# Cripping AI: Reimagining AI Through Lived Disability Experiences

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02080 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.02080/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 51 of its 284 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 May 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 51)

- [VizWiz Grand Challenge: Answering Visual Questions from Blind People](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.08218/) (2018)
- [Jury Learning: Integrating Dissenting Voices into Machine Learning Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02950/) (2022)
- [Captioning Images Taken by People Who Are Blind](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.08565/) (2020)
- [Decolonial AI: Decolonial Theory as Sociotechnical Foresight in Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.04068/) (2020)
- [Sign Language Recognition, Generation, and Translation: An Interdisciplinary Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.08597/) (2019)
- [SEP-28k: A Dataset for Stuttering Event Detection From Podcasts With People Who Stutter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12394/) (2021)
- [Queer In AI: A Case Study in Community-Led Participatory AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16972/) (2023)
- [ASL Citizen: A Community-Sourced Dataset for Advancing Isolated Sign Language Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05934/) (2023)
- [Participation in the age of foundation models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.19479/) (2024)
- [ORBIT: A Real-World Few-Shot Dataset for Teachable Object Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.03841/) (2021)
- [Identifying and Improving Disability Bias in GPT-Based Resume Screening](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01732/) (2024)
- [Detecting Multiple Speech Disfluencies using a Deep Residual Network with Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.12590/) (2019)
- [WorldScribe: Towards Context-Aware Live Visual Descriptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06627/) (2024)
- [FluentSpeech: Stutter-Oriented Automatic Speech Editing with Context-Aware Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.13612/) (2023)
- [Toward Fairness in AI for People with Disabilities: A Research Roadmap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.02227/) (2019)
- [KSoF: The Kassel State of Fluency Dataset -- A Therapy Centered Dataset of Stuttering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.05383/) (2022)
- [StutterNet: Stuttering Detection Using Time Delay Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05599/) (2021)
- [Systemic Biases in Sign Language AI Research: A Deaf-Led Call to Reevaluate Research Agendas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02563/) (2024)
- [From User Perceptions to Technical Improvement: Enabling People Who Stutter to Better Use Speech Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.09044/) (2023)
- [GenAssist: Making Image Generation Accessible](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.07589/) (2023)
- [Long-Form Answers to Visual Questions from Blind and Low Vision People](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06303/) (2024)
- [Computer Vision and Conflicting Values: Describing People with Automated Alt Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.12754/) (2021)
- [Model Positionality and Computational Reflexivity: Promoting Reflexivity in Data Science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07031/) (2022)
- [Towards AI-driven Sign Language Generation with Non-manual Markers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05661/) (2025)
- [Superpower Glass: Delivering Unobtrusive Real-time Social Cues in Wearable Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.06581/) (2020)
- [Beyond "Fairness:" Structural (In)justice Lenses on AI for Education](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.08847/) (2021)
- [Acceptable Use Policies for Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.09041/) (2024)
- ["It's the only thing I can trust": Envisioning Large Language Model Use by Autistic Workers for Communication Assistance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03297/) (2024)
- ["Cold, Calculated, and Condescending": How AI Identifies and Explains Ableism Compared to Disabled People](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03448/) (2024)
- [ProtoSound: A Personalized and Scalable Sound Recognition System for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Users](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.11134/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Drawing on crip theory, this paper proposes cripping AI as a guiding framework to center lived disability experiences in AI research and development. Moving beyond calls to make AI "accessible" to people with disabilities, cripping AI seeks to: (1) reveal and dismantle ableist assumptions embedded in how AI is imagined, designed, and evaluated; (2) center disabled ways of knowing (i.e., cripistemologies); (3) respect disabled labor in co-creating accessible practices. We demonstrate how to apply our framework with three cases: deafness and sign language AI, blindness and visual assistive AI, and stuttering and speech AI. We end by outlining three directions for future work, including cripping AI with diverse human bodyminds, across the entire AI pipeline and ecosystem, and in collaboration with other justice-oriented AI efforts.