We Count Project

By Vera Roberts

October 9, 2024

As data becomes the primary basis for determining truth and value, and data science drives the opportunities and risks of our digital economy, people with disabilities are likely to become more and more marginalized if their needs are not considered in this quickly ascending domain. There is a small but quickly closing window to act proactively to curtail the risks and catch the opportunities for people experiencing disabilities.

The current data ecosystem — an evolving system used to collect and analyze data to provide insights into the needs and habits of its users — focuses on the needs of the majority. As people experiencing disabilities are very different from each other, there are no adequate representative sample groups for predictive analytics. Their needs are either not captured in data, eliminated from the data set as outliers, or overwhelmed by majority data. An inclusive and balanced data ecosystem ensures that the needs of its minorities, such as persons with disabilities, are valued and not overlooked.

We Count, a project of the Inclusive Design Research Centre at OCAD University, was created to address bias, discrimination and barriers to participation and employment for persons with disabilities within the field of data science and data-driven systems.

Challenges

We Count was guided by challenges nominated by the community. Learn more about We Count challenges on our Challenges page.

Mission

To address bias and discrimination within the field of data science and data-driven systems and create inclusive, innovative machine learning strategies that will recognize, understand and serve people with disabilities.

Vision

An innovative and fair data ecosystem that serves diversity through opportunity and outcomes.

Objectives

Increase participation of people with disabilities in the data economy
Address exclusion and bias against people with disabilities in data systems
Ensure that people with disabilities help to shape the evolution of the data economy
Increase employment of persons with disabilities in the data industry
Decrease vulnerability of persons with disabilities to data abuse and misuse

We Count Advisory Panel

Michael Bach, IRIS
Sara Basson, Google
Pina D’Intino, Aequum Global Access
Rich Donovan, Return on Disability Group
Charles Finley, VP Marcomms, Co-founder/Chair Code for Canada
Catherine Frazee, Retired Professor, Ryerson School for Disability Studies
Megan Lawrence, Microsoft
Yazmine Laroche, Treasury Board Secretariat Canada
Clayton H Lewis, UC Boulder
Wendy Porch, Centre for Independent Living Toronto
Victor Santiago Pineda, World Enabled Organization
Shea Tanis, Coleman Institute
Shari Trewin, IBM

Learn more about We Count Advisory Panel

We Count Team

Jutta Treviranus, Principal Investigator

Vera Roberts, Project Manager

Cindy Li, Technical Manager

David Pereyra, Project Coordinator

Technical Team

Joseph Scheuhammer

Antranig Basman

Gregor Moss

Ned Zimmerman

Alan Harnum

Research Team

Dana Ayotte

Gloria Bernal

Uttara Ghodke

Lorna Lo

Celine Nguyen

Urmi Joshi

Amanda Ma

Rachel Spence

Francisco Uy

Read all past issues of the We Count Recount, We Count’s monthly newsletter.

Additional Past Issues

06/05/2021 - The We Count Recount: June 2021

05/08/2021 - The We Count Recount: May 2021

04/14/2021 - The We Count Recount: April 2021

03/09/2021 - The We Count Recount: March 2021

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