Schedule

This schedule is a living document. It might be updated during the semester. If anything changes, I will announce it in advance. Changes will always be intended to benefit students—for example, I will never move deadlines earlier.

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Week 1 — Introduction: All Tech is Assistive

August 24 (Monday)

In class

• Astra Taylor, dir. Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor in conversation. From Examined Life. 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HZaPkF6qE.

August 26 (Wednesday)

Readings

• Sara Hendren. “All Technology Is Assistive: Six Design Rules on Disability.” In Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities, edited by Jentery Sayers. University of Minnesota Press, 2018. https://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/untitled-aa1769f2-6c55-485a-81af-ea82cce86966/section/b22b7f2d-f386-4ec5-bcee-30591c0078ba.

Optional (Grad student recommended):

• Mills, Mara. “Technology.” Keywords for Disability Studies, April 27, 2015.

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 2: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 3: Connector
  • Rotation 4: Design Translator
• Start of semester survey

Week 2 — Extending Capabilities, Not Fixing Deficits

August 31 (Monday)

Readings

• Petrick, Elizabeth. “The Computer as Prosthesis? Embodiment, Augmentation, and Disability.” In Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society, edited by Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick. 2022.

Optional:

• Douglas C. Engelbart. Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework. SRI Summary Report AFOSR-3223. Stanford Research Institute, 1962. https://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-3906.html

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Design Translator
  • Rotation 2: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 3: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 4: Connector

September 2 (Wednesday)

In class — software studio

• Screen readers and keyboard navigation
• Assignment 1 assigned

Week 3 — Against Technoableism (Part 1)

September 7 (Monday) — Labor Day

September 9 (Wednesday)

Readings

• Shew, Ashley. Chapter 1: Disabled Everything. From Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Norton Shorts. W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
• Shew, Ashley. Chapter 2: Disorientation. From Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Norton Shorts. W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.

Due

• Assignment 1: Screen Reader Familiarization
• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Connector
  • Rotation 2: Design Translator
  • Rotation 3: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 4: Concept Keeper

Week 4 — Against Technoableism (Part 2)

September 14 (Monday)

Readings

• Shew, Ashley. Chapter 3: Scripts and Crips. From Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Norton Shorts. W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
• Shew, Ashley. Chapter 4: New Legs, Old Tricks. From Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Norton Shorts. W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 2: Connector
  • Rotation 3: Design Translator
  • Rotation 4: Argument Analyst

September 16 (Wednesday)

In class — software studio

• Semantic HTML and the accessibility tree
• Assignment 2 assigned

Week 5 — Against Technoableism (Part 3)

September 21 (Monday)

Readings

• Shew, Ashley. Chapter 5: The Neurodivergent Resistance. From Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Norton Shorts. W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
• Shew, Ashley. Chapter 6: Accessible Futures. From Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. Norton Shorts. W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.

Optional (Grad student recommended):

• Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Conserving Disability and Constructing a Habitable World.” ABC Religion & Ethics, December 2, 2020. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/rosemarie-garland-thomson-conserving-disability-and-constructin/12408108.
• Kafer, Alison. “Introduction: Imagined Futures.” Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana University Press, 2013.

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 2: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 3: Connector
  • Rotation 4: Design Translator

September 23 (Wednesday)

In class — software studio

• Automated accessibility testing with axe and pa11y
• WCAG 2.2 and conformance-based evaluation
• ARIA + focus management

Week 6 — Crip Technoscience: Disabled Knowing and Making

September 28 (Monday)

Readings

• Hamraie, Aimi, and Kelly Fritsch. “Crip Technoscience Manifesto.” Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience 5, no. 1 (2019): 1. https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/article/view/29607/24772.
  • If you are confused, read the accompanying talk transcript in Canvas

In class

• Guest Lecture: Sid Cook

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Design Translator
  • Rotation 2: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 3: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 4: Connector

September 30 (Wednesday) — No Class

Week 7 — Posthumanism: Who is the "Human" in HCI?

October 5 (Monday)

Readings

• Alice Wong and Ed Yong. “What Counts as Seeing.” Orion Magazine. July 12, 2022. https://orionmagazine.org/article/ed-yong-alice-wong-interview/.
• Weise, Jillian. “Common Cyborg.” Granta, September 24, 2018. https://granta.com/common-cyborg/.

Optional:

• Donna Haraway. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century In Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. 1985. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/donna-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto
• Kafer, Alison. Chapter 5 “The Cyborg and the Crip: Critical Encounters.” Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana University Press, 2013.
• Romanska, Magda. “The Bionic Body: Disability, Technology and Posthumanism.” Body, Space & Technology 23, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.16995/bst.11480.

In class

• Guest Lecture: Z Fisher

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Connector
  • Rotation 2: Design Translator
  • Rotation 3: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 4: Concept Keeper

October 7 (Wednesday) — No Class

Week 8 — Care, Interdependence, and the Myth of Autonomy

October 12 (Monday)

Readings

• Mia Mingus. “Access Intimacy, Interdependence and Disability Justice.” Leaving Evidence, April 12, 2017. https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/access-intimacy-interdependence-and-disability-justice/.

