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Designing for diverse-ability interaction by Assoc. Prof. Oussama Metatla
Assoc. Prof. Oussama Metatla from the University of Bristol will discuss how co-design and cross-sensory cognition can offer new ways to design inclusive interactions that go beyond traditional assistive technologies.
The event is open to everyone. If you’d like to attend, please contact elif.baykal@ozyegin.edu.tr
Date: Thursday, May 29, 2025
Time: 14:30 – 15:30
Location: Room G25, Building AB4
Abstract
Inclusion is a widely endorsed societal value, yet our technologies often fail to uphold it. Despite decades of advancement, assistive technologies continue to centre primarily on functional deficits, inadvertently reinforcing the exclusion of disabled people from meaningful social interaction. In this talk, I will draw on a series of research projects from the Diverse-Ability Interaction Lab at the University of Bristol to challenge this deficit-oriented paradigm. Through examples from our work, I will first examine cases where conventional accessibility solutions may unintentionally lead to exclusion and then present how insights from co-design methodologies combined with cross-sensory cognition developed with both disabled and non-disabled children can inform new ways of designing for more inclusive interactions.
Bio
Dr Oussama Metatla is Associate Professor (Reader) of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Bristol. He is co-director of the Bristol Interaction Group and leads the Diverse-ability Interaction Lab. His research challenges conventional approaches to assistive technology by advancing the notions of diverse-ability and cross-sensory interaction that centre the experiences of both disabled and non-disabled people. His interdisciplinary work spans visual impairment, neurodiversity, and cognitive and physical disabilities, applied across domains such as education, work, and leisure. Dr. Metatla was previously an EPSRC Research Fellow focusing on inclusive education technologies for blind and visually impaired children in mainstream settings. Most recently, he has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Fellowship to deepen his research into how cross-sensory perception and embodied cognition can reshape inclusive technology design at a fundamental level.