Technological Imagination for Accessible Design: Invoking Blind Users for Sighted Computer Science Students

We propose a framework for designing computer science courses on accessible design, focusing on blind users. The dominant approach in the literature pursues student motivation for accessible design through three main springs: a ‘web of arguments’, highlighting utility and morality as key considerations, empathy, and mainstreaming. We introduce aesthetics as a compelling motivational resort, and we appeal to technological imagination to frame sighted students’ work in a personal project of weaving a Web of Voices. We present arguments, practices, and online resources to support teachers that introduce accessibility for blind users to sighted students.