Articles and Resource List on Accessibility and Universal Design

There are myriad resources online that can be used in an engineering classroom to explore topics related to accessibility and disability. This accessibility brief introduces some resources you may like to share with students or colleagues to learn more about accessibility and inform discussions around these topics.

Including People with Disabilities in Design

[Critical Axis]
This critique of IKEA’s ThisAbles ad for products designed for people with disabilities discusses the erasure of the person who conceived of the line of products and happens to have a disability.
[YouTube Video, March 29, 2019]
�󷢿�� alum Billy Price started a shoe company that used universal design to make a shoe that worked for a wider audience based on his experience as a person who is paraplegic.
[New Mobility, May 1, 2019]
Srin Madipalli, head of accessibility for Airbnb, founded a startup focused on accessible travel based on his own experiences traveling as a wheelchair user.
[Vox, April 30, 2019]
Flashy technology isn’t needed to solve every accessibility issue. This article looks at some of the problems that arise with these sorts of innovations.
[The Atlantic, November 9, 2017]
The many attempts to develop sign language translation gloves speaks to a misunderstanding of the deaf world by the hearing world.
[Stem for All Video Showcase, May 13, 2018]
This NSF-funded project engages autistic students in the engineering design process through creating 3D printed objects.
[The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2017]
Carmen Papalia, a blind artist, who disliked using a white cane teamed up with Sara Hendren, a professor of design at Olin College to design a new device.
[The Atlantic, June 27, 2019]
Chris Downey is a blind architect who found that his perception of what constitutes accessible design changed dramatically when he lost his vision.
John Porter, a user experience designer at Microsoft who has a disability, wants to ensure that video games are more accessible from the beginning.
[UTSA Today, February 12, 2018]
John Quarles has multiple sclerosis and has done research that looks at using virtual and augmented reality in rehabilitation.

Design, Social Justice, and Culture

[Microsoft, February 13, 2019]
Swetha Machanavajhala struggled to read lips during video calls. Through her work at Microsoft, they’ve integrated features into their products that help users focus on the faces of people they’re talking with.
[Fast Company, May 8, 2019]
Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things, discusses the need for better design to better serve older consumers.
Excerpt of [Stanford Social Innovation Review, Jan 22, 2019]
Bess Williamson argues that accessible design is innovative and inclusive.
[Cooper Hewitt, December 15, 2017]
This exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt focused on accessible design. Find blog entries and information about the exhibition online.
[The New York Times, January 24, 2018]
This article focuses on the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt exhibit on accessible design.
[TED, Sept 2015]
In this TEDx talk, Elise Roy describes how having a disability is one of her strengths as a designer.
[Shopify, March 23, 2018]
Inclusive design goes beyond just considering accessibility for people with disabilities to make products better for everyone.
[Tech Inclusion, February, 1, 2018]
Airbnb’s Srin Madipalli talks about his journey lauching an accessible travel startup to connect travelers with disabilities to accessible vacation rentals.
[Youtube, November 7, 2011]
This approachable video discusses the social model of disability.
[Adobe Blog, April 2, 2018]
Accessibility, inclusive design, and universal design are related but distinct concepts.
[Forbes, December 20, 2018]
Considering accessibility when you begin designing a product leads to an end result that’s better for a host of reasons.
[Fast Company, February 17, 2016]
This article offers a history of inclusive design efforts and discussion of Microsoft’s current efforts in this space.

