Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often framed as a transformative approach for improving accessibility, with major technology companies investing considerable resources into AI applications targeting disabled users. This investment in AI for accessibility has many benefits but remains relatively unquestioned. Through a critical discourse analysis of 126 public-facing blog posts and news articles by leading U.S.-based AI companies, our analysis reveals the ways in which technology companies render different modes of disabled participation, bestow agency upon AI as a competent and capable actor, reinforce their role in shaping AI futures, and legitimize the development of AI for accessibility. By examining tech companies’ AI visions alongside Critical Disability Studies scholarship, we discuss concerns with framing AI as a means to “solve” disability-related challenges while sidestepping deeper structural questions about equity, agency, and responsibility.

Real-time collaboration tools (e.g., videoconferencing or project management) are central to modern work but often pose significant accessibility challenges for blind and low vision (BLV) people.While these tools can support both in-person and remote collaboration, barriers to usability and access can hinder full workforce participation.Prior research has explored accessibility issues with specific tools, but broader insights into how BLV people use and experience mainstream collaboration platforms remain limited.We conducted an online survey with 155 BLV users, evaluating the ease of using 30 widely used collaboration tools.Findings show that Zoom is rated as the easiest tool to use, however, project management and whiteboarding tools are rated relatively difficult to use.Over half of the respondents reported that accessibility barriers negatively impact their collaboration, job performance, and career growth.We discuss the compounding effects of inaccessible collaborative tools and offer design recommendations for more inclusive digital workspaces.

Many technology companies aim to improve access and inclusion not only by making their products accessible but also by bringing people with disabilities into the tech workforce. We know less about how accessibility is experienced and negotiated by disabled workers within these organizations. Through interviews with 20 BLV workers across various tech companies, we uncover a persistent misalignment between organizational attempts at accessibility and the current realities of these employees. We introduce the concept of the accessibility paradox, which we define as the inherent tension between the productivity- and profit-driven nature of tech companies and their desire to hire and retain disabled workers. Focusing on the experiences of BLV workers, we show how the accessibility paradox manifests in their everyday workplace interactions, including digital infrastructure, accommodations processes and policies, ability assumptions, and competing priorities. We offer recommendations for future research and practice to understand and improve workplace accessibility and inclusion.

In this paper we describe the design and evaluation of The Next Fairy Tale (TNFT) VR, a theatrical interactive storytelling system created in virtual reality and informed by performing arts theories. TNFT was designed to produce opportunities for interactors to experience role-taking and character identification using design principles drawn from actor training and theatrical performance. We report the results of a pilot qualitative study of interactors using TNFT to explore the elements of the design that supported or hindered roleplaying behavior. We identify four design patterns that supported roleplaying in the system: (1) using explicit roles to set player expectations, (2) embracing the "mask and the mirror" effect, (3) attending to visual and interactional details, and (4) easing the player gently into the roleplaying experience. These patterns speak to a broader need to support roleplay through explicit scaffolding of desired player behaviors in digital narrative experiences.