Hamraie, in light of access friction and access washing, poses that access is not always a self-evident good and we should take a critical eye to what is access and who access serves.

Access as Neutral

Charles Moran used the phrase access as an A-word to describe how access can be easy to name and think about but difficult to always enact in practice. 

Access friction was originally termed Liz Jackson to explain the friction that can happen between disabled people and environments and spaces that are not built for them. Access friction goes beyond just describing an environment as inaccessible because it can also include when individuals' access needs have not been considered or are not met in spaces that are otherwise deemed as accessible. Access friction has also evolved to include what is more colloquially known as conflicting access needs, or the idea that you can have situations where meeting the access needs of one individual or a group of individuals impedes access for another individual or group of individuals.

Access Friction

Moran, Charles. 1999. "Access: The A-Word in Technology Studies." In Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies, edited by Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe, 205-220. Logan: Utah State University Press.

Access: The A-Word in Technology Studies

An example of access friction between individuals can be if you have an individual with migraines caused by bright lights and an individual who is deaf and needs to be able to see an interpreter, in this case there is no set prescription for how to create the most access in this scenario but we can imagine ways to create access - for instance having lights on the interpreter that the individual with migraines is shielded from - but those ways of creating are centered around communication and discussion of alternatives between the two disabled people.

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