Accessible Making for People with Disabilities

05 Jan Accessible Making for People with Disabilities

In recent times, Maker culture and makerspaces have garnered much interest due to their potential to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) content among children. However, many accessibility barriers still remain in contemporary Maker culture and makerspaces that limit full participation of people with disabilities.

The purpose of this study is to understand how ability-diverse groups of kids and adults (e.g., parents, older siblings) engage in making and to design accessible solutions for supporting their making activities. Making includes creating physical or digital objects using traditional arts and crafts materials (e.g., pen and paper, Playdoh, WikkiStix, Lego bricks, etc.) as well as technology-based fabrication tools (e.g., 3D printing pens, Toybox 3D printers, Cricut machine, Makey Makey and Scratch, LittleBits STEAM Kits, LED circuit strips, etc.).

This research will investigate the role of making tools in community participation for children or adults with disabilities and their families and provide key insights to designers, engineers, and practitioners about building accessible making tools and facilitating inclusive makerspaces.

This research is a multi-phase study where adult participants and their child family members will be requested to participate in one or more of the following study procedures: interviews, observations, diary study, co-designing, or user evaluation sessions.

Participant Eligibility

Currently, we are looking for participants who
• are family members (e.g., parents, caregivers, or siblings) of at least one child aged between 3-17 with whom they engage in making activities. Making may include creating physical or digital objects using arts and crafts materials (e.g., art papers, Playdoh, WikkiStix, Lego, etc.) and technology-based fabrication tools (e.g., 3D printers, 3D printing pens, Cricut machine, Makey Makey, LittleBits STEAM Kits, LED circuit strips, etc.).
• have a disability or engage in making with a child family member who has a disability. Disabilities may include but are not limited to vision impairments, hearing impairments, motor impairments, learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, mental health conditions, etc.
• are age 18 or over.
• communicate in English or American Sign Language.

Eligible adult participants and their child family members (with permission from parents or legal guardians) will be invited to participate in a video-recorded interview for approximately 60 minutes. The session will take place at a location convenient for participants. Each child/adult dyad will receive a $20 gift card per hour.

Contact

Maitraye Das
(847) 316-1172