Optional (Grad student recommended):

• Bennett, Cynthia L., Erin Brady, and Stacy M. Branham. “Interdependence as a Frame for Assistive Technology Research and Design.” Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (New York, NY, USA), ASSETS ‘18, Association for Computing Machinery, October 8, 2018, 161–73. https://doi.org/10.1145/3234695.3236348.

Due

• Assignment 2: Accessibility Auditing and Remediation
• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 2: Connector
  • Rotation 3: Design Translator
  • Rotation 4: Argument Analyst
• Mid-semester feedback survey

October 14 (Wednesday)

In class — software studio

• Design dimensions for non-visual interaction
• Accessible data visualization: Olli and Umwelt
• Assignment 3 assigned

Week 9 — Deafness, Language, and Culture

October 19 (Monday)

Readings

• Erard, Michael. “Why Sign-Language Gloves Don’t Help Deaf People.” The Atlantic, November 9, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/11/why-sign-language-gloves-dont-help-deaf-people/545441/.

Optional (Grad student recommended):

• Padden, Carol, and Tom Humphries. Chapter 1: Learning to Be Deaf. From Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture. Harvard University Press, 1988.

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 2: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 3: Connector
  • Rotation 4: Design Translator

October 21 (Wednesday)

In class — software studio

• Customization is Key
• Assignment 3 prototype swap

Due

• Assignment 3 checkpoint

Week 10 — Life at the Limits of Language (Part 1)

October 26 (Monday)

Readings

• Edwards, Terra. Chapter 1: Life at the Limits of Language. Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language. Oxford University Press, 2024.
• Edwards, Terra. Chapter 2: Creating DeafBlind Identity. Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language. Oxford University Press, 2024.

Optional:

• Davis, Jenny L. “Introduction.” from How Artifacts Afford: The Power and Politics of Everyday Things. Design Thinking, Design Theory, edited by Ken Friedman and Erik Stolterman. MIT Press, 2020.
• James J. Gibson. “The Theory of Affordances.” In The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. 1979. https://cs.brown.edu/courses/cs137/2017/readings/Gibson-AFF.pdf

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Design Translator
  • Rotation 2: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 3: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 4: Connector

October 28 (Wednesday)

In class — software studio

• Work time and group critique

Due

• Assignment 3: Non-Visual Design
• Final project teams entered in Canvas

Week 11 — Life at the Limits of Language (Part 2)

November 2 (Monday)

Readings

• Edwards, Terra. Chapter 3: The Collapse of the World. Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language. Oxford University Press, 2024.

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Connector
  • Rotation 2: Design Translator
  • Rotation 3: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 4: Concept Keeper

November 4 (Wednesday)

In class

• Project check-ins / work time

Due

• Final project proposal

Week 12 — Life at the Limits of Language (Part 3)

November 9 (Monday)

Readings

• Edwards, Terra. Chapter 4: The Protactile Movement. Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language. Oxford University Press, 2024.

Optional (strongly recommended):

• Clark, John Lee. “Against Access.” McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern 64: The Audio Issue, October 2021. https://audio.mcsweeneys.net/transcripts/against_access.html.

In class

• Guest Lecture: Blakeley H. Payne

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 2: Connector
  • Rotation 3: Design Translator
  • Rotation 4: Argument Analyst

November 11 (Wednesday) — No Class

Week 13 — Disability, Bias, and AI

November 16 (Monday)

Readings

• Whittaker, Meredith, Meryl Alper, Cynthia L. Bennett, Sara Hendren, Elizabeth Kaziunas, Mara Mills, Meredith Ringel Morris, Joy Lisi Rankin, Emily Rogers, Marcel Salas, and Sarah Myers West. “Disability, Bias & AI Report.” AI Now Institute, November 20, 2019. https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/disabilitybiasai-2019

Optional:

• “ASAN Says No Generative AI in Plain Language.” Autistic Self Advocacy Network, July 29, 2025. https://autisticadvocacy.org/2025/07/asan-says-no-generative-ai-in-plain-language/.

Due

• Reading responses
  • Rotation 1: Argument Analyst
  • Rotation 2: Concept Keeper
  • Rotation 3: Connector
  • Rotation 4: Design Translator

November 18 (Wednesday)

In class

• Project check-ins / work time

Due

• Final project progress update

Week 14 — Fall Break

Week 15 — Final Project Presentations

November 30 (Monday)

In class

• Final Project Presentations

December 2 (Wednesday) — INFO Showcase

In class

• Final Project Presentations

December 4 (Friday that is secretly a Monday)

In class

• Final Project Presentations

Week 16 — Finals Week

Finals week (date TBD)

Due

• Final project portfolio