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• Race, Disability, and Technology: A Call to Action for Accessibility Researchers

  Aashaka Desai, Aaleyah Lewis, Sanika Moharana, Anne Spencer Ross, Jennifer Mankoff, Christina Harrington · 2026 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a framework for accessibility researchers to meaningfully engage with race and disability as intersecting identity dimensions. Building on Kimberlé Crenshaw's foundational work on intersectionality—which originated to address how Black women experienced…

  intersectionality · race · disability studies · research methods · critical theory

• Rhetoric vs Responsibility: How Tech Companies Shape AI for Accessibility

  Aparajita S Marathe, Quan Zhou, Achi Mishra, Anne Marie Piper · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Marathe, Zhou, Mishra, and Piper conduct a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of 126 public-facing blog posts and news articles published between 2016 and 2025 by 11 leading U.S.-based AI companies — Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Eleven Labs, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI,…

  artificial intelligence · AI accessibility · critical discourse analysis · disability justice · critical disability studies

• Robot Characters: Co-Designing Dynamic Personalities for Cognitively Assistive Robots

  Dagoberto Cruz-Sandoval, Alyssa Kubota, Connie Guan, Soyon Kim, Laurel D. Riek · 2026 · ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction

  The paper introduces the concept of a "robot character" — a holistic, context-sensitive framing of robot personality that extends beyond trait-based models such as Big Five by incorporating shared interests, cultural background, lived experiences, and environmental factors. To…

  cognitively assistive robots · robot personality · co-design · inclusive design · dementia

• Rethinking Interdependence in HCI: A Systematic Literature Review for Understanding its Use in Accessibility Studies

  Zeynep Yildiz, Kathrin Gerling · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This paper presents a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of 70 HCI accessibility papers that engage with the concept of interdependence, examining how the field has conceptualized and applied it. The authors started from 894 papers in the ACM Digital Library, screening…

  interdependence · disability studies · disability activism · systematic review · HCI

• The Three Praxes Framework — A Thematic Review and Map of Social Accessibility Research

  JiWoong (Joon) Jang, Patrick Carrington, Andrew Begel · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper by Jang, Carrington, and Begel (Carnegie Mellon) offers a thematic review and conceptual map of fifteen years of "social accessibility" research in HCI—the body of work, inaugurated by Shinohara and Wobbrock in 2011, that studies how disability is experienced…

  social accessibility · disability justice · critical technical practice · research framework · literature review

• When Assistive Technologies become Provocations: Unpacking Access in HCI practices using Crip Technoscience, Mouth Interfaces, and XR

  Puneet Jain, Ayush Sharma, Sidharth Chaudhary, Vivek Rawat, Akhilesh Kumar Bhagat, Kratika Jain, Christian Bayerlein, Christopher Lloyd Salter, Gowdham Prabhakar · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper reframes assistive technology as political provocation rather than technical fix. Developed in long-term collaboration with two disabled artists - Eric Desrosiers (muscular dystrophy) and Christian Bayerlein (spinal muscular atrophy), both mouth-operated…

  crip technoscience · extended reality · XR accessibility · mouth interface · provocation

• Fluid Independence: Powered Wheelchair Users' Perspectives on Autonomy, Care, and Assistive Technology

  Md Tanzil Shahria, Nayan Banik, Md Samiul Haque Sunny, Mohammad H Rahman · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper reports a large qualitative study of 55 powered-wheelchair users (PWUs) across ten U.S. states, using 45-minute semi-structured interviews and Braun-and-Clarke thematic analysis to examine how independence is experienced, negotiated, and mediated by assistive…

  powered wheelchair · assistive technology · participatory design · independence · caregiving

• Exploring AI Opportunities in Deaf Education: Understanding Design Needs Through Teacher and Parent Perspectives in Bangladesh

  Md. Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan, Nadim Mahmud Dipu, Tanvir Rahman, Oindri Aurunima Sarker, Shidhartha Chakrabarty Turzo, Jannatun Noor · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 qualitative study investigates how AI-powered educational tools should be designed for Deaf learners in Bangladesh — a low-resource context where Bangla Sign Language (BdSL) is still evolving, datasets are small, and infrastructure (internet, electricity, devices)…

  deaf education · sign language · Bangla Sign Language · BdSL · artificial intelligence

