Designing for Collective Access: In Search of a Solution to Accessible Communication in a Mixed-Ability Non-Profit
For accessibility researchers and practitioners, this work reframes conflicting access needs as opportunities rather than problems, but the findings are based on a single case study and are largely qualitative.
This paper analyzes how a mixed-ability nonprofit navigated conflicting access needs during its growth, finding that such conflicts are generative processes that reveal power structures and create opportunities for accountability and repair.
As mixed-ability collaboration has become increasingly focal within accessibility research, managing varied, and sometimes conflicting, access needs has become a key consideration in designing for access. When an accessibility feature or practice benefits some people while constraining others, how should designers navigate these trade-offs? This paper responds to this question by analyzing how a mixed-ability nonprofit worked to make communication accessible to its members as it grew from a small blind-focused athletic group to a larger cross-disability organization. Based on a six-month study that combines interviews and field observations, we show that working with conflicting access needs is not just a technical 'problem' but a generative process that sparks reflection on technical constraints and preferences, diverse roles and communication norms, and organizational demands. We therefore argue for rethinking "conflicts" in access as key sites for revealing power structures and creating opportunities for accountability and repair.