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Paper short abstract

Blind people experience barriers to thrive in the workplace due to inaccessibility. Drawing on an ethnographic project collaborating with blind and sighted people working at a Danish municipal organization, I explore ocular-centrism as a form of hostility with societal and embodied costs.

Paper long abstract

Research in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) reveals that disabled people face systemic barriers in the workplace. Disabled workers remain at a higher risk of unemployment due to inaccessible offices, technology, and lack of support. Addressing workplace exclusion and inaccessibility requires a deeper understanding of how mundane workplace infrastructures and practices impact disabled people's everyday life. In this context, I contribute to conceptualizations of hostility in design and STS with the analysis of a year-long collaborative project with blind and sighted employees at an organization dedicated to supporting blind and low-vision people in obtaining employment. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with seven participants (blind and sighted employees), two focus groups with blind employees, and video ethnographic materials accompanied by image descriptions analyzed with blind participants, I examine how ocular-centrism (privileging vision in knowledge production, design and social interactions) manifests as a form of infrastructural and interactional hostility. The study reveals a paradox: while the organization seeks to foreground blind knowledge and advocacy, the legacy of ocular-centrism in technological tools, designs, and social norms persist within its practices, technologies, and communication modes. As a response, blind employees develop forms of subversion and repair to trouble ocular-centrism. These include relations of interdependence with sighted and blind colleagues, braille hacks, humor, complaints, and mutual aid. Importantly, while blind employees reclaim their right to an accessible workplace, acts of resistance derive in physical and emotional exhaustion and lack of trust in the organization and societal promises of social inclusion.