Examples of Accessible Design

[Fast Company, March 12, 2019]
Ikea Israel is working to develop a series of modifications to make Ikea furniture pieces more accessible.
[Crosscut, April 26, 2019] and [UW News, April 18, 2019]
UW's Project Sidewalk users review images of sidewalks via Google Street View to help determine which routes are accessible for people with disabilities.
[Tech Crunch, April 24, 2019]
LEGO Braille Bricks make uses of LEGO’s “dots” to help teach Braille to children with visual impairments.
[WCPO Cincinnati, January 30, 2019]
The Cincinnati Museum Center’s Dinosaur Hall has made steps to become more accessible, involving blind people throughout the process.
[Silicon Angle, May 14, 2019]
Emotionally aware robots may be useful as assistive technology for autistic children.
[GeekWire, March 25, 2019]
A class project from the �󷢿�� Neural Engineering Tech Studio helps people who experience panic attacks.
How to train your robot (to feed you dinner) [UW News, March 11, 2019]
This robotic system was designed to help people who need assistance feeding themselves.
[The New York Times, February 20 2019]
For years, the gaming community modified existing controllers or devised new ones for people with disabilities. Microsoft’s new adaptive controller is an out of the box solution for these people.
[The Atlantic, November 6, 2018]
Apps that crowd source accessibility information can help people with disabilities but they are only as good as the data they are given.
[ARSTechnica, May 16, 2018]
The Xbox Adaptive Controllers lets games utilize oversized buttons, finger switches, blowing tubes, foot pedals, and more to play games.
�ڲѾ��ǲ��Ǵڳٱ��
This video looks at work that Microsoft and their partners are doing to create accessible technology.
[SuperHuman, May 8, 2018]
Gloves that make use of passive haptic learning can help individuals learn to read Braille or recover from traumatic brain injuries.
[UW News, April 18, 2018]
[�󷢿��]
Martez Mott’s research looks at ways to make touch screens accessible to people with motor impairments.
[�󷢿��]
Neural engineering has the potential to develop new technology that benefits a range of people with disabilities.
[ MIT Technology Review, March 23, 2017]
Machine learning can be used to caption videos, generate image descriptions, and clarify language.
[C|net, April 7, 2017]
Today’s sophisticated video games can be made accessible for individuals with a variety of disabilities with a variety of software and hardware.
[The Lantern, October 31, 2016]
Modifying toys to make use of switches can make them accessible to children with mobility impairments.
��ڲѾ��ǲ��Ǵڳٱ�
Learn about a group of women participating in the Microsoft #MakeWhatsNext Patent Program that built a text-to-Braille translator.

Experiences of People with Disabilities

[Buzzfeed News, January 17, 2018]
Blind and visually impaired users talk about technology they use including audio description, Braille displays, and more.
�ڳ۴ǳܰճܲ��
Amythest Schaber’s YouTube channel answers questions about what it is like to be an autistic.
��ڳ۴ǳܳٳܲ��
Film critic Tommy Edison shares how he navigates daily life as a blind person.
[The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 22, 2017]
Allan B. Goldstein’s class pairs engineering students with adults with disabilities to make short films about what their lives are like.
��[Center for Neurotechnology, August 24, 2017]
Paraplegic Todd Stabelfeldt uses a variety of technology to navigate his daily life.
�ڳ۴ǳܰճܲ��
Haben Girma, the first deaf blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, advocates for accessibility and inclusion, arguing that improvements for accessibility can make technology better for a wide audience.
[World Health Organization]
These videos from the World Health Organization feature individuals with disabilities talking about their experiences and ways they use technology.
[AAAS, October 26, 2017]
Postdoc Collin R. Diedrich faced obstacles along the way in his STEM career as a person with a learning disability.

Making and Makerspaces

[SpringerLink, February 9, 2019]
This article explores strategies that can lead to a more accessible maker movement.
[Stem for All Video Showcase 2019]
This video explores a project focused on fabrication of accessible, multimodal media for children with visual impairments.
[UW College of Engineering, May 14, 2018]
Many kids with disabilities cannot use toys as they were originally designed. Toy adaptation can make these toys accessible.
��[UW News, August 5, 2015]
An accessibility review of a makerspace can help to make them more accessible to people with disabilities.

Accessibility Webinars and Tutorials

��
This webinar series focuses on accessibility features from Microsoft.
This online course focuses on accessible design in information and communications technology.

Teaching Accessibility & Simulation

[Stem for All Video Showcase 2019]
Teaching about accessibility can lead to engineers and tech professionals who are knowledgeable about accessibility and can design accessible products.
[Review of Disability Studies, 2014]
This article looks at both positive and negative aspects of using disability simulations to teach about the experiences of people with disabilities.
[Disability, 2007]
This paper critiques the use of simulation exercises and advocates for disability equality training designed by people with disabilities.
[Braille Monitor, June, 2017]
The author of this article discusses research she’s published on the pitfalls of disability simulations.
[Stem for All Video Showcase, 2018]
In this industrial engineering capstone course, students designed technology for people with disabilities.
[Hearing Like Me, July 17, 2013]
Listen to what a variety of sounds might sound like with various types of hearing loss.
[A Plus, December 17, 2015]
A deaf individual shares her experiences trying to read lips.
[Web Fundamentals]
This resource offers a protocol for conducting an accessibility review of your website.
[Youtube, October 2, 2014]
This humorous video shares some advice around disability etiquette.

Discussion Questions

What have you learned from these materials about the experiences of people with disabilities? Designing technology for people with disabilities?
How do you think knowledge related to disability or accessibility will be useful for you in your career?
Have you been exposed to these topics in other courses or elsewhere?

�󷢿�������