Project description
Make technology more inclusive by listening to the needs of disabled communities
Accessibility in technology often focuses more on making things work than on understanding how people with disabilities actually experience them. This means that even though devices might technically be usable, they might not be what disabled people really need or want. This potentially leads to the creation of technologies that are functionally accessible but fail to meet the diverse needs and desires of users. This oversight underscores the critical need for a change in thinking in HCI research and design practices. With this in mind, the ERC-funded ACCESSTECH project aims to address this gap by studying the deeper theories of access and interaction with modern technologies for disabled individuals.
Objective
How is access experienced in interaction with modern technologies? Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has a tradition of asking questions around functionality in the context of assistive and accessible technologies.
However, the additional aspects of lived experiences with disabilities are often secondary to the questions and interests driven by non-disabled researchers. This approach risks producing artefacts that might be functionally accessible, but are deemed as undesirable, unwanted or even harmful by disabled communities themselves. With an increased move towards digitising aspects of our everyday lives, there is an urgent need to understand the fundamentals of how access can be conceptualised, implemented and flexible to situated engagements.
ACCESSTECH investigates the deeper theories behind access as a component affecting interaction with technologies for disabled people through Participatory Research through Design. Drawing on the PI's outstanding track record in critical analysis and participatory design practices within HCI (including 14 award-winning papers), we approach experiences of access along four paths of inquiry: 1) We identify the needed research and design parameters enabling us to produce knowledges about access-enabling technologies. 2) We establish which methods are required to design and develop critical technologies that are rooted in disability cultures as well as accepted and desired by disabled people. 3) We explore a range of different technologies to understand how they afford different kinds of access experiences. 4) We conceptualise and articulate access experiences as a distinct aspect shaping the interactive characteristics of modern technologies on a theoretical level. Each of these paths informs disability centred practices and theories in HCI, though, collectively, ACCESSTECH represents a fundamental paradigm shift in the ways we encounter disabilities and technologies.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1040 Wien
Austria
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