Saving Spoons with Artificial Intelligence
Reframing Generative Tools as Access and Accommodation
Friday, March 20, 2026 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT
Online Location, Zoom Link in RSVP Confirmation
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are often framed in terms of productivity, efficiency, or academic integrity; but what if we understood them instead through a disability justice lens? This session explores how generative AI can function as a quiet but powerful accommodation, supporting users who experience cognitive fatigue, executive dysfunction, or energy limitations. Drawing on spoon theory and real-world examples, we’ll reframe AI tools as sociotechnical scaffolds that can externalize thought processes, reduce cognitive and emotional load, and promote sustainable engagement with work and learning. Together, we’ll consider how narratives of technology, ability, and labor intersect, and how viewing AI through this lens can challenge dominant assumptions about creativity, merit, and access. Participants will engage in collaborative discussion and leave with inclusive, justice-oriented strategies for integrating AI into their teaching, research, and professional practice.
Presenter: Crystal Boyce,Health and Biosciences Librarian, George Mason University
