Image showing four conceptual prototypes from the paper: participatory screenreader, interactive book and audio narrative, data jungle experience, @hackingaccess initiative

Cripping Data Visualizations

Stacy Hsueh, Beatrice Vincenzi, Akshata Murdeshwar, and Marianela Ciolf Felice. 2023. Cripping Data Visualizations: Crip Technoscience as a Critical Lensfor Designing Digital Access. In The 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’23), October 22–25, 2023, New York, NY, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 16 pages. https://doi.org/10. 1145/3597638.3608427

Data visualizations have become the primary mechanism for engaging with quantitative information. However, many of these visualizations are inaccessible to blind and low vision people. This paper investigates the challenge of designing accessible data visualizations through the lens of crip technoscience. We present four speculative design case studies that conceptually explore four qualities of access built on crip wisdom: access as an ongoing process, a frictional practice, an aesthetic experience, and transformation. Each speculative study embodies inquiry and futuring, making visible common assumptions about access and exploring how an alternative crip-informed framework can shape designs that foreground the creativity of disabled people. We end by presenting tactics for designing digital access that de-centers the innovation discourse.

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