, sexism, colonialism, among others. As a result, HCI and assistive technology research may not always attend to the complex lived experiences of disabled people. In this one-day workshop, we position disability justice as a framework that centers the needs and expertise of disabled people towards more equitable HCI and assistive technology research. We will discuss harmful biases in existing research and seek to distill strategies for researchers to better support disabled people in the design (and dismantling) of future technologies.