A Call for Integrated Approaches in Digital Technology Design for Aging and Disability.

Journal: The Gerontologist
Published Date: May 10, 2025

Abstract

The fields of aging and disability often proceed as 2 distinct lines of inquiry and action in terms of digital technology design. Guidelines and standards in both spaces (e.g., web content accessibility guidelines) have had suboptimal impact due to limited comprehensiveness enforcement mechanisms. Standards also rarely account for variations within the disability and aging communities and the structural power of ageism and ableism. These concerns proliferate in the context of contemporary technology discourse (e.g., data privacy, generative artificial intelligence). There is an opportunity to bridge both fields given that aging and disability can lead to distinct but overlapping experiences and technological needs and because of the multiple ways aging and disability may be simultaneously experienced. Joint efforts are essential to building the political power necessary to address current limitations and associated harms and to mitigate the risk of exacerbation associated with increasing technological pervasiveness and complexity. Joint efforts can also catalyze a paradigm shift from designing to address "deficits" to designs that are responsive to assets and the context of older adults' and disabled persons' full personhood. This paper reviews best practices for digital technology design across aging and disability fields and presents pathways forward toward comprehensive, enforceable standards.

Authors

  • Hanna J Barton
    BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
  • Rupa S Valdez
    Department of Systems and Information Engineering, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
  • Ashley Shew
    Department of Science, Technology, and Society (STS), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
  • Bonnielin K Swenor
    Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
  • Anna Jolliff
    Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Center for Research and Innovation in Systems Safety, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
  • Henry Claypool
    Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Sara J Czaja
    Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Center on Aging and Behavioral Research, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
  • Nicole E Werner
    Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Center for Research and Innovation in Systems Safety, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Keywords

External Resources

Popular Topics
Recent Journals