CO-DESIGN WITH PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AS AN INNOVATIVE RESOURCE SET FREE BY AI
Year: 2024
Editor: Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik; Buck, Lyndon
Author: Andersson, Anders-Petter; Eide, Cecilie; Papachristou, Eleftherios; Torkildsby, Anne-Britt; Inal, Yavuz
Series: E&PDE
Institution: NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Gjøvik, Norway; Drammen Municipality
Page(s): 563 - 568
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2024.95
ISBN: 978-1-912254-200
ISSN: 3005-4753
Abstract
UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) states that persons with disabilities should be given opportunity to develop their creative and intellectual potential, not only for their own benefit, but for the enrichment of society. It means the right, not to consume what others have created, but to share one’s own ideas, aesthetic expression and intellectual work. Our thesis is that there is an unused potential in persons with disabilities. What if designers saw the world of a person with disabilities as a resource of diversity, rather than a lack of normality? What if designers would tap into this resource of perspectives from everyday life to innovation of technology? We like to understand if AI could unleash the potential of persons with disabilities, by visualising and translating between person and technology. We discuss conversational services used for persons with learning and language disabilities, including AI visualization techniques. Our goal is to prepare for the re-design of software, translating between text-based services and symbolic language, so called Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC). Our case is a family with a young adult, with learning and intellectual disabilities, using AAC for social activities such as hiking. We find both barriers and potential. Barriers to harness the unused resources due to traditional co-design methods, excluding persons with other languages than verbal and text. It is weighed up by the potential of AI to democratize through lack of prejudice and norms and make it easier to interpret, create, visualise and share.
Keywords: Inclusive Design, Co-Design, Alternative and Augmented Communication, Innovation