Recently someone in a user group on accessibility shared an article on the potential for AI to assist people with disabilities. I don’t know the article author’s background, but while the motives seem positive, I think there is a lot overlooked in this article. While in theory I agree there is potential for these technologies to automate and smooth some tasks such as captioning, translating text to Braille, and image recognition, many of these tasks are far from perfectly executed. The last time I was in an online meeting, for example, the abbreviated name of our UF organization was auto-transcribed as the name of an international group known for using violent tactics. (One way to avoid this mistranslation is a principle of good community engagement: avoid abbreviations or at least spell them out the first time you use them!).
The wording of “empowerment” that the author uses throughout the title and article is itself disempowering and promotes the ideas that there is something lacking (such as an ability) in people with disabilities in this case. Marginalized groups are more in need of consideration, access, and opportunity than lacking ability. You can read more about this idea in understanding the social and human rights models of disability. Instead, the author could have stuck with “Providing access for” people with disabilities through AI.
The author also fails to mention really any of the ongoing critiques of AI – namely (but I may be missing some) data privacy, data ownership (who is going to profit from the data provided by people with disabilities using these tools), lack of access in rural/low connectivity areas, bias in the data used to train the AI, and so on. The same outlet that published the original article listed the 15 top threats from AI. We may be able to overcome some of these with time and careful design, but the current trajectory of development seems to be less than concerned with these issues.
Finally, the author suggests it is “imperative” to provide employees with disabilities with tools to help them succeed in their everyday roles. Well, yes, it is in fact the law to do so, under the Americans with Disabilities Act – sort of. There is a lot of squishy language as to what is a “reasonable” accommodation for the employer to provide, let alone a lack of funding to provide tools that may help people with ADHD focus better, for example.
Just a reminder that as far as we have come and may continue to progress, keep your eye on areas that still need improvement and have needed so for a long time because of oversights, let alone features that were baked into the system from the get go. Don’t let the shiny objects distract you from the fundamental disparities that exist and that may not be solved with new technology.
Also, if you’re part of UF, we have a relatively new faculty/staff/employee affinity group for folks with disabilities and our allies. If you’re interested, check us out!
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