Taylor, the Disability Disclosure Virtual Assistant: A Case Study of Participatory Research with Disabled Students
Open accessAbstract
Administrative burden in education is a serious issue for disabled students. Form-filling and bureaucracy are ubiquitous in further and higher education, particularly for students who need to disclose a disability and arrange for accommodations and support for an equitable educational experience. Paradoxically, many of these processes are inherently inaccessible for disabled students, and yet completing them can be critical to their success. Artificial Intelligence has potential to alleviate some of the burden imposed by administration and bureaucracy; virtual assistants and chatbots can replace forms with dialogue, without placing additional strain on institutions. However, it is essential that solutions are designed in partnership with disabled students to ensure that students’ needs are met, their concerns addressed, and the final solution is equitable for them. This paper explores a case study of participatory research with disabled students in a large UK distance learning institution, in which participatory research identified an issue of administrative burden for disabled students, and a virtual assistant was designed as a solution using participatory design. It shares the methodology and design process, explores findings from different phases of the research, and shares recurrent themes arising throughout the study. In doing so, it aims to provide a foundation for future participatory research to reduce barriers for disabled students.
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Using a participatory approach like Lister et al. (2021) can help identify and guarantee user needs while balancing technical constraints and university requirements.
“Using a participatory approach like Lister et al. (2021) who co-developed a disability disclosure assistant can help identify and guarantee user needs while balancing technical constraints and university requirements.”
From Exploring the role of generative AI in higher education: Semi-structured interviews with students with disabilities (2025) · cites this paper as Lister et al. (2021)
Sections 2.3 and 4 describe co-designing the disability disclosure assistant with students, identifying their needs, and balancing preferences against university requirements and technical constraints. The paper does not say this approach guarantees that user needs will be met; Section 4 notes that some student ideas were not implemented. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredParticipants with physical (restricted mobility, manual dexterity issues) and sensory disabilities (deafness, blindness) were included in two studies [51,53].
“Participants with physical (restricted mobility, manual dexterity issues) and sensory disabilities (deafness, blindness) were included in two studies [51,53].”
From Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality on Educational Inclusion: A Systematic Review of Technologies Supporting Students with Disabilities (2024) · cites this paper as [53]
One important drawback of AI and VR technologies is their inability to understand and process every kind of information they receive, leading sometimes to misleading or confusing responses from the system [53,56,58,59].
“One important drawback of the use of AI and VR technologies in educational processes is their inability to understand and process every kind of information they are receiving, leading sometimes to misleading or confusing responses from the system [53,56,58,59].”
From Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality on Educational Inclusion: A Systematic Review of Technologies Supporting Students with Disabilities (2024) · cites this paper as [53]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lister, K., Coughlan, T., Kenny, I., Tudor, R., & Iniesto, F.
- Affiliations
- The Open University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lister, Kate
- Venue
- Education Sciences
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-09-27
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 587
- ISSN
- 2227-7102 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3204015842
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 14.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Education Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Research Online (The Open University) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UNED repository (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility
- Keywords
- students with disabilities, disability disclosure, virtual assistants, chatbots, administrative burden, accessibility, university administration, disability accommodation, participatory design, distance education, artificial intelligence in education, student support services
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