Compu&ngResearchandPeoplewithDisabili&es

MariaKlaweHarveyMuddCollege

Outline

•  Whyitma@ers•  Learningsfromaconcussion•  Someresearchstories:

– TheAphasiaProject– Neurodiversetechemployees– RichardLadnerandhisPh.D.students

•  Closingthoughts

Whyitma@ers

•  Crea&ngabe@erworld•  Increasingdiversityincompu&ngresearch•  Diverseperspec&vesproducemoreideas

Learningsfromaconcussion

•  Bicycleaccident1994•  Cogni&veimpactfirst5months•  Cogni&veimpactnext4.5years•  Learnings:

– Difficultyinaskingforhelp– S&gmaofdisability–  Impostorsyndrome

TheAphasiaProject

•  Aphasia=lossoflanguage•  AnitaBorgOct2002,7monthsbefore

deathfrombraincancer–  Difficultyreading,wri&ng,namingobjects–  Noproblemwithnumbers,images,maps

•  UBC-Princetonresearchproject–  CreateESI(Enhancedwithsoundandimage)

mobileapps(e.g.planner,cookbook)–  Par&cipatorydesignwithAnita–  ResearchersinHCI,psychologyofaging,

speechsciences

Someresearchexamples2003-06

•  ESITabletcookbookandESIplanner–  UsagestudiesinBCandNJ–  Challenges:

•  Loca&ngpeoplewithaphasiatopar&cipate•  Auniverseofone•  Aheadofmobilemarket(iPhone2007,iPad2010)

•  Impactofagingonuseofmobiletechnology–  Ini&aluseofanewapp–  Reducingerrorsinpenselec&onfrommenus

NeurodiverseTechEmployeesMeredithRingelMorris(MSR),AndrewBegel(MSR),BenWiederman(HMC)

Assets2015bestpaper•  Neurodiverse=Au&smSpectrumDisorder,ADHD,dyslexia•  Methodology:

–  Interviewof10neurodiversetechworkers–  Surveyof846techworkersatMicrosob

•  Mostlysobwaredevelopers,testers

– MicrosobandSAPhaveannouncedgoaltoemploymoretechemployeeswithASD

Findings•  59withASD,ADHD,dyslexiaormul&ple(7%)•  Mostdiagnosedasadults,mosthavenotdisclosedtoHR•  Neurodiverseworkersreportgreaterproblemswith:

–  Openofficespace,socialinterac&ons,teammee&ngs,poli&cs•  Neurodiverseworkersreportbeingslightly:

–  be@eratdetec&ngpa@ernsincode,goodcodingstyle–  worseatreviewingcode,reques&ngcodereviews,wri&ngtestcases,focusingonaspecifictask

RichardLadnerandcurrentPh.D.Students• Kyle Rector, Accessible Health Projects (co-supervised with Julie Kientz) • Sangyun Hahn, Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning (co-supervised with Mari Ostendorf) • Lauren Milne, MobileAccessibility Projects • Catherine Baker , MobileAccessibility Projects • Danielle Bragg , American Sign Language Technology Projects • Alex Fiannaca, Input Accessibility (co-supervised with Maya Cakmak)

Four women, four NSF fellows, three with disabilities

Richard’sformerPh.D.sworkinginaccessibility

•  CMU,CornellTech,U.C.Boulder•  Intel,Google,Qualcom,ThomsonReuters

Closingthoughts

•  Bigdemandinacademiaandindustryforresearchersinaccessibility

•  Highlyinterdisciplinaryresearchbringsgreatopportuni&esandsomechallenges

•  Anycompu&ngresearchercanenterandcontributetothiswork

Discussion