Blogs

Ather Sharif

Ather Sharif has a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Washington. His research focuses broadly on human-computer interaction and specifically on the intersection of accessibility, visualization, and personalization. His work involves making online data visualizations accessible to screen-reader users. He is the chairman of the Executive Board of the Disability Empowerment Center. [email protected]


I am disabled but not ‘impaired’

Posted: Thu, August 08, 2024 - 12:45:00

There are at least 1.3 billion disabled people worldwide [1]. Their disabilities include blindness, hearing, mobility, and cognitive, among others. These individuals are disabled—if they choose to identify as such—but what they are not is “impaired.” Word cloud of impaired and its related words created using Generative AI. Correct usage of terminology is important. There exists a prodigious, if not…