Rethinking the Accessibility of Digital Content with Perceptual Supplementation System through the Lens of an Ethics of Care

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the tension between the ethical perspectives of Justice and Care for technology design research. We first introduce the ideal project of universal accessibility bared upon standards and rules that leave broadly open the complexity of their application in practices. By contrast, we present the ethics of Care as a critic as well as a complementary perspective needed for the realization and negotiation of shared values. We ground the debate in the case of the accessibility of digital spaces for the visually impaired and blind persons. Through our research work on the design of perceptual supplementation systems, we propose to account for two possible places of dialog between Care and Design, on one hand the product of design, and on the other hand the design approach itself.