Rua M. Williams
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fractalecho.bsky.social
Rua M. Williams
@fractalecho.bsky.social
2.6K followers 720 following 820 posts
Common Cyborg | NB ND Mad Bean | Disability and Epistemology | Research Ethics and Dissensus
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fractalecho.bsky.social
99 nights in the forest. The Ram.
Kid dressed in a deranged ram costume charging down a flight of stairs Kid dressed in a deranged ram costume crouching menacingly in front of a window
October 19, 2025 at 2:48 AM
fractalecho.bsky.social
This book is titled “Disabling Intelligences” for many reasons. First, because so-called “AI” is built from historical commitments to the excision of disability from the classification of humanity.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…
Rua M Williams's Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI, publushed by palgrave macmillan, is held in front of rainbow glass. The cover is deep pink with orange vines.
October 11, 2025 at 10:20 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
It's got a back blurb!
This book discusses the influences of eugenics on the Al industry and the impacts of Al opportunism on disabled people. Why are the negative consequences of so-called Al so consistently directed at disabled and racialized people? Disabling Intelligences answers this question by detailing the ongoing effects of the eugenicist mindset on our corporate ventures and our interpersonal relationships. It offers an accessible guide to the various meanings, methods, and impacts of Al, and provides a clear framework for classifying, categorizing, evaluating, and critiquing Al projects. Bridging the gap between STS and critical disability studies, the author centers disabled experiences to present a novel framework that helps readers transform their understandings of citizenship, consumerism, social movements, journalism, engineering, research, and scholarship. An ideal reading for academics at all levels interested in Al technologies across the social sciences and humanities, as well as engineering and computer science, this groundbreaking short monograph challenges our understanding and assumptions about technology, encompassing the history of Al and disability from popular culture to real-life case-studies. Readers will come away from this text equipped with a clarity of perception and a toolkit for evaluating and resisting metaeugenics in technology. Rua M. Williams is Assistant Professor of User Experience Design at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, and Just Tech Fellow with the Social Science Research Council, where they research disabled people's bodily autonomy and social agency through adaptive and assistive technologies. Dr. Williams uses feminist and anti-racist approaches to Technoscience, Critical Disability Studies, and Science and Technology Studies to denounce injustice in technology and uplift marginalized users' practices of resistance. ISBN 978-3-032-0266
October 8, 2025 at 10:13 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI is now available in physical form! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Cover of Disabling Intelligences, a dark pink book with orange vines.
October 8, 2025 at 10:13 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Re: the Windy City, 🧊, and social media surveillance

Patricia Hill Collins reminds us that "oppression cannot be reduced to one fundamental type, and that oppressions work together in producing injustice."

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Image of page from Disabling Intelligences. The text is in this thread.
October 5, 2025 at 6:36 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
I forgot that I did eventually edit the first line of the book. It was originally, "I did not want to write this book."

Disabling Intelligences eBook is available now link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
I’ll be honest. When thinking about what books might live in me, this was never one of them. It was certainly not the book I thought I would write first. I never wanted to become known for artificial intelligence (AI) criti- cism at all. I want to sit in a lab and tinker with tech, building little gadgets that delight my disabled kin. I want to maintain surreptitious code bases of free little hacks that disrupt our perpetually inaccessible and downright- hostile world. I want to share disabled DIY specs through crumpled little zines posted in libraries and coffee houses. I want to run a free digital manufacturing center just for disabled people to come and build exactly what they want without a doctor, insurance company, or bank account telling them what body they’re allowed to have. But in order to do that, I have to fight the inadequacies in technology policy and medical care. And in order to do that, I have to fight the AI industrial complex. Because underneath every insurance rejection is a pre- dictive algorithm, behind every assistive technology is a data collection scheme, and now, behind every technology policy is an AI hype man. If I look back, it feels as though the specter of AI has followed me all along. In the pages that follow, you will find several stories from my life left like the breadcrumbs leading to this book. Here, I will give you two more stories that elicit the echoes of eugenics and AI in my life.
September 27, 2025 at 11:56 AM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Researcher Recruitment

