IDRAC 2020

Virtual Ability, Inc.® presented the 9th Annual International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference (IDRAC) on October 10, 2020.

This is an annual professional conference held online, that is free and open to the public.

The conference took place in Second Life® at The Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island.

The conference was Live Streamed on YouTube.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disability Act, our theme this year was “Where have we been? Where are we headed? How should we get there?” We enjoyed lively discussions and information sharing among presenters and our very interested and interactive audience.

Below is an at-a-glance schedule of the presenters who shared their observations of the progress, benefits and challenges in disability rights in different parts of the world as applied to this year’s theme.

IDRAC 2020 Schedule of Events

All times are in SLT/PDT.

Saturday, October 10
Time	Name	Institution	Title	Presentation Summary
7:00 AM	Manohar Swaminathan	Microsoft Research India	Ludic Design for Accessibility	Technology solutions for accessibility have long been created using a narrow utilitarian lens, especially in the global south due to multi-dimensional challenges and resource constraints. We propose an alternate design methodology called the Ludic Design for Accessibility (LDA) that puts play and playfulness at the center of all assistive technology design and use. We present some current efforts in the use of AR and VR technologies as arenas of play while imparting skills and abilities to children who are blind. We briefly touch upon the challenges of accessibility faced by the huge population of people with vision impairments in India. (Disclaimer: This talk is on the research work being done at MSR India by the speaker and not about accessibility products of Microsoft, though there are many.)
8:30 AM	Amelia Fiske	Technical University of Munich	Exploring Ethical and Social Implications of Embodied AI	Research in embodied artificial intelligence (AI) has increasing clinical relevance for therapeutic applications in mental health services. With innovations ranging from ‘virtual psychotherapists’ to social robots in dementia care and autism disorder, artificially intelligent virtual and robotic agents are increasingly taking on high-level therapeutic interventions that used to be offered exclusively by highly trained, skilled health professionals. This talk explored the ethical and social implications of embodied AI for mental health care, and argued that further research is needed to address these broader concerns in order to negotiate best research and medical practices in innovative mental health care. The talk concluded by indicating areas of future research and developing recommendations for high-priority areas in need of concrete ethical guidance.
9:15 AM	Margaret Nosek	Baylor College of Medicine	Memories of July 26, 1990	Dr. Nosek has worked closely with Justin Dart and others in the independent living movement. She was present at the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the White House Lawn thirty years ago. She shared her memories of that historic event.
10:00 AM	Barry Whaley	Southeast ADA Center	Who are the Heroes? A History of the Disability Rights Movement	In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, this presentation traced where we have come from in the struggle for equality and full participation. Many do not know the histories of the heroes that came before us who, through their courage and conviction, fought for equality and laid the foundation of the four "pillars" of the ADA; full participation, independent living, equality of opportunity, and economic self-sufficiency. The disability rights movement has been one of constant struggle for basic human dignity. The ADA was the emancipation proclamation for people with disabilities. While the ADA can ensure facility access, effective communication and legal protections, It is only by our continued struggle and the leadership of a new generation that we will ensure the achievement of full equality.
11:30 AM	David Larson	Hamline School of Law, Dispute Resolution Institute	Access to Justice and Persons with Disabilities (PWD)
1:00 PM	Krista Watson	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission	Employment and the ADA	This was a fun and interactive session on the Americans With Disabilities Act! It included 30 Fun Facts and Practical Tips in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the ADA -- a look back prior to the ADA and where we are headed in the future. Via the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, we took a closer look at employment and the ADA.
2:30 PM	Rhoda Olkin	Alliant International University	Women with Disabilities: Experiences of Microaggressions	Only two previous studies have examined the experiences of microaggressions against people with disabilities. We conducted the third study, focusing on women with disabilities, collecting data on a survey and in focus groups. Results indicate a high level of both frequency and bothersomeness. We confirmed previous themes and added two that may be more pertinent to women than men with disabilities.
4:00 PM	Marco Gavério and Anahi Guedes de Mello	Universidade Federal - Brazil	Avatar- Crip Readings From the Global South

IDRAC 2020 Speaker Biographies

Biographies are listed in order of scheduled presentation.

