About

Stacy Branham is a computer scientist turned social scientist whose work explores how technology can engender inclusivity and safety. Her research focuses on supporting diverse populations such as people with disabilities, blind parents caring for their children, and transgender individuals navigating digital spaces. Her contributions to the field have been recognized with Best Paper Awards at prominent conferences including CHI, DIS, and ASSETS.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Human–computer interaction
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Law
• Gender studies
• Operating system
• Social psychology
• Public relations
• Applied psychology

Selected publications

• Where are the Disabled Students?: A Literature Review of Disability Inclusion in Computing Education Research

  2026-02-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Computing Education Research (CER) is increasingly considering digital accessibility, yet the current state of disability inclusion remains unexplored. To understand how and to what extent disabled people and their voices are involved in CER, we conducted a systematic literature review of 68 full papers about accessibility published between 2008 and 2025 in the SIGCSE Technical Symposium, the premiere CER venue. Our analysis reveals that less than half of papers about accessibility involve disabled participants, accessibility research papers are more likely to address visual disabilities or accessibility topics more generally, and use of disability-focused theories or frameworks is uncommon. Based on these findings, we advocate for increased involvement of disabled people in all aspects of computing education research, including in designing and evaluating accessible curricula and prototypes, examining disabled experiences in the classroom, and conducting research itself. We conclude with specific recommendations for methods and frameworks that computing education researchers and teachers can use to meaningfully incorporate disabled perspectives into their practices.

  PublisherDOI

• The Intersecting Liminality of Technology Adoption and Disability during Life Transitions

  ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing · 2026-02-13

  articleSenior author

  Despite the availability of assistive and aging-in-place technologies, many disabled and older individuals experience challenges adopting these tools. While factors such as usability, aesthetics, and support availability are known to influence technology adoption, we posit that life transitions (e.g., getting married, retiring, becoming a college student, moving to a new country) offer an unexplored lens for contextualizing technology adoption and use among older and disabled people. To investigate this, we conducted interviews with blind and low vision older adults, followed by a systematic literature survey of Accessible Computing literature focused on technology adoption and life transition experiences of people with disabilities (PWD). Through a qualitative analysis of 22 interviews and 42 papers, we found that (1) PWD experience life transitions around technology adoption, (2) PWD experience multiple concurrent life transitions, and (3) PWD navigate their life transitions via technology use and mutual aid with disabled and aging communities. We contribute the framework “Intersecting Liminality,” which explains the marginalizing experience of going through multiple life transitions while adopting or using technology. We contend that applying Intersecting Liminality generates nuanced insights about technology and life transitions that can inform the design of more effective assistive interventions.

  PublisherDOI

• Disability and Accessibility in Computer Science Education

  2026-02-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Students with disabilities face a variety of challenges in computer science education including those related to inaccessible curriculum, instruction and tools. In addition, few computer science classes teach students to understand accessibility and design accessible technology. This BOF will bring together individuals who are interested in increasing the accessibility of computing education as well as those interested in teaching about accessibility. Participants will share strategies to help each other do a better job of addressing accessibility in our classes and research projects. Resources related to accessible tools and instruction, universal design of learning, opportunities for students, teaching accessibility, and more will be shared.

  PublisherDOI

• Creative Problem-Solving: A Study With Blind and Low Vision Software Professionals

  2025-04-27

  articleOpen access

  Background: Software engineering requires both technical skills and creative problem-solving. Blind and lowvision software professionals (BLVSPs) encounter numerous workplace challenges, including inaccessible tools and collaboration hurdles with sighted colleagues. Objective: This study explores the innovative strategies employed by BLVSPs to overcome these accessibility barriers, focusing on their custom solutions and the importance of supportive communities. Methodology: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 BLVSPs and used reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes. Results: Findings reveal that BLVSPs are motivated to develop creative and adaptive solutions, highlighting the vital role of collaborative communities in fostering shared problem-solving. Conclusion: For BLVSPs, creative problem-solving is essential for navigating inaccessible work environments, in contrast to sighted peers, who pursue optimization. This study enhances understanding of how BLVSPs navigate accessibility challenges through innovation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Creative Problem-Solving: A Study with Blind and Low Vision Software Professionals

  ArXiv.org · 2025-01-31

  preprintOpen access

  Background: Software engineering requires both technical skills and creative problem-solving. Blind and low-vision software professionals (BLVSPs) encounter numerous workplace challenges, including inaccessible tools and collaboration hurdles with sighted colleagues. Objective: This study explores the innovative strategies employed by BLVSPs to overcome these accessibility barriers, focusing on their custom solutions and the importance of supportive communities. Methodology: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 BLVSPs and used reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes. Results: Findings reveal that BLVSPs are motivated to develop creative and adaptive solutions, highlighting the vital role of collaborative communities in fostering shared problem-solving. Conclusion: For BLVSPs, creative problem-solving is essential for navigating inaccessible work environments, in contrast to sighted peers, who pursue optimization. This study enhances understanding of how BLVSPs navigate accessibility challenges through innovation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The State of Digital Accessibility

  Communications of the ACM · 2025-03-27 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Experts believe accessibility remains a challenge despite guidelines and progress.

