At the Technology, Equity, and Accessibility (TEA) Lab at Northeastern University, we aim to make collaboration, creative work, and learning more accessible and equitable for people with disabilities. Our research sits at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and Accessible Computing, with a focus on understanding, designing, and building accessible collaborative technologies for ability-diverse teams, i.e., teams involving people with and without disabilities.

We take a community-centered approach that involves contextual interviews, ethnographic field observations, and long-term involvement with community partners to develop a nuanced understanding of how accessibility is shaped by people’s interaction with each other and with the physical and digital systems in their workspace. Building on our formative work, we iteratively design, develop, and evaluate new technologies to enhance accessibility in collaboration, creative work, and learning for disabled people. We also draw on Disability Studies scholarship to critically interrogate the roles technologies play in reshaping group dynamics and redistributing the labor of creating access in ability-diverse teams.


Featured Projects


Recent News

September 2024: Center for Design at Northeastern published a medium article on the Disability and Design Futures panel where Dr. Das presented our work.

August 2024: Khoury News has featured our work on accessible technology!

June 2024: Our paper on  how blind people use and understand generative AI tools is accepted at ASSETS 2024!

May 2024: Our paper on inclusive play among neurodiverse children is accepted for publication in TOCHI!

May 2024: Our project has been selected for Khoury Research Apprenticeship! Huiru received apprenticeship in Spring 2024 and Nihar in Fall 2024 to continue our work accessible whiteboarding.

March 2024: Dr. Das received 2024 Google Research Scholar Award to advance our work on accessible collaboration!

March 2024: We are delighted to welcome our new students Qiushi Liang and Mingyi Li joining us in 2024!

March 2024: Huiru, Nihar, and Qiuying received first prize in the Papers2Products hackathon for their accessibility project! Congratulations, team!

January 2024: Our paper on alt text for AI-generated images is accepted at CHI 2024! Research done in collaboration with Google.

December 2023: Our paper on accessibility in collaborative ideation is accepted at CSCW 2024!

April 2023: Our paper on Simphony, an audio-tactile tool for enhancing accessible pattern generation is accepted at CHI 2023!

March 2023: We are delighted to welcome our new student, Rudaiba Adnin joining us in Fall 2023!

A Community for All

Our lab aligns with Northeastern’s commitment to building a diverse and inclusive community for all. We want our lab to be a respectful and welcoming space for all members, visitors, and collaborators irrespective of their gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, age, culture, national origin, and other aspects of their identity. As a group, we want to continually work towards an accessible and equitable future through an ever-evolving process of learning, action, and reflection.

A sign with written in large yellow and green handwritten font ally, privilege, bias, action, location, diversity and inclusion, and Kory Wilson. Details are written in smaller black font. Becoming an ally, proper motivation, allow space, listen-follow, TRC calls to turn reconciliation into reconcili-action. Self-examination. Recognize your privilege: live with a parent? no suicide in family? parent had a job? parent had degree? foster care in family? Recognizing unconscious bias. Don't feel guilty, do something to help. Be honest. Truth before history. Diversity- place and space. Location- land acknowledgement. Lever tools of colonization. Thriving indigenous people in all sectors. Knowledge is power. A pie chart of reality that shows a slice for % population but within that 5% is over-represented health issues prison. Go with an open heart. Each on their own journey towards diversity and inclusion. Under that is written access, gender, power redistribute, cognitive, talent innovation, globalization, shared economic, more voices, governance, charter of rights and freedoms, take time to build relationships. Four human stick figures hold a thread surrounding these words and underneath is written together we are stronger. Also written Giulia Forsythe, #tlt18 University of Saskatchewan

Image: Becoming an Ally, Recognizing Unconscious Bias and Privilege #tlt18 keynote by @KoryWilson,
illustration by Giulia Forsythe under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license