Participants will be enrolled in a 6-month course (approx. 3 hours of work per month) on disability issues in research design and will be supported by a growing community of researchers interested in transformation of the field.

tinyurl.com/counterHRI
Dr. Rua M. Williams is recruiting robotics researchers at all levels for participation in a virtual learning series on disability-centered research design in human-robot interaction. https://tinyurl.com/counterHRI
August 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
In this issue, I was able to write the first official publication about the ongoing Cyborg Imaginaries Project.

www.shiftspace.pub/writing/cybo...
Rua, an aging millennial queer with an asymmetrical side shave and round glasses, stands in front of a brick wall wearing a vibrant rainbow floral shirt and purple lipstick. Text below the image reads, "Rua M. Williams, West Lafayette, IN, 2025 Contributor."
June 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
I was honored to work with Cannach MacBride, Taraneh Fazeli, and Allie Lynn at United States Artists on Shift Space 5.0.

www.shiftspace.pub
A blue cloud on a white background holds bold black text that reads "Shift Space 5.0." Black text above and below reads, "Guest Editors: Taraneh Fazeli and Cannach MacBride" and "Contributors: Rua M. Williams, Tamir Williams, Monica Uszerowicz, DeForrest Brown, Jr., Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Tawana Petty, Denise Ryner." A logo for Knight Foundation is in one corner and the year 2025 is in another.
June 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Kitty is helping!
Image of word processor. Some words are blotted out with blue stroke. Kitty has written string of numbers.
April 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Four panel comic of crow doing stand up. Crow is labeled Rua. Crow said "things are eugenics". Audience says "boo! Get better material". Crow looks nervous. Crow checks note card. It reads "Public Health is eugenics. Prison is eugenics. Insurance is eugenics. Eugenics is eugenics."
February 19, 2025 at 11:52 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
On Thursday, January 23rd, at 12:30pm eastern, I will be hosting an online webinar for neurodivergent burnouts on hacking executive (dys)function. The content is tailored to experiences of neurodivergent people at school and at work.

tinyurl.com/efgobrrr6
Hacking executive function Thursday January 23rd 12:30pm eastern. Details in Registration Form. https://tinyurl.com/efgobrrr6. For more information, contact Rua M Williams @FractalEcho or fractalecho@proton.me
January 19, 2025 at 6:14 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
It was hilarious.
AI overview Fingering and worsted are two different weights of yarn, with worsted being twice as heavy as fingering: fingering weight also known as sock weight, fingering is the easiest way to stimulate the clitoris. Worsted weight the most common and versatile yarn weight, worsted is great for knitters of all skill levels. It's often used for sweaters, blankets, hats, scarves, and more.
January 15, 2025 at 8:50 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Image 3 demonstrates the proposed filter applied to a full screen blink sequence. Between-frame calculations of flash detection using South et al.’s algorithm would produce a full white mask for each frame, indicating that each frame change was dangerous and needed to be adjusted.
An original sequence of frames which flash between pure black and pure white. A flash detection mask is calculated and a pixel-attenuation filter is loaded. In the final sequence, each frame is attenuated by the detection mask and filter, producing the impression of a flash without the actual danger.
November 2, 2024 at 8:26 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
A more robust ecology of protections centers the photosensitive user, even though they are not "the majority", providing them with multiple layers which they can control to protect themselves from exposures when other policies and community norms fail.
Narrative description of the aggregate re-world map. The photosensitive user is protected from ambient, accidental, and malicious exposure by a dual layer of protection by device level settings and app level settings. If a developer update overrides app-level settings, the device level settings correct this. Users who are aware of photosensitivity are able to educate other users to prevent circulation of dangerous content. Advertisers and other users may still create and share flashing content, but an enforcement body can punish advertisers and platforms for creating or failing to prevent the circulation of flashing content. Users are able to report dangerous content to both the platform and to regulatory bodies. Malicious attacks are met with suspension or bans.
November 2, 2024 at 8:24 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
What is an Ecology of Protections?

