While discussing the topic of access, or the lack thereof, in modern society, people often seem to carefully tiptoe around the real issues to reduce the risk of offending someone. The climate of political correctness that surrounds societal factors that divide specific populations of people, such as physical/mental disabilities, weight discrimination, and poverty, consistently restrict […]

For this blog post, I read the two articles “Albeist Architecture” which was about accesibility for disabled people and “The Technological Gap” which was about access to technology for poorer people. In the first case, “access” means the ability for disabled people to go about their business just like any other person without feeling hassled […]

The majority of people take for granted that we can travel anywhere we want to go using airplanes and transit systems. However, for some people this is not always the case as transit and air travel are both very difficult for individuals who either lack abilities most also take for granted, like climbing stairs or […]

I read the articles about Ableist Architecture, and the Technology Gap.  The idea of  “access” is present in both, yet different. In the Ableist article, “access” is in its most physical interpretation: some people cannot get to some places because of their disabilities.  Generally, the solutions they are asking for is for greater consideration of […]

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) commits to screening passengers without biases towards their race, color, sex, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability.  However, prejudgement, technological limitations, and misconceived notions have led to traumatic travel experiences for butches and transgender people. Similarly, with the “Ethics in Design” article, racial ignorance while developing new and modern […]

Technology is developed to solve a problem and make life easier. The problems that technology resolves are entirely dependent upon the engineers that develop them. Thus, the problem does not lie within the technology but rather the people who designed these products. In both articles, the technology mentioned operated to its ability. However, additional problems […]

In my opinion, body scanners are an issue of very unethical design. They do not take into consideration all people of context; especially now that people are becoming more aware of different gender/sexual orientations, the TSA security’s official guidelines must adapt to this reality as well in the development of its products. Although I do […]

The TSA has a reputation for being inefficient and excessive.  People complain and share their stories about that one time or another that TSA inconvenienced them, including me, but those negative experiences are magnified greatly and can turn dangerous for people of color, Muslims, transgender people, and those who are gender nonconforming.  In the article, […]

  To some extent, the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) body scanner is an issue of unethical design because the criteria of what it is testing for cannot be applied to trans or butch lesbian people. Yet at the same time, it is extremely difficult and tricky to be adjusted. This is because if the software […]

These articles approach ideas of how inclusion can change a product and people’s experiences with a product. The article about butch lesbians’ experiences with airport security is a prime example of how not considering diverse groups when designing a product hurts the business and consumer. Many people who identify as gender non-conforming related to feeling […]