CS547 Human-Computer Interaction Seminar   (Seminar on People, Computers, and Design)

Fridays 11:30am-12:30pm PT · Gates B3 · Open to the public
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Robin Brewer
University of Michigan
An Intersectional Approach to Designing for Disability
February 10, 2023

Recent reports show that nearly 1 in 4 people, globally, have at least one disability. These numbers increase with age and can be more common in non-Western contexts. In this talk, I argue for a departure from accessibility research that focuses solely on disability and discuss how intersectional approaches can help designers and researchers create technologies that represent a more holistic and nuanced approach to disability. I will focus on designing for better information access and use at the intersection of (1) disability and older age and (2) disability and ethnicity.

Robin Brewer (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Her research lies at the intersection of accessibility and social computing where she studies how disabled people engage with technology, leveraging strengths of these communities to design for expression, representation, and agency. Currently, her research focuses on conversational technologies for late-life disability and care, and better disability and age representation in systems. Robin received her Ph.D. in Technology and Social Behavior (joint program in Computer Science and Communication Studies) from Northwestern University. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Retirement Research Foundation, Google, and the U.S. Department of Transportation