U of T grad discovers a passion for accessibility research and design

The first in his family to attend university, Alexander Parent felt like he had already exceeded expectations before pursuing a master’s degree in user experience design at the University of Toronto – then he fell in love with his research.

With a mild form of cerebral palsy that affects the right side of his body, Parent focused on design and critical disability studies – including designing adaptive toys for children with disabilities.

He says his work in the field emphasizes the importance of understanding end users.

“I feel like designing technology in a vacuum isn’t beneficial,” says Parent, who will receive his degree this week during U of T’s fall convocation and is now pursuing a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at New York University. “And it potentially can be dangerous and risky if you don’t talk with communities and others to understand what technology you need to make for those people.

“A big discussion in our field is learning how to do this in partnership, in a co-design way, rather than how it’s been done historically.”

On the design side, Parent’s focus has been “do-it-yourself assistive devices” and conducting research work with “people as partners and co-designers” – an approach he studied in an accessibility and inclusive design course taught by Priyank Chandra, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Information who is the director of the STREET Lab.

Parent worked to put theory into practice. He helped organize a workshop – put on by the STREET Lab and a student-run Accessibility Interests Working Group that he chaired – on how to modify toys for children with disabilities using 3D-printed parts. It took advantage of resources in the Faculty of Information’s Makerspace and was carried out in partnership with Makers Making Change, an organization that 3D prints assistive devices for people with disabilities.

“I'm really proud of that event because a bunch of people not only got to learn skills, in terms of how to make things, but also to have critical conversations about why this is important,” says Parent, who also earned a bachelor’s degree from U of T.

The event proved popular, leading to two subsequent workshops.

Students worked to create remote control cars that could be operated by children who might not have the strength or fine motor skills to use the small buttons found on most controllers.

Their solution? Much larger buttons that enabled kids to operate the cars with a whole hand, elbow or another body part. The modified toys, achieved through a combination of 3D-printed parts and rewired electronics, were ultimately donated to ErinoakKids, the treatment and development centre that Parent attended as a child.

Meanwhile, Chandra had suggested Parent check out the work of New York University’s Amy Hurst, a pioneer in working collaboratively with people with disabilities in makerspaces.

“It was the ideal fit for the kind of work I want to do in the future,” says Parent, who contacted Hurst to discuss his research and mentioned that he would be referencing her work in his thesis. 

He ultimately decided to submit an application to pursue his PhD with Hurst.

“We got on a phone call and [Hurst] said that not only would I be welcomed at New York University, but they're giving me a fellowship to go study there,” Parent said last spring. “So, I'm the first one in my family to get an undergraduate degree, and now a master's degree, and one day, a PhD from NYU.

“I'm still blown away.”

Parent is coming home from New York to attend his convocation ceremony – and to maintain his U of T connections and build a network of accessibility professionals, which now includes an Instagram account for the student-run Accessibility Interests Working Group that he once chaired.

“We need to continue to have the discussions that we began even after we've graduated,” says Parent. “What we do as designers matters and who we involve as equals in the process matters.”