• From Autonomy to Sovereignty — A New Telos for Socially Assistive Technology

  JiWoong (Joon) Jang, Patrick Carrington, Andrew Begel · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 theory paper argues that assistive-technology (AT) research has long treated 'independence' as its primary goal — a framing codified in the 1988 U.S. Technology-Related Assistance Act — even though disabled people's lived experience is saturated with…

  social accessibility · assistive technology · relational sovereignty · interdependence · independence

• When the World Opens Up: Journeys of People with Intellectual Disabilities in Social Virtual Reality

  Alexandra Covaci, Winnie Tsang, Sophia Ppali, Paraskevi Triantafyllopoulou, Monica Perusquia-Hernandez, Oscar Zhou, Fotis Liarokapis, Marios Constantinides, Mohamed Khamis, Shujun Li · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper challenges the dominant remedial paradigm in HCI research on virtual reality and people with intellectual disabilities (ID), which has largely framed VR as a tool for training functional life skills (cooking, shopping, transport) in scripted, controlled…

  intellectual disability · virtual reality · social VR · VRChat · disability justice

• Lost in Translation: Understanding Autistic-Neurotypical Communication Style Differences in Job Postings

  Huining Feng, Zinat Ara, Andrew Hundt, Slobodan Vucetic, John Joon Young Chung, Sungsoo Ray Hong · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates a concrete and consequential site of autistic-neurotypical (NT) communication mismatch: the written job posting. Autistic adults face an approximately 85% unemployment or underemployment rate (compared to 4% in the general US population), and…

  autism · autistic communication · communication style differences · autistic employment · double empathy problem

• Disqualified by Disability: The Exclusion of Disabled Workers by Digitized Hiring Assessments

  Michal Luria, Matthew U. Scherer, Ariana Aboulafia, Dhanaraj Thakur · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Luria, Scherer, Aboulafia, and Thakur — researchers at the Center for Democracy and Technology — conduct a qualitative, human-centered study of how "digitized assessments" (personality tests, gamified cognitive tests, situational judgement tests, emotional intelligence tests,…

  AI hiring · algorithmic hiring · digitized assessments · automated employment decision systems · AEDT

• Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities

  Carolyn Kim Ly, Trevor Cross, Selin Tasman, Jocelyn Mattka, Olivia Doggett, Megh Marathe, Priyank Chandra · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Ly, Cross, Tasman, Mattka, Doggett, Marathe, and Chandra examine how disabled students at a large Canadian university collectively negotiate access when the institution's individualised accommodations system fails them. Through semi-structured interviews (60-90 min) with 13…

  higher education accessibility · access work · infrastructuring · mutual aid · disability justice

• Disability, Differences, and Diversity: Revisiting Inclusive Design and Access

  Himanshu Verma, Giulia Barbareschi, Sophia Ppali, Kathrin Gerling, Maartje De Meulder, Judith Good, Jatinder Singh, Katta Spiel, Abdallah El Ali, Marios Constantinides, Maristella Matera, Monica Perusquia-Hernandez, Hamed Alavi, Pablo Cesar, Alessandro Bozzon · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26) — Meetup

  This 2026 CHI EA meetup position paper — authored by 15 researchers across eleven European and Asian institutions — frames the current moment in accessibility as a policy-compliance inflection point and invites the HCI community to resist a compliance-only reading of the…

  inclusive design · disability justice · accessibility policy · critical computing · ableism

• Designing Through Lived Experience: Reflections on Control, Embodiment, and Social Bias in Accessibility Research

  Atieh Taheri, Misha Sra, Patrick Carrington, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2025 · Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an analytic autoethnography of three accessibility research projects led by the first author, Atieh Taheri, a disabled researcher with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) who has used a wheelchair her entire life. Each project emerged from personal need and…

  disability studies · autoethnography · crip technoscience · participatory design · disability justice

• Exploring Disability Culture Through Accounts of Disabled Innovators of Accessibility Technology

  Aashaka Desai, Jennifer Mankoff, Richard E. Ladner · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper explores how disability culture — the celebration of the positive aspects of disability experience including community, solidarity, and creativity — can inform the design and research of accessibility technologies. The authors first synthesize disability culture for…

  disability culture · disabled innovators · crip technoscience · DIY assistive technology · social model of disability

• The Blind Leading the Blind: Designing a Co-Creation Workshop for Visually Impaired and Sighted Participants by a Visually Impaired Researcher