Speaker	Biography
Manohar Swaminathan	Dr. Manohar Swaminathan is a Principal researcher at Microsoft Research India, where he is part of the Technologies for Emerging Markets group. Manohar is an academic-turned technology entrepreneur-turned researcher with a driving passion to build and deploy technology for positive social impact. He has a PhD in CS from Brown University, was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, and has co-founded, managed, advised, and angel-funded several technology startups in India. Manohar has guided over 40 graduate students and has more than 50 refereed publications. His research interests as a professor spanned graphics, virtual reality (taught a graduate course in VR in 1995), and internet technologies. These inform his current research focus, ludic design for accessibility, which puts play and playfulness central to all technology solutions for accessibility, especially in the global south. The current applications include enabling gamers without sight to play mainstream video games, computational thinking for children who are blind, and gaze-tracked interfaces for children with sensory motor impairments.
Amelia Fiske	Dr. Amelia Fiske holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, with a specialization in Medical Anthropology, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She situates her research at the intersection of anthropology, feminist science and technology studies, and medical ethics, crosscut by an interest in non-traditional and decolonial approaches to knowledge production. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for History and Ethics in Medicine at the Technical University of Munich.
Margaret Nosek	Dr. Margaret (Peg) Nosek is a Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and Senior Scientist at TIRR Memorial Hermann (Houston, TX). She is the Executive Director of the Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (CROWD). Dr. Nosek’s main research interest is on improving the health of women with physical disabilities, especially developing interventions to address disparities in reproductive health and access to healthcare services. She has conducted many large funded studies, several of which have taken place in Second Life. Dr. Nosek lives with spinal muscular atrophy, a severe congenital physical disability, and is a disability rights activist. She has been honored as a “Disability Patriot” by the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.
Barry Whaley	Barry Whaley works at the Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University. He is the Project Director of the Southeast ADA Center. Barry has over thirty-eight years of experience in providing employment services for people with disabilities. He has over 39 years in the field of disability civil rights and employment. Barry is an alumna of Indiana University and holds a Master of Science in Mediation, Arbitration, and Conflict Management from Sullivan University.
David Larson
Krista Watson	Krista Watson serves as the Outreach and Education Coordinator (OEC) for the Phoenix District Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). As the OEC she is responsible for the Phoenix District Office’s Outreach and Education program in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Ms. Watson is a frequent speaker throughout the U.S. about employment related matters, EEOC laws, guidance and procedures and she is a featured speaker at many conferences and meetings. Before serving in this position, Ms. Watson was an Investigator and the Charge Receipt Supervisor. As an Investigator, Ms. Watson investigated individual and class complaints of employment discrimination
Rhoda Olkin	Dr. Rhoda Olkin is a Distinguished Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco, and the author of What psychotherapists should know about disability (1999), Disability-Affirmative Therapy (2017), and Teaching Disability (in press). As a person with polio since age one, she has considered disability from many perspectives: as a child, partner, and parent. Her particular interest is in the intersectionality of disability and gender, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity.
Marco Gavério and Anahí Guedes de Mello	Anahí Guedes de Mello is an anthropologist with a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). She is an Associate Researcher at Anis – Institute of Bioethics, based in Brasilia, Brazil. Ms. Guedes de Mello is also a member of Group for Studies on Anthropology and Disability of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (GEAD/UFRGS), coordinator of the Brazilian Association of Anthropology (ABA) Committee on Disability and Accessibility, and a member of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) Working Group for Critical Studies on Disability. She is a deaf and lesbian activist in the disability rights and LGBTI+ social movements since 1998 and 2008 respectively. She was the founder and president of Florianopolis Independent Living Center between 2004 and 2008. Marco Antônio Gavério is a social scientist, master and doctoral student in Sociology at UFSCar. He investigates, from sociological perspectives, cultural and historical aspects around the disability theme. Thus, has observed how this category emerges in correlation to theories and practices about the body, sexuality and, more recently, health.