Disability Bias in AI-Powered Hiring Tools Co-Design

In May, we completed our second set of co-design sessions with the Equitable Digital Systems (EDS) project. EDS is a project that explores how to make digital systems more inclusive for persons with disabilities in the workplace.

Our second co-design sessions, titled “The Imaginary,” were centred on the theme of imagining ideal scenarios where technology works without barriers. Over the course of three weeks, we collaborated with a host of experts from across Canada to better understand what ideal interactions with technology would look like in the workplace.

Our goal in these sessions was to get participants to be imaginative and creative when coming up with best-case scenarios. In envisioning what the best possible world would be like, we gained tangible insights on where the workplace needs to be improved.

In the first week, experts shared their positive and negative experiences using technology as a starting point for creative thinking about ideal outcomes. Then, in the second week, participants began crafting fictional stories where characters lived without barriers to technology. These narratives have demonstrated that there is much work to be done in trying to improve both the accessibility of technology and the social practices that they are embedded within. In the final week, many groups continued putting their stories together, and some went on to engage in a critical reflection by answering questions about their characters and the narratives they created.

All of the participants and their groups took different approaches to putting their stories together, and we look forward to sharing them with you soon.

These co-design sessions were a great success! We want to thank all our experts for sharing their valuable time and expertise with the IDRC. We’re excited to continue with our third set of co-design sessions, which are already underway. Stay tuned for further updates!