Unit 2: Disability and Technology

What role(s) does technology play in the lives of people living with disabilities?

For Day 4 [Thursday, April 30]

We're going to shift gears a little bit, into looking particularly at the role technology plays in the lives of people with disabilities.

First, a really cool short article on why disabled people are well-qualified for space travel. (Follow the link in the annotation activity.)

And another short article on the limitations of "new" technology for disabled people.

And a longer, more bizarre story about... robots. And more. (This is a one-hour talk entitled "The Accessibility Gap," but there's some more to the story. As the speaker notes, you can also view the slides for the talk—but it's much much better to hear the story along with the slides!)

Annotation Activity

I think this article relates in some profound ways with elements of Crip Camp, particularly the ways in which disabled bodies are viewed. Annotate with that in mind. Highlight and comment on snippets of text that connect to the film (and explain the connection you see).

Also, use the "page annotation" feature (so, without highlighting text, just click on the little 'page' icon on the hypothes.is sidebar, which lets you leave a note on the page in general rather than a specific chunk of text). Do any other ways in which disabled bodies might be well-suited to difficult environments come to mind?

Team Discussions

Discuss and report in the forum on:

1. The readings for today all deal with technology and disability (in some very different ways—we’ll get to that). But they don’t really give a good definition of technology. So, your first task: come up with a definition of technology that works for our purposes:
   • It should “cover” everything in the materials we’ve looked at
   • It shouldn’t cover too much
   • It should also be as short and simple as you can make it
2. Now get specific: instead of trying to capturing something broad with a short phrase, make a list: how are technology and disability related? (Each of the three “readings” offer different answers to this, and you may have more in mind.) As I said, be specific—but brainstorm, don’t try to edit/consolidate/reject. Don’t hesitate to come up with a couple dozen things, or more. Make sure someone writes them down so we can share and discuss.
3. The video/lecture ended with some “action items” around education. Based on what the speaker was saying, how might the Alma College community contribute to progress on this front? You might want to think about different constituent communities--current students, alumni, faculty, Student Life, etc. Again, brainstorm: come up with as many ideas as possible even if some of them seem silly or impossible.

For Day 5 [Friday, May 1]

Today is for starting to think about team projects. I'm going to meet with each team for half an hour to see where you are. In preparation, you should do this:

as individuals, start working on the Discovery annotation group. what do you see out there that relates the pandemic, disability and/or technology?

then meet as a team, to discuss:

• what medium/media you would like to use. You can use multiple media, of course, as long as the final product/project is harmonious
  
• what particular skills/interests each of you bring so that you can begin thinking about the role(s) of each person on the team.
• what topics/messages/ideas you might want your project to address. We haven't spent much time on the pandemic/disability/technology angle yet, but it's not too soon to start kicking around ideas.

When I meet with you, I'll ask you about your thinking in these areas so far, and see if we can move a bit more toward some next steps.

For Day 6 [Monday, May 4]

Today we'll prepare for Josh Miele's visit tomorrow. First, annotate this short article by him. Leave at least two kinds of annotations (and don't forget to tag!!):

Remember one of the points from the hypothes.is tips: you should aim to select as short a piece of text as you can, as long as it captures a complete idea.

Also, watch this lecture by Dr. Miele from 2016, entitled “How Access Really Happens: Disability, Technology, and Design Thinking."

(Note: the lecture is an hour and 20 minutes long! But you can use a technique [which is essential for people who get a substantial amount of information by listening] to experience the lecture more efficiently: on the video settings [click the gear], pick "Playback speed" and find a speed that is faster than "Normal" where you can still comfortably understand the speaker—for me, this is about 1.5, though with practice you can speed this up even more. You can use the "custom" link to finetune the speed).

After you've watched it, post at least three questions for him:

• at least one should be a question about the lecture, like if you were there to ask a question at the end of the talk
• at least one should be a question that connects his work with Unit 1
• at least one should be a question that connects your interests/experiences with his work and ideas

For Day 7 [Tuesday, May 5]

First, look into video description. Here are a couple videos from YouDescribe (which Josh created). Remember, anyone can describe a video using this tool. As you watch these, think about the issue of "creating the same experience" that Josh described as part of his definition of accessibility. (Also, time the total time of the description and compare it to the length of the original video.)

https://youdescribe.org/video/wKcPU0WPdqE?ad=5ea9f386e1b8b12f0893d87e

https://youdescribe.org/video/WZSKoNGTR6Q?ad=5e9df148afba3146aec3f5c8

Also, if you have access to a streaming video service, watch several minutes of a move with audio description (look under language/caption settings for something like "English-Audio Description"). What differences do you note among these three experiences? How do you account for those differences?

Second, watch this half-hour TV segment on disability justice and "hackers," including Chancey Fleet, who I think we'll see more of in the next unit. I think this segment does a decent job of kinda connecting Unit 1 and Unit 2 concerns (and also includes some notes about art, which we've kinda been leaving out of the story). As you watch, make note of both the now-familiar ideas that come up as well as the new ones. We'll discuss tomorrow in class.

And finally, here's another TED talk (this one almost 20 minutes), by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar who coined the term intersectionality back in 1989; here she explains it in 2016. Her focus is on race and gender, because that's sorta "where it all started" in her work, but we've already heard about the ways that disability fits into this system. Think about how the intersectionality diagram that she draws could be applied if one of the "roads" were disability.

We'll try another form of discussion tomorrow (basically, Discord chat), and I'll be asking you to share your thoughts on these questions (and other things that come up). So, nothing 'formal' to write before class, but you'll need good notes on this stuff in order to participate well in the discussion.

Supplemental Materials

Here's the article "We Are the Original Lifehackers."

Here's the website of the dance collective represented in the Laura Flanders show is here. I especially appreciate this part of how they describe themselves:

In particular, there's more information about Audimance, including a sample clip.

You can read the special issue of Catalyst on "Crip Technoscience" (in which Vilissa Thompson has a short piece). There's a lot of stuff here; many many perspectives on disability, technology, and science....

Here's the RampYourVoice website.

Heres' the LinkedIn profile of Jennie Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft's Chief Accessibility Officer.

This is the paper in which Dr. Crenshaw introduced the concept of intersectionality. (It's a law article, so there's definitely some particular jargon and style, but after hearing her talk, it's not too hard to follow along).

Unit 2 Wrap-up

For this wrap-up, I'd like you to reflect on what "the message" of this unit was for you. In particular, address these three questions:

1. Beyond "technology helps people with disabilities," what are some of the ways technology and disability are related? Feel free to bring in the perspectives/stories of particular people we've heard from.
2. Of your previous knowledge/experience, what did this unit reinforce and/or deepen?
3. What new insights did this unit offer you?

You may of course provide additional reflections! Word count should be at least 400 words.