Inclusive Public Activities for information and Communication Technologies (IPACT)

Globally, there are 1.2 billion people who have some form of disability, just 10% of these people who need assistive technologies (AT) have access to it. Disability Interaction (DIX) manifesto defines this gap in AT provision as "one of the most pressing problems facing the world at the moment" [REF]. DIX proposes openness and co-creation of AT solutions with disabled communities as a way to address the stigma and social exclusion faced by many disabled people but also to promote disability inclusion in the scientific research agenda. This project builds on the DIX manifesto by bringing disabled people as collaborators and experts within academic research and innovation through a series of public engagement and knowledge exchange activities to support inclusion of disabled people in ICT research.
The overarching goal of this project is to foster researcher-public collaborations, particularly with disabled people in ICT research and innovation. We aim to to achieve this by, (i) public outreach and engagement activities to co-design a bootcamp training including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and workshops, (ii) establishing a bootcamp training for disabled people with research, (iii) establishing a bootcamp training for non-disabled researchers on working with and for this population, (iv) a series of outreach activities to capture people's lived experiences of disability and marginalisation and sharing these stories through a documentary and podcast series. Through public engagement, we also aim to establish a national disability research and innovation panel to support the development of future research proposals for EPSRC. The panel will consist of disabled people, research experts in the area of disability innovation, and industry leaders, each contributing their experience and expertise to further the agenda for disability research and innovation.