Disability in Digital Media: Accessibility and Inclusion

Gwyneth Peaty serves as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT) at Curtin University's School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, where she specializes in the intersection of technology, popular culture, and Gothic horror. Her academic background includes a BA with First Class Honours in Communication Studies and a PhD in English from the University of Western Australia. Her research expertise spans digital media, popular culture, video games, disability studies, and Gothic horror, with particular focus on representations of monstrosity and the relationship between technology and the body. She currently holds significant roles as the Reviews Editor of the Australasian Journal of Popular Culture and serves as the Australian representative of the Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia (GANZA). Her scholarly contributions include influential works on zombie narratives, video game ontology, and neo-supernaturalism in Gothic fiction, and she is currently working on a monograph about gargoyles for the University of Wales Press Gothic Literary Studies series.

Katie Ellis serves as Professor in Internet Studies and Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University, where she has established herself as an internationally recognized expert on disability and digital access. Her research focuses on the intersection of media access, representation, and disability rights, working closely with government, industry, and community stakeholders to create tangible benefits for people with disabilities. Her significant academic contributions include authoring and editing 17 books, including two agenda-setting handbooks and serving as series editor for Routledge Research in Disability Media Studies. Her work has been particularly influential in understanding the relationship between digital technology, disability, and human rights, as demonstrated through her Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award research on disability and digital television. As founder of the Critical Disability Research Network at Curtin, she continues to advance the field of disability media studies while actively engaging with the media on disability-related issues and leading innovative initiatives like the Learning Futures Accessibility Challenge, which brings together students, academics, and industry leaders to develop creative solutions for accessibility challenges

Mike Kent serves as a Professor and Head of the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University, where he leads research at the intersection of digital media, disability studies, and online education. His scholarly impact is evidenced by over 1,900 academic citations and influential publications including "Disability and New Media" (2011) and "Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives" (2016). His research focuses on accessibility and usability in digital environments, particularly examining how people with disabilities interact with information communication technology and the Internet. His contributions to higher education research include significant work on online education and social networking platforms, demonstrated through publications like "An Education in Facebook?" (2014) and "Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education" (2017). His latest work explores gaming disability perspectives and critical disability studies, while also investigating the implications of surveillance and big data on social justice