Beyond Critique: Bringing the Humanities into Technology Research

Disabled scholars have established that, too often, disabled individuals are excluded from the technology design process. As a result, many technologies developed for disabled users do not address the actual problems of disabled people. Disabled people develop embodied technological expertise simply by existing in an ableist, more specifically technoableist, society. This paper presents a case study, which we call disability-forward research consulting, in moving beyond critique by integrating the humanities into technology research. Disabled experts, representing all types of disability, are recruited from the local community to work as consultants on disability-related technology projects. Our project is just one example of a disability-forward approach to designing more just technologies for disabled people.