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The Burden of Survival: How Doctoral Students in Computing Bridge the Chasm of Inaccessibility

Authors:

Kristen Shinohara,

Nayeri JacoboAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Article No.: 376, Pages 1 - 13

https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445277

Published: 07 May 2021 Publication History

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Abstract

Despite efforts to support students with disabilities in higher education, few continue to pursue doctoral degrees in computing. We conducted an interview study with 12 blind and low vision, and 7 deaf and hard of hearing current and former doctoral students in computing to understand how graduate students adjust to inaccessibility and ineffective accommodations. We asked participants how they worked around inaccessibility, managed ineffective accommodations, and advocated for tools and services. Employing a lens of ableism in our analysis, we found that participants’ extra effort to address accessibility gaps gave rise to a burden of survival, which they sustained to meet expectations of graduate-level productivity. We recommend equitable solutions that acknowledge taken-for-granted workarounds and that actively address inaccessibility in the graduate school context.

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Cited By

Das MStangl AFindlater L(2024)"That comes with a huge career cost:" Understanding Collaborative Ideation Experiences of Disabled ProfessionalsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36410188:CSCW1(1-28)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641018
Mack KDas MJain DBragg DTang JBegel ABeneteau EDavis JGlasser APark JPotluri V(2023)Mixed Abilities and Varied Experiences: A Group Autoethnography of a Virtual Summer InternshipCommunications of the ACM10.1145/360462266:8(105-113)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3604622
Mack KSidik NDesai AMcDonnell EMehta KZhang CMankoff J(2023)Maintaining the Accessibility Ecosystem: a Multi-Stakeholder Analysis of Accessibility in Higher EducationProceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3597638.3614547(1-6)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3597638.3614547
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

The Burden of Survival: How Doctoral Students in Computing Bridge the Chasm of Inaccessibility
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Accessibility
    1. Empirical studies in accessibility
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
    2. Computing profession
  2. User characteristics
    1. Gender

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2021

10862 pages

ISBN:9781450380966

DOI:10.1145/3411764

General Chairs:
Yoshifumi Kitamura
Tohoku University, Japan
,
Aaron Quigley
University of New South Wales, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Katherine Isbister
University of California Santa Cruz, USA
,
Takeo Igarashi
The University of Tokyo, Japan
,
Publications Chairs:
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Steven Drucker
Microsoft Research, USA

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Published: 07 May 2021

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CHI '21: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 8 - 13, 2021

Yokohama, Japan

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Cited By

Das MStangl AFindlater L(2024)"That comes with a huge career cost:" Understanding Collaborative Ideation Experiences of Disabled ProfessionalsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36410188:CSCW1(1-28)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641018
Mack KDas MJain DBragg DTang JBegel ABeneteau EDavis JGlasser APark JPotluri V(2023)Mixed Abilities and Varied Experiences: A Group Autoethnography of a Virtual Summer InternshipCommunications of the ACM10.1145/360462266:8(105-113)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3604622
Mack KSidik NDesai AMcDonnell EMehta KZhang CMankoff J(2023)Maintaining the Accessibility Ecosystem: a Multi-Stakeholder Analysis of Accessibility in Higher EducationProceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3597638.3614547(1-6)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3597638.3614547
Yıldız ZSubaşı Ö(2023)An Institutional Perspective: How Gatekeepers on a Higher Education Interact for the Organization of AccessComputer Supported Cooperative Work10.1007/s10606-023-09471-w32:3(713-744)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10606-023-09471-w
Shinohara KTamjeed MMcQuaid MBarkins D(2022)Usability, Accessibility and Social Entanglements in Advanced Tool Use by Vision Impaired Graduate StudentsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35556096:CSCW2(1-21)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555609
Menzies RTigwell GCrabb M(2022)Author Reflections on Creating Accessible Academic PapersACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/354619515:4(1-36)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3546195
Wang EPiper A(2022)The Invisible Labor of Access in Academic Writing Practices: A Case Analysis with Dyslexic AdultsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35129676:CSCW1(1-25)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3512967
Mack KMcDonnell EPotluri VXu MZabala JBigham JMankoff JBennett C(2022)Anticipate and Adjust: Cultivating Access in Human-Centered MethodsProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501882(1-18)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3501882
Mack KDas MJain DBragg DTang JBegel ABeneteau EDavis JGlasser APark JPotluri V(2021)Mixed Abilities and Varied Experiences: a group autoethnography of a virtual summer internshipProceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3441852.3471199(1-13)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3441852.3471199

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