Understanding Discussions Around Culture Within Courses Covering Topics on Accessibility and Disability at U.S. Universities

Title of the Paper

Understanding Discussions Around Culture Within Courses Covering Topics on Accessibility and Disability at U.S. Universities

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Accessibility and Disability Studies in Culture and Education
• Keywords: Accessibility Education, Culture, Disability Studies, Digital Design, Educational Curriculum

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • Technical courses often overlook how cultural differences influence accessibility design.
  • Accessibility education lacks a cross-cultural perspective, making it difficult to cultivate globally conscious designers and developers.
  • Despite recent growth in accessibility research, there remains a gap in the specific topic of "integrating disability studies with accessibility education."

• Significance:

  • Cultural context profoundly impacts the lived experiences of people with disabilities and design decisions.
  • Excluding cultural differences in accessibility design risks marginalizing users and excluding certain groups.
  • Improving education is a critical foundation for effectively training accessibility designers.

• Motivation and Related Work:

  • Previous research has focused on technical solutions in accessibility education but has not deeply explored the impact of culture on education.
  • Surveys reveal that many technical courses only provide superficial coverage, with little to no discussion of cultural perspectives.
  • Non-technical courses (e.g., disability studies courses) delve deeper into cultural discussions but fail to sufficiently connect with the teaching methods of technical courses.

Proposed Solution

• Proposed Approach:

  • Compare how technical and non-technical courses teach accessibility and disability-related content, evaluating the depth of cultural discussions and teaching methods in both.
  • Explore ways to integrate cultural topics into accessibility education while offering specific recommendations for improving curriculum design.

• Innovations:

  • Conducted the first systematic investigation into the discussion of cultural topics within accessibility education courses at U.S. universities.
  • Provided a set of recommendations to enhance the cultural integration of technical courses and leveraged teaching mechanisms from non-technical courses to improve course quality.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Online Survey: Collected data from 72 students to understand the extent of cultural discussions in technical and non-technical courses.
  2. Follow-up Interviews: Conducted in-depth interviews with 14 students to gather more detailed information, including the depth of course discussions and student feedback on course design.
  3. Data Analysis: Applied reflexive thematic analysis to code and synthesize survey and interview results, forming specific recommendations for curriculum design.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  • Cultural topics are rarely discussed in technical courses, with most relying on superficial lecture-based approaches.
  • Non-technical courses cover deeper cultural and societal perspectives, including the representation of disability in different geographic locations and social attitudes.
  • Surveyed students largely recognized the importance of integrating culture with accessibility design and provided suggestions for improving education.

• Advantages:

  • Offers a unified analytical perspective and data support to understand the intersection of culture and accessibility education.
  • Provides concrete recommendations for future curriculum design, aiding in the development of globally conscious accessibility designers and developers.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Survey results indicate that cultural discussions in technical courses are minimal and lack depth in cultural perspectives or global contexts.
  • Students reported that courses lacking cultural content fail to prepare them to apply accessibility design in real-world environments.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • This study focuses solely on course design at U.S. universities, without examining accessibility education in other countries and regions.
  • The perspectives of course creators and educators were not included; future research could interview these groups to gather more practical suggestions.
  • Future studies are encouraged to explore accessibility education in Global South countries and involve culturally representative stakeholders in curriculum development to refine global paradigms.

This paper provides critical insights for reforming accessibility education and recommends that educators and policymakers reference its practical suggestions to improve the educational background of accessibility designers.