Abstract
Research involving Deaf and hard-of-hearing participants remains limited in its ability to include and engage with diverse participants lived experiences, weakening research rigour, relationships with communities, and perpetuating existing inequalities. The use of co-design approaches to address these needs, by positioning lived experience as an additional form of expert knowledge, has increased in recent years. However, the ways in which practices genuinely empower DHH participants, enabling participation that advances justice within and beyond the research setting, have not been translated into co-design research. This paper proposes an initial participatory framework for exploring DHH engagement in research, examining how models of deafness, participant characteristics, and research practices interact to shape the nature of participation in co-design. We aim to provide guidance for the design community seeking to move beyond tokenistic involvement toward genuinely shared power, respect for the lived experience of DHH, and more socially impactful co-design practices.
Keywords
deaf, participation, co-design, systemic design.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1356
Citation
Hein-Machado, B., Landa-Avila, C., Rey-Galindo, J.A., Aceves-Gonzalez, C., and Cain, R. (2026) Towards equitable participation of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in co-design research: An initial working framework, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1356
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Towards equitable participation of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in co-design research: An initial working framework
Research involving Deaf and hard-of-hearing participants remains limited in its ability to include and engage with diverse participants lived experiences, weakening research rigour, relationships with communities, and perpetuating existing inequalities. The use of co-design approaches to address these needs, by positioning lived experience as an additional form of expert knowledge, has increased in recent years. However, the ways in which practices genuinely empower DHH participants, enabling participation that advances justice within and beyond the research setting, have not been translated into co-design research. This paper proposes an initial participatory framework for exploring DHH engagement in research, examining how models of deafness, participant characteristics, and research practices interact to shape the nature of participation in co-design. We aim to provide guidance for the design community seeking to move beyond tokenistic involvement toward genuinely shared power, respect for the lived experience of DHH, and more socially impactful co-design practices.