Diversity-Centred Design: Thinking Through Video-Mediated Communication Systems for Disability and Neurodiversity

Video-mediated communication is often touted as opening up access for neurodiverse people and people with a range of disabilities. While previous research has shown that this claim needs to be tempered with an acknowledgement of ableist assumptions made at the design stage, this paper discusses a less clear-cut issue: what failure to communicate via video meeting technologies in situations where multiple neurodiverse conditions and disabilities are present, might teach us. Drawing on observational data as well as shared and personal experiences, it is argued that paying attention to technology's failures rather than automatically fixing them are important first steps in designing for diversity first.