Crip Reflections on Designing with Plants: Intersecting Disability Theory, Chronic Illness, and More-than-Human Design

Through an autoethnographic account of designing, exhibiting, and maintaining an interactive bioart installation with plants, we trace intersections between more-than-human design, disability theory, and lived experiences of chronic illness. Specifically, we deconstruct three "polished" exhibits of our installation through stories of breakdowns and failures, organized in three main themes: maintenance and care, buggy biodata, and collective resistance to purification and control. Our reflections show how plants, technologies, and a chronically ill body became entangled with each other conceptually and materially, surfacing new sites for more-than-human relationalities. In our discussion, we unpack how disability perspectives can expand more-than-human design practices, highlight opportunities for re-imagining exhibition spaces, and offer adaptation as a strategy for design in HCI.