hw1: AT Around Us

Last revised: September 28, 2023

Assigned

• September 28th, 2023

Due

• Slides October 3, 2023, (2 day grace period October 5th); Presentation October 6, 2023 (no grace period, class presentations )

• Overview
• Details
• Turnin

Overview

The goal of this assignment is to give you experience with seeking out first-person accounts of disability experiences with technology. It will also give you experience with presenting accessibly and expose you to a wide range of accessibility technologies.

Learning Goals/ Competencies

This homework may contribute to your competency grade on

• Accessible presentation creation
• Finding first person accounts by and for people with disabilities
• Image description
• Presenting accessibly to an audience with mixed disabilities
• Familiarity with a range of accessibility technologies (requires being present and engaged with student presentations)
• Your participation grade, as a percentage of completeness (are all the required parts present)

Length and Difficulty

Students in the past have reported that this assignment takes an median of 4 hours (mode=3). However, in our experience many students have had to make multiple attempts to fully meet the competency for finding first person accounts. We recommend you carefully read the requirements for that below, and check in if you have a question. Many students also found presenting accessibly difficult, particularly with respect to how to describe images on their slides. We recommend that you practice this ahead of time. Some things students have told us about this assignment:

• “I like the requirement of looking at real world tools or tech, expanding beyond the computer.”
• “I enjoy doing this because I watched a few videos and learned a lot of accessibility technology tools [and why we have them].”
• “It was surprisingly difficult to find first-person accounts for the tech I chose.”

Example

An example can be found at the start of the slide deck that you will add your slide to.

Assignment FAQ

I know somebody who uses AT for their accessibility needs. Does talking to them count as finding a first person account?

yes, this counts as a first-person account. As for citing sources in that situation, best effort to help us understand that you actually talked to the user would be very helpful. If you were to submit a note or video testimony from them (this not required), we will ensure at most privacy to not share it outside of class. Nothing that is not in the slide will be shared with the class.

Does asking an other student in this class who may use AT count as first person response?

No. This does not count as a first-person account. It is additional burden on the student who you are asking to help out in this capacity.

Details

To complete this assignment you will need to do the following:

0. Learn about how to present accessibly

Watch a video about presenting accessibly by Kyle Rector and look at DOIT’s guidance on accessible presenting. Review information about describing images and describing people in images verbally (during a presentation) or in text. Finally, make sure you don’t use ableist language.

Optional reading: Its complicated: Negotiating Accessibility and (Mis)Representation in Image Descriptions of Race, Gender and Disability

1. Select two examples of an accessibility technology or disability hack

Select two examples of accessibility technology, or disability hack, that you will be presenting about. An accessibility technology is something that is used by a person with a disability to increase accessibility. It can be something that is included in the infrastructure (such as a curb cut) or something that is used by an individual (such as Proloque2Go, a symbol-based communication system), or something that was not designed for accessibility but is useful (such as these 5 disability life hacks)

When you pick, consider these requirements

• One technology should improve computer access (such as sticky keys).
• One should improve access to “the world” at large (such as Microsoft’s Seeing AI).
• At least one should involve computers in some way (such as sticky keys).
• Try not to pick the same thing as someone else in the class.
• Do not choose really really common things (like elevators and glasses).
• Do not pick a Disability Dongle
• At least one of your chosen technologies is something you can try yourself

In addition, you should pick something that expands your knowledge of accessibility technology. You should include two different technologies that you are not already familiar with. Other considerations that could help when searching for technology:

• Does it address infrastructure (like curb cuts) or is it more individual (like a screen magnifier)?
• Was it designed for the disability community (like a screen reader) or is it a mainstream technology being used to address accessibility needs (like voice assistants have).

2. Find and Generate First Person Experiences

Find first person accounts by a person with a disability that is not an advertisement describing each technology and how they use it. A first person account is written or presented by someone who

• Uses this technology themselves on a regular basis
• has a disability

A first person account that meets the requirements of this assignment is not

• a teaching video/presentation
• an advertisement
• based on your personal experience
• based on experiences of your peers or the course staff

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)

Ideally, you will find a video account showing the technology in use. Try searching for “howto” or try searching first for vloggers who have a disability, and then looking in their channels for technology reviews. Also ask for help on our 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 who would benefit from the AT that you are trying to learn about. This may influence your choice of technologies, it is OK to iterate.

3. Try it yourself

While some technologies may be expensive or hard to get, many accessibility technologies are easily available and some are even re-purposed everyday items. Try at least one of the technologies you find yourself.

3. Reflect on What you Learned

Take some time to reflect on these questions, which will help you to prepare for your presentation

• What is the AT?
  • What is the technology?
  • What does the AT do?
  • What is the access gap that the AT is attempting to address?
  • Why was it developed?
  • What are it’s strengths and/or weaknesses?
• How did your experience using it differ from the first person account you saw?
• Which disabilities does this technology support? Think broadly about this, and try to find evidence for your ideas. For example, audio books and screen readers are used by people who are blind or low vision, as well as people who are dyslexic, or cannot look at a screen without experiencing chronic illness symptoms.
• If you have a chance to interview users of this technology, what would be one question you would ask, that was not answered in your search for information?

4. Create two slides, one for each technology you found

You will create one accessible slide (per AT) in a shared slide deck posted in the Class Discussion. Your slide should include

• A summary of the AT you researched
• Information about its audience (range of disabilities that use it)
• A picture of it
• A link to the first person account you found
• Something you learned from the video and/or by trying it, about its strengths and weaknesses

Make sure the slides are accessible.

Turnin

1. You will turn the slide in by adding it to the shared slide deck
2. You will also present at one of those slides in class. You should be prepared to
   • Stay on time (3-4 minutes + 1-2 minutes of questions). This will require you to pick and choose what to focus on when you design your slide, and to practice ahead of class.
   • Present accessibly (you may want to revisit presenting accessible by Kyle Rector)