Help and The Social Construction of Access: A Case-Study from India
Vaishnav Kameswaran, Jerry Robinson, Nithya Sambasivan, Gaurav Aggarwal, Meredith Ringel Morris · 2024 · ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility · doi:10.1145/3663548.3675606
Summary
This paper examines the role of help in how people with visual impairments (PVI) navigate indoor environments in India, challenging the Western-centric assumption that independence should be the primary goal of assistive technology design. Through a mixed-methods qualitative study comprising semi-structured interviews with PVI and their companions, plus a video-diary study capturing naturalistic navigation experiences, the researchers investigated how help is sought, offered, and enacted in Indian indoor spaces such as shopping malls, hospitals, government offices, and temples. The study reveals that help is not a failure of independence but a critical, skilled practice that PVI actively manage and rely upon. The Indian context shapes help in distinctive ways: the built environment is often highly variable and unpredictable (uneven floors, unmarked obstacles, constantly shifting layouts in markets), making independent navigation with technology alone impractical in many situations. Cultural norms around collectivism, hospitality, and the social obligation to assist others mean that help is more readily available and socially acceptable than in individualistic Western contexts. However, this help is also shaped by power dynamics — caste, gender, class, and disability status all influence who helps, how, and on whose terms. The paper draws on Goffman's dramaturgical framework and disability studies concepts of interdependence to argue that help is a socially constructed, situated phenomenon rather than a simple transaction.
Key findings
PVI in India navigated indoor environments through a sophisticated repertoire of help-seeking strategies that were deeply shaped by socio-material and cultural context. Help was not a last resort but a primary and skilled practice — participants described reading social cues to identify willing helpers, managing helpers' behaviour (e.g., guiding the guide), and strategically choosing when to accept or decline help based on trust, safety, and social dynamics. The physical environments in India presented unique challenges: many indoor spaces lacked standardised accessibility features, layouts changed frequently, and crowding was common — conditions where technology-only solutions would be insufficient. Companions played a crucial role, with many PVI travelling with family members or friends whose helping practices had been negotiated over time into efficient collaborative routines. Gender significantly shaped help experiences — women PVI reported being more cautious about accepting help from strangers due to safety concerns, and family dynamics sometimes led to overprotective companions limiting the PVI's agency. The study found that help could be both empowering and disempowering depending on how it was enacted — help that respected the PVI's expertise and preferences supported access, while paternalistic help that assumed incompetence undermined it. The video diaries captured micro-interactions showing how help was constantly negotiated in real time through verbal and physical cues.
Relevance
This research makes a vital contribution by decentring Western, individualistic assumptions that dominate AT design and accessibility research. The finding that help is a skilled, socially constructed practice — not a deficit to be eliminated through technology — has profound implications for how assistive technologies are designed, particularly for the Global South where over 80% of people with disabilities live. Rather than designing AT solely to replace human help with technological independence, designers should consider how technology can support, enhance, and make help-seeking safer and more equitable. The gendered dimensions of help raise important intersectional considerations that accessibility practitioners rarely address. For the broader HCI field, the paper contributes to growing recognition that interdependence, not independence, may be a more appropriate and realistic design goal for assistive technology. The cultural specificity of the findings also cautions against universalising accessibility frameworks developed in North American or European contexts without considering local socio-material conditions.
Tags: visual impairment · indoor navigation · Global South · India · social accessibility · help · interdependence · cultural context · mixed-ability interaction