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

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.