Disability Meets Modality: A Sociotechnical Approach to Team Meetings

Team meetings are a key part of professional life which are experienced as sociotechnical, interpersonal phenomena. This interview study examines the intersection of modality, disability, and technology in the team meeting setting. Persistent concerns emerged across meeting modalities: participation as a sociotechnical challenge; social/teamwork considerations; stigma, disclosure, and expectations regarding professionalism; a lack of information regarding meetings; productivity problems; and dueling accommodations between disabled individuals. These themes represent challenges about taskwork, teamwork and social perception, and sociotechnical aspects. Findings suggest that flexibility to choose the modality of attendance based on individual context, along with flexibility to choose in-meeting supports, can help with dynamic needs. The accessibility interventions most desired by participants are both readily available and benefit all workers regardless of disability status, but require simultaneous infrastructural, technological, and process interventions to address.