The Three Praxes Framework - A Thematic Review and Map of Social Accessibility Research
This work identifies a critical fragmentation in social accessibility research, potentially hindering the effective improvement of communication, relationships, and access ecosystems for disabled people.
This paper analyzes 90 social accessibility research papers from 2011-2025 to understand the field's intersectional body of work. It develops the Three Praxes Framework, which identifies three sites of practice (Artifact, Ecosystem, Epistemology) and two cross-cutting stances toward change (Temporal Orientation, Stakeholder Focus), revealing that these praxes largely operate in isolation.
Research in social accessibility aims to improve the lives of disabled people across diverse abilities and experiences by assisting with communication, relationships, and ecosystems of access. We seek to understand this intersectional body of work through analyzing social accessibility research from 2011 to 2025. Through constructivist grounded theory analysis of 90 papers (curated from 605), we develop the Three Praxes Framework: three sites of practice Artifact (constructive), Ecosystem (relational), and Epistemology (theoretical) - two cross-cutting stances toward change (Temporal Orientation and Stakeholder Focus) - and one reflexive cycle modeling how insights can flow between praxes. Our analysis reveals these praxes operate largely in isolation, risking that insights remain academic exercises while assistive technologies reinforce existing barriers. We call on the field to realize a cycle where disabled people's lived experiences shape material realities, material practice generates theoretical knowledge, and both transform ecosystems of access.