Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures

We propose a programme of activities that will communicate project findings to a range of audiences. The programme will impact especially on public awareness and understanding of disability's interaction with technology and the experiences of disabled users. It is centred around three strands:

- Bespoke exhibits at major science festivals, beginning with Sheffield Festival of Mind 2020, then New Scientist Live in October 2023 and subsequently portable to other festivals across 2024.

- Feature programme at 2022 Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) focused on fiction and documentary films that explore disability, embodiment and technology.

- Commission of artist Sarah Browne to produce creative moving-image artwork, in conjunction with the LUX Arts Agency, the largest distributor of contemporary art film and video in Europe. The final work will screen at festivals across the UK and Europe and be hosted on the project website.

Each strand will be developed with existing partners (named in the original Collaborative Award application) and disability arts groups and disabled mentors in Leeds, Sheffield and Dundee. The activities will engage thousands of people. When the programme has finished, we will have communicated our research to audiences with interests ranging from developments in new/future technologies to contemporary art and film. Our interaction with the public will allow for individuals to volunteer, through our website, to participate in the project's public consultation workshops on the co-design of research outputs across 2022 and 2023. We will feed all event response data into our publications and reports in the final year of the project.