A scoping review of disability representation in engineering design education

Background Design engineering coursework often includes projects that address marginalized communities, such as the disability community, and the design experience and associated curricula can impact engineering students' perspectives on user‐engaged design practices. Purpose To understand the representation of the disability community in design engineering courses, this review asks: (1) How is disability presented and discussed in course‐based engineering design projects? and (2) How is the disability community represented and involved in these projects? Scope/Method This scoping review identified conference papers and journal articles in engineering education venues that analyzed the outcomes from course‐based engineering design projects. Articles involved designing for disability and included at least one engineering design phase. Results Of the 521 articles screened, 72 articles met the review criteria. Designing for the disability community was described most as service‐based learning (30.6%) and was conducted with undergraduate students in 98% of studies. Disabled individuals had no specified involvement in the design process in 52.8% of studies. Additionally, over half (52.8%) of studies did not report actionable steps for the final product of the course‐based project. Only four of the 72 studies reported that course curricula included education on disability rights or disability studies. Conclusions Students and faculty are pursuing course‐based engineering design projects that attempt to support the disability community but have varying success in directly involving disabled individuals and translating the final product for the community's benefit.