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Project Prep Essay (Individual)

Assessments

Submission Instructions

Please use the Canvas rich content editor or upload a word document to submit your assignment. Do not submit PDFs, these are not accessible.

Preparation: First person account

To prepare for working on your project, you need to do some background research on the topic before you will start to talk to your mentor and clients. Find first person accounts by a person with a disability that is not an advertisement relevant to your project. For example, here is a personal perspective on audio crosswalks and here is an interview with two black AAC users about their experiences using AAC technology (start at 00:16:00)

Try searching for “howto” or try searching first for vloggers or on tiktok for people who have a relevant disability and concern. Also ask for help on our class discussion site if you are having trouble. If you cannot find a video, you can look for a written account, such as a blog or review. In this case, it still needs to be written by a person with a disability.

Preparation: Read a relevant paper

Pick one of the following papers to read - Critical Race Theory in HCI - Flourishing in the Everyday: Moving Beyond Damage-Centered Design in HCI for BIPOC Communities - Disability studies as a source of critical inquiry for the field of assistive technology - Interdependence as a Frame for Assistive Technology Research and Design - 10 Principles of Disability Justice - Language Justice is Disability Justice - Challenging ableism: A critical turn toward disability justice in hci

Writeup

Article

Answer the following questions in one paragraph (maximum of 300 words) - What was the main idea in the article? - How did it make you think differently about your project?

First Person Account

(Graded on Inclusive Person Centered Design)

  • Reflect on the first-person accounts you were able to find and discuss the following:
    • Who did you find, and why are their perspectives important to your project?
      • How do their intersecting identities (e.g., race, gender, socioeconomic status) shape their experiences of disability?
      • Are there any groups or identities missing from the accounts you found, and what impact might that have on your understanding of the problem?
    • What insights or lessons did you learn from them, and how would you define your project goals based on them?
      • How can your project goals address barriers that arise from multiple intersecting systems of oppression (e.g., racism, ableism, sexism)?
    • How would you define success for this project, and how will you determine if it has positively impacted your target users?
      • What measures will you take to avoid reinforcing existing biases or excluding certain identities?

Again, use a maximum of 300 words. Be prepared to talk through what you wrote in this essay with your team members!

Teamwork Reflection

  • What do you envision your role to be in your team?
  • What will you contribute to the team?
  • Personal learning goals: How do you want to grow as part of this project? What are three specific skills (interpersonal or applied skills) that you would like to learn? How do you think your team members can help you learn these skills?

Use a maximum of 300 words. Be prepared to talk through what you wrote in this part of the essay with your team members!

AI attestation

  • When writing the report, did you read and follow class guidelines on GAI use?
  • Did you use AI in this assignment? If so, how?