Making the maker movement more inclusive: Lessons learned from a course on accessibility in making

Making and the ”maker movement” have been growing in popularity as a progressive educational approach. However, researchers have leveled critiques of making as being exclusionary toward people with disabilities. In this paper, we present results from the iterative design, implementation and evaluation of Inclusive Making, an undergraduate and graduate level course on accessibility in making. Students in the course went through a ten-week process, culminating in the design of accessibility solutions to include communities with disabilities in making. Using qualitative methods, we chronicle students’ design products, processes and learning in relation to the course iterations. Results show that when students worked with external stakeholders, their designs and learning improved. Moreover, designing for neurodiverse children required students to grapple with existing literature about making in education. We discuss insights from our work regarding the need for more accessibility research in making, and the potential of university students to promote accessible making by engaging with external stakeholders.