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NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US DISABILITY RIGHTS HOW TO

For example, many of these technological innovations, like screen readers, don’t account for gaps in access to smartphones, computers, or other electronic devices-gaps that particularly affect low-income voters and voters of color.Īnother example of technological harm can be seen in the case of surveillance. But these solutions often lack an intersectional equity analysis. Text-reading software, digital magnifiers, and audio-tactile keypads-essential accommodations for ensuring voters who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind can privately cast their ballot at the polls-are necessary and can be beneficial for everyone. There are many technological solutions for improving voting accessibility. Yet, people with disabilities continue to face disproportionate barriers that make it challenging or essentially impossible to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Equal access to the ballot box is not only a fundamental part of our democracy, it is also required by law. Consider, for example, approaches to ensuring voting access. This new paradigm can only be realized if the disability justice lens we bring to technology is intersectional. The intersection of technology and disability justice, while historically underresourced, provides enormous potential to disrupt inequality in myriad forms. The institutions and systems that develop, deploy and govern technologies are focused on eliminating harms that exclude, marginalize, and oppress people-including ableist biases, algorithmic discrimination, and other forms of disparate treatment toward people who face intersecting forms of systemic marginalization.There is ample funding, support, respect, and validation for disabled leaders and disability-led organizations working to ensure technology serves everyone.The expertise and experiences of people with disabilities are prioritized across all stages of technology development, deployment, and governance.A long-held mantra of the disability justice community is “Nothing about us without us.” As Wong alludes to, if we center the leadership and expertise of people with disabilities, we will not only tap into technological innovation and creativity but also imagine a more equitable future for all.Ī world where true technology and disability justice are realized calls for a new paradigm within which:

Inclusion and equity across every level of tech design, deployment, and governance is crucial. In fact, processes for designing and developing technology are highly exclusionary, often lacking the vital perspectives and lived experiences needed to ensure it works for everyone. People of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQIA people, and people with disabilities all experience social inequities that extend to technology and are less likely to be in the room when technology is developed. Technology justice requires understanding who is included or excluded from these processes.

NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US DISABILITY RIGHTS HOW TO

This is because when we talk about technology justice, we are not simply talking about tools in isolation. Our interactions with technology are shaped and intermediated by the people who design them, the decisions made on how to deploy them, and the human-created rules that govern them. However, it presents enormous opportunities to disrupt inequality.

The intersection of technology and disability justice has been historically underresourced. Integrating Disability Justice into Technology This includes the expertise and leadership of people with disabilities. To solve our most pressing challenges, we need the total sum of human intelligence and emancipatory energy in our society.

Nothing about us without us disability rights