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Critical Design Lab

Remote Access Archive

Zoom shared screen of a work of art by Yo-Yo Lin
Image Description: Screenshot of a Zoom shared screen, which shows a work of art by Yo-Yo Lin. The art is a white and grey blob against a black background. The top of the screen names the Zoom Meeting. The bottom shows a series of grey buttons, along with an orange chat button that is lit up. A speech bubble above it “From Dominika to everyone” says “yes same issue with audio.”

Overview

The Remote Access Archive is an digital archive of the way that disabled people and communities have used technology for remote participation, both before and during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The archive is created with support from the Social Science Research Council, National Science Foundation, and Vanderbilt University. We are hoping to launch the website in early 2025.

Project Team

  • Aimi Hamraie (PI)
  • Kelsie Acton (Lead researcher and project manager)
  • Amery Wyn Sanders
  • Cavar
  • Carmen Cutler
  • Avianna Miller
  • Katie Sullivan
  • Martina Svyantek
  • Jiya Pandya (archival consultant)

Advisory Board

  • Max Airborne
  • Moya Bailey
  • Gracen Brilmeyer
  • Susan Burch
  • Mara Mills
  • Corbett O’Toole
  • Bess Williamson
  • Jaipreet Virdi
  • Hannah Zeavin

Call for Submissions

Remote access is when you can learn, work, socialize, and organize with other people when you are in different places

An archive is place to store important stories and documents so they are not lost and people can study them to learn about the past.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are learning and working by using technologies such as the phone or internet. This is sometimes called "remote access." But before the pandemic, when disabled people asked for remote access, they were often told 'no.' People said that remote access costs too much money or is too hard to do. But remote access is important for disabled people. It is how many of us live, socialize, and organize.

The Critical Design Lab is creating an online archive of the ways disabled people have used remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. An archive is a website for sharing stories and documents. The Remote Access Archive will gather stories, documents, and other information about how disabled people have used technology to interact remotely. The archive will be free and on an accessible website. Anyone with internet access will be able to use the website to better understand remote access.

Examples of Remote Access

  • Video conferencing through Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams
  • Using Google documents
  • Text messaging
  • Having parties in online spaces
  • A neighborhood phone tree
  • Telegrams
  • Writing letters
  • Sending newsletters
  • Online discussion boards
  • Hiring access workers such as American Sign Language interpreters or CART stenographers online
  • The technologies (such as web cameras and microphones) that allow us to communicate remotely

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council’s Just Tech program, and ThisAbility, Ltd.

What We Are Looking For

How to Submit

Submission Page

We want to gather stories and documents that show us things like:

  • The times you asked for remote participation or access and were told “no.”
  • Art that shows remote access.
  • Specific ways that disability communities, such as Autistic and neurodivergent people, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people, Blind people, Chronically Ill or Sick people, and mobility-disabled people, use remote access.
  • The technological solution you created to participate remotely when an in-person meeting was inaccessible.
  • How you found other disabled people online, through newspaper ads, or other forums.
  • A time you felt connected to other disabled people because you found a digital community.
  • Ways you keep up with friends and loved ones at a distance.
  • Fun or creative ways you stay connected from a distance, such as through celebrations and parties.
  • How you participate in organizing and politics remotely, and how organizations that you are part of help support this.
  • That stash of old newsletters you have kept from a disability organization.
  • A photocopy of a phone tree or list from a community you are part of.
  • A three-way phone call, chat room, message board, or smartphone app that helped you stay connected.
  • A protest you helped put together or joined in from your bed.
  • How you checked in on a friend during a weather crisis.
  • That time someone sent you dinner or groceries using an app because you were sick.  
  • A photo or diagram of your technological set-up for remote access, including your computer, web cam, microphone, and other elements, especially ones you have adapted.
  • Screen shots from a text message, discussion board, or event advertisement related to remote access.
  • Selfies or video recordings from your favorite Zoom dance party.
  • Screenshots of the first tweet you made on a hashtag that went viral. “Hashtag activism” is a concept used by Black feminist and Black disabled activists such as Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Vilissa Thompson to connect disabled people across the world.
  • Social media posts and threads about disability culture and community.
  • What you do when technology fails, such as when the internet goes out, or speech-to-text technology shows the wrong words.