A11Futures Workshop
Please join us at our ASSETS 2023 Workshop on envisioning the future of accessibility work. As technology has extended into new realms, so has our field. Accessibility research is tackling a wider variety of topic areas driven by the observation that people with disabilities are present in (and often over- or under- represented in) all of the same spaces as people without disabilities.
Examples of recent work in these domains include spaces where people with disabilities are under represented (such as in higher education), or under studied (such as research into the experiences of immigrants with disabilities); and research that looks at intersectional identities such as race and disability. However many relevant domains remain to be explored including domains where people with disabilities are over-represented (such as in unhoused populations and in the carceral system) or are at higher risk of harm (such as during disaster response and sustainability). It is also imperative that we engage in positive aspects of disability culture such as mutual aid; disabled joy; sports; hobbies; and family life.
In today’s world, technology is similarly present in all of those spaces; and this raises new types of access questions. This workshop aims to explore and develop goals for a future in which our field broadens its concept of relevant topics in the important work of studying and developing technology that supports and empowers people with disabilities.
Workshop Goals
The goals of this workshop are to develop this agenda and launch a speaker series to explore these topics over the course of the next year. We plan to rotate the time of these talks to accommodate different time zones. We also plan to work together to write a position paper that can inspire, and empower, our community to encourage, engage in, and support the work of extending our field into new and under studied domains. Participation criteria will be based on submission of a relevant writing sample (we allow new writing, previously published formal and informal writing or videos). Participants can select whether accepted papers should be made public or not.
Workshop time and location
- A hybrid West Coast workshop will be held on Tuesday the 17th of October from 1pm-3pm PST at the University of Washington.
- A hybrid East Coast workshop will be held on Sunday the 22nd of October from 10am-12pm EST with an option to join the organizers for lunch afterwards (for in person participants only). Location is still TBD.