From accessible making to do-it-yourself assistive technologies, textile crafts have brought valuable insights to recent accessibility research. However, textile crafting is so widespread and varied that we do not understand the scope of accessibility in textile crafting, nor are crafters a well-defined population. In order for HCI to more effectively explore textile crafting for more accessible technologies, we need a broader, yet more nuanced, understanding of such practices. We conducted a cross-sectional survey study of textile crafters (N=184) that asked participants to identify three aspects of their experiences: textile crafts, disability types, and accessibility barriers. Our findings revealed the dynamic, interdependent nature of ”access” arising from an ecosystem of tools and social relationships. Drawing on recent disability-led work in HCI, craft theory, and our own experiences, we present a conceptual framework that models how technology and community enable accessible crafting, outline practical implications for HCI and accessibility researchers, and suggest opportunities for further sociotechnical inquiries.
Wu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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