  Peter A. Hayton, Alexander Wilson, Ben Morris, Jayne Dent, Clara Crivellaro · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This short paper presents a first-person reflective account from a severely sight impaired researcher (the first author, registered with the UK NHS as severely sight impaired, with approximately 3 metres of usable vision) on the experience of planning and delivering co-creation…

  co-creation · visually impaired researcher · participatory design · tactile materials · 3D printing

• Disability Intimacy in HCI: Defining a Community-Driven Research Agenda

  Ekat Osipova, Jay Rodolitz, Kirk Andrew Crawford, Kay Kender, Ana O. Henriques, Chorong Park, Patricia Piedade, Rachel E Wood, Katta Spiel · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This workshop paper proposes a half-day virtual workshop at ASSETS 2025 to define a community-driven research agenda for "Disability Intimacy in HCI" — a field the authors argue has been vastly underexplored in accessibility research. The organizers, a team of nine researchers…

  disability intimacy · crip theory · queer theory · sexuality · disability rights

• Modeling Accessibility: Characterizing What We Mean by "Accessible"

  Kelly Avery Mack, Jesse J Martinez, Aaleyah Lewis, Jennifer Mankoff, James Fogarty, Leah Findlater, Heather D. Evans, Cynthia L Bennett, Emma J McDonnell · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper tackles a fundamental gap in accessibility research: the field lacks a clear, shared characterization of what "accessibility" actually means. While accessibility research aims to use technology to make the world more accessible to disabled people, the concept itself…

  accessibility theory · models of disability · intersectionality · assistive technology · disability justice

• Minor Resistance: The Everyday Politics and Power Dynamics of Assistive Technology Adoption

  Stacy Hsueh, Danielle Van Dusen, Anat Caspi, Jennifer Mankoff · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper proposes a power-aware framework for understanding assistive technology adoption that moves beyond the traditional "fit" model, where adoption signals good fit between device and user while abandonment signals poor fit. Drawing from an eight-month ethnographic study…

  assistive technology · power dynamics · social inequity · intersectionality · ethnography

• Envisioning Collective Communication Access: A Theoretically-Grounded Review of Captioning Literature from 2013-2023

  Emma J. McDonnell, Leah Findlater · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '24)

  This paper synthesises thinking from four fields — disability studies, Deaf studies, disability justice, and communication studies — into a framework of collective communication access, then uses it to analyse a decade of HCI captioning research (2013–2023). The authors argue…

  captioning · deaf and hard of hearing · collective access · disability justice · disability studies

• "I'm treating it kind of like a diary": Characterizing How Users with Disabilities Use AI Chatbots

  Kayla Mullen, Wenhan Xue, Manasa Kudumu · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This study investigates how people with disabilities actually use LLM-based chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity in their daily lives. While previous research has focused primarily on identifying harms that LLMs impose on the disability community — such as…

  large language models · AI chatbots · disability representation · disability justice · assistive AI

• Tackling the Lack of a Practical Guide in Disability-Centered Research

  Emma J. McDonnell, Kelly Avery Mack, Kathrin Gerling, Katta Spiel, Cynthia L. Bennett, Robin N. Brewer, Rua Mae Williams, Garreth W. Tigwell · 2023 · ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This workshop paper proposes a structured effort to develop a practical guide for conducting disability-centered accessibility research. The authors — a team of eight researchers across multiple institutions, several of whom are disabled scholars — argue that while the HCI and…

  disability justice · research methods · participatory design · power dynamics · disability studies

• Understanding Social and Environmental Factors to Enable Collective Access Approaches to the Design of Captioning Technology

  Emma McDonnell · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents a dissertation research program that reimagines how captioning technology should be designed by applying the disability justice principle of collective access — the idea that accessibility is a shared responsibility of all group members,…

  captioning · collective access · disability justice · deaf and hard of hearing · co-design

• Understanding the Role of Socio-Technical Infrastructures on the Organization of Access for the Mixed-Ability Collaborators

  Zeynep Şölen Yıldız · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents a PhD research agenda investigating how socio-technical infrastructures shape the negotiation and distribution of access for mixed-ability collaborators. Yıldız draws on the Social Model of Disability and Social Justice Oriented…

  socio-technical infrastructure · access work · mixed-ability collaboration · disability justice · social model of disability