Negotiated Agency

A dynamic model of creative control in collaborative content creation where individuals with disabilities fluidly shift between the roles of director, collaborator, and editor in response to the task at hand, their personal preferences for privacy and autonomy, and the trustworthiness of available support systems. Rather than aspiring toward full autonomy or defaulting to external assistance, creators practising negotiated agency actively manage when to maintain direct control, when to delegate, and when to share creative decisions with human collaborators or AI tools. This concept highlights that agency in accessible workflows is not binary but contextual, shaped by the social and emotional stakes of collaboration as well as technical capabilities.