  PublisherDOI

• Disability and Accessibility in Computer Science Education

  2025-02-18 · 1 citations

  article

  Students with disabilities face a variety of challenges in computer science education including those related to stigma around disability, inaccessible curriculum, instruction and tools, disability disclosure, and a lack of mentors. In addition, few computer science classes teach students to understand accessibility and design accessible technology. This BOF will bring together individuals who are interested in increasing the representation of people with disabilities in computing and improving their success as well as those interested in teaching about accessibility. Participants will share strategies to help each other do a better job of addressing disability inclusion and accessibility in our classes and research projects. Resources related to accessible tools and instruction, universal design of learning, opportunities for students, teaching accessibility, and more will be shared.

  PublisherDOI

• Inspiring Blind and Low Vision High School Students and their Teachers to Access STEM in College

  2025-07-14

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  To broaden the participation of disabled students in STEM, we conducted an outreach program to inspire blind and low vision (BLV) students to pursue these disciplines in college, educate them and their Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) about accessibility in higher education, and begin to forge partnerships with local high schools. This experience report describes planning an accessible 80-person, half-day event. Pre- and post-survey evaluations showed that learning about accommodations and self-advocacy from BLV college students' first-hand experiences was important for creating an inspirational STEM event. We also highlight how bringing together teachers from across the county and funding entities from across campus enabled us to bring greater visibility and sustainability to our initiative.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Dilemma of Building Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Solutions For Workplace Accessibility

  2025-04-25 · 9 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Existing commercial and in-house software development tools are often inaccessible to blind and low vision software professionals (BLVSPs), hindering their participation and career growth at work.Building on existing research on Do-It-Yourself (DIY) assistive technologies and customized tools made by programmers, we shed light on the currently unexplored intersection of how DIY tools built and used by BLVSPs support accessible software development.Through semi-structured interviews with 30 BLVSPs, we found that such tools serve many diferent purposes and are driven by motivations such as desiring to maintain a professional image and a sense of dignity at work.These tools had signifcant impacts on workplace accessibility and revealed a need for a more centralized community for sharing tools, tips, and tricks.Based on our fndings, we introduce the "Double Hacker Dilemma" and highlight a need for developing more efective peer and organizational platforms that support DIY tool sharing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• "Game Changer" or "Overenthusiastic Drunk Acquaintance"? Generative AI Use by Blind and Low Vision Software Professionals in the Workplace

  ArXiv.org · 2025-12-30

  articleOpen access

  The software development workplace poses numerous technical and collaborative accessibility challenges for blind and low vision software professionals (BLVSPs). Though Generative AI (GenAI) is increasingly adopted within the software development industry and has been a rapidly growing topic of interest in research, to date, the unique perspectives of BLVSPs have yet to be consulted. We report on a qualitative study involving 39 semi-structured interviews with BLVSPs about what the introduction of GenAI has meant for their work. We found that BLVSPs used GenAI for many software development tasks, resulting in benefits such as increased productivity and accessibility. However, significant costs were also accompanied by GenAI use as they were more vulnerable to hallucinations than their sighted colleagues. Sometimes, organizational policies prevented use. Based on our findings, we discuss the higher-risks and higher-returns that BLVSPs had to carefully weigh when deciding whether and when to use GenAI tools for work.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• EAGER: Understanding Barriers to Workplace Collaboration for People with Visual Impairments

  NSF · $165k · 2013–2015

• CRII: CHS: Making Universally Usable Technologies to Enhance Parent-Child Co-Reading and Early Literacy Skills at Home

  NSF · $175k · 2019–2022

• CAREER: Advancing Computing for Parents with Vision Impairments

  NSF · $550k · 2021–2027

Frequent coauthors

• Steve Harrison

  Liverpool John Moores University

  25 shared

• Shahtab Wahid

  Bloomberg (United States)

  22 shared

• D. Scott McCrickard

  Virginia Tech

  20 shared

• Ali Abdolrahmani

  University of Maryland, Baltimore County

  11 shared

• Shaun K. Kane

  Google (United States)

  8 shared

• Marcos Serrano

  8 shared

• Christophe Jouffrais

  Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier

  8 shared

• Isabela Figueira

  University of California, Irvine

  7 shared

Awards & honors

• Best Paper Awards at the CHI, DIS, and ASSETS conferences