In our paper, we illustrate how social media and information infrastructures can be imagined as an ecosystem of agents interacting through processes (policies) and behaviors (actions of users and automations).
Narrative Description of Diagram: Platform Executives and Marketing Clients have a cyclical revenue relationship. Platform Executives influence Platform Designers and Developers. WCAG guidelines are meant to support Designers/Developers, but may not always be followed. Marketing Clients sometimes create flashing content. Non-sensitive users who are unaware of photosensitivity may also create and share and circulate flashing content, which can lead to accidental exposure for Photosensitive Users. When Non-sensitive Users who are aware of photosensitivity are exposed to flashing content, they may warn photosensitive users. Non-sensitive Users who are aware of photosensitivity may also intentionally or maliciously expose sensitive users. If any user attempts to report a flashing graphic, reporting features do not have appropriate categories, and platform developers are never notified of the problem. Sensitive users may also experience resets or overrides to their safety settings on major app updates.
November 2, 2024 at 8:23 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
ATTENTION ALL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHERS: workshop series to integrate disability theory into your research agendas and protocols. If you study technology and disability, this workshop series is for you.

Find details and registration at tinyurl.com/DTHCISeries
Image purple and pink gradient with text "Disability Theory in HCI, professional development series, hosted by Rua M. Williams and the CoLiberation Lab. Funded by Access Computing. Details and registration at https://tinyurl.com/DTHCISeries"
September 14, 2024 at 7:58 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
A dog and her dog (a St. Bernard and a burnese)
A burnese mountain dog lies on a rug and a St. Bernard lies on the wood floor next to the rug. They have become the living room floor.
July 21, 2024 at 11:35 AM
fractalecho.bsky.social
A cat and her dog. (A gray tabby and a burnese)
A gray tabby and a burnese mountain dog lay on a rug. The car is picking the dogs face and the dog is possibly chewing on the cat ... with love?
July 21, 2024 at 11:33 AM
fractalecho.bsky.social
While 3 different organizations were busy sending me rejection emails my Graduate Students gave me this award.
Drawing of rua captioned best of cgt ux the guardian angel
April 19, 2024 at 1:55 AM
fractalecho.bsky.social
I had to make these graphics for a graduate student who is nervous about their publication count and feels they are not doing enough work. They have over 400 hours of ethnographic data which is supporting at least 5 publications. 🫠
How people think Papers happen: 3 sequential blocks for 3 papers, under which are the steps of research, analyze, write, and publish. How papers actually happen: 3 seperate sequences each starting and ending at different times, with different lengths of time for the phases of research, analysis, writing, submitting, revising, and publishing.
April 2, 2024 at 3:43 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
Killer Metaphors

Flowers
Must consume
Death to bloom
Oh! Pray we learn
We have never been flowers.

- RMW

#Spring #Ostara #Poetry #LetGazaLive #CeasefireNow
Purple and white crocus with bright yellow stemen. The crocus is an early spring flower with two layers of three petals. The stemen are feathery.
March 30, 2024 at 11:23 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
A recording of my latest event "What Happens Next?" Is available.

This session is for parents of children with neurodevelopmental conditions (neurodivergence). It is a part of my project for Indiana LEND.

youtu.be/YYETM6BgXLw
Image is screenshot of video showing a slide titled "Concerns for the present" with topics "emotional regulation, friendships, education, achieving goals"
March 23, 2024 at 10:58 PM
fractalecho.bsky.social
This is wild. This professor made the students leave their backpacks and coats in the hallway during their midterm. What am I looking at?
Empty hallway lined with unattended bags and coats
March 1, 2024 at 1:51 AM
fractalecho.bsky.social
A Neurodivergent Writing Guide, based on the collaborative session from Session 5 in the Neurodivergent Burnout Series, is live.

fractalecho.substack.com/p/a-neurodiv...
Image caption: "A Neurodivergent Wrtiting Guide: a love letter to writers and writing" background is a fractal artwork composite from work by Jason Kaehler approved for use in relation to my fractal scholarship.
January 5, 2024 at 8:55 PM