Communication Design Quarterly May 2014 Open Access

Participatory design: barriers and possibilities

Sushil K. Oswal University of Washington

Abstract

Scholars conducting analytical research in multimodal interaction design have not paid enough attention to the use of disabled participants in their work. In this column I argue that participatory action research with these users is overdue for the sake of building a culture of accessible designs. Working on a larger project on participatory design for a book, this commentary records my initial thoughts on how participation by disabled users needs to be central to the overall production cycle. I begin with the premise that each disabled user participates in this multimodal discourse from an entirely different vantage point shaped by their social, physical, and artistic experiences. It also emphasizes that each user interacts with multimodality differently depending upon the body they have, the adaptive technology they employ, and the uses they have for multimodality.

Journal
Communication Design Quarterly
Published
2014-05-01
DOI
10.1145/2644448.2644452
CompPile
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Open Access
OA PDF Gold
Topics
discourse analysis multimodality
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Palmer (2026)
    Effective Practices for User-Centered Instant Localization of a Screen Reader S…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Palmer (2025)
    Advocacy, Community, and Shared Expertise Make a Screen Reader Available in Hun…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Palmer et al. (2025)
    Constructing Websites with Generative AI Tools: The Accessibility of Their Work…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Walden (2022)
    Necessity is the mother of invention: Accessibility pre, inter, & post pandemic
    Computers and Composition
  5. Swacha (2021)
    Living Visual-voice as a Community-based Social Justice Research Method in Tech…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 12 →
  1. Palmer et al. (2021)
    Reimagining Business Planning, Accessibility, and Web Design Instruction: A Sta…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Huntsman (2021)
    Addressing Workplace Accessibility Practices Through Technical Communication Re…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Cardinal (2019)
    Participatory Video: An Apparatus for Ethically Researching Literacy, Power and…
    Computers and Composition
  4. Heilig (2018)
    Silent Maps as Professional Communication: Intersections of Sociospatial Consid…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  5. Oswal (2018)
    Can Workplaces, Classrooms, and Pedagogies Be Disabling?
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  6. Nielsen (2018)
    Exploring Transformative Usability in the Business and Professional Writing Classroom
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  7. Clegg (2018)
    Unheard Complaints: Integrating Captioning Into Business and Professional Commu…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 40 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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