Meeting participants with intellectual disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic
challenges and improvisation
Additional information
Authors
Soares Guedes L.,
Landoni M.
Type
Article in conference proceedings
Year
2021
Language
English
Abstract
With the COVID-19 pandemic, we all suffered from several restrictions and measures regulating interaction with one another. We had to wear masks, use hand sanitizer, have open-air meetings, feel a combination of excitement and frustration, and eventually depend on online video calls. The combinations of these additional requirements and limitations, while necessary, affected how we could involve users in the different stages of design. It has profoundly hindered our chances of meeting in person with people with temporary or permanent disabilities. In our project, involving people with intellectual disabilities in the museum context, we also had to deal with museums being closed and physical exhibitions being canceled. At the same time, guardians and caregivers often turned to a stricter interpretation of anti-COVID measures to protect people with intellectual disabilities. This paper aims to discuss these challenges and share our lessons about coping with challenging and unpredictable situations by using improvisation.
Keywords
Meeting participants, Improvisation, COVID-19, People with intellectual disabilities
Conference proceedings
ASSETS '21: Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
Pages (or article number)
1-4
Diffusion
License
Rights reserved
Visibility
Public
Status open access
Green
