Accessibility as Infrastructure: A Neurodivergent Led Model for Structural Communication Safety in Disability Support Systems

Neil McCarthy
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Neil McCarthy: The Pepperpot Collective

No c579y_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Disabled people frequently experience communication collapse during distress, overwhelm or coercive control, producing indirect, fragmented, masked or delayed expression rather than clear verbal articulation. National Inquiries – including the Disability Royal Commission (2023) and the NDIS Review (2023) – demonstrate that current disability and safeguarding systems are misaligned with these communication realities, relying on speech, privacy, cognitive stability and narrative coherence at precisely the moments that these capacities fail. Communication Collapse is there a predictable, embodied response shaped by trauma, cognitive load and social misunderstanding, rather than and individual deficit. This article introduces accessibility as infrastructure, a conceptual reframing that positions communication safety as a structural requirement of safeguarding systems. Drawing on disability studies and critical social theory, it argues that safeguarding infrastructures must be redesigned to recognise neurodivergent communication as valid and actionable, particularly during shutdown, overwhelm, masking, executive- function collapse and coercive control. Within this framework, the article presents Althing, a neurodivergent-led, trauma informed safeguarding model engineered to remain usable during distress-state communication collapse. By supporting early, low-detail, indirect or delayed signals of harm, Althing addresses structural communication failures and aligns with national reform expectations for trauma-informed, low-demand safeguarding pathways. Although conceptual, the model offers a mature foundation, for future co-design, empirical evaluation, and state-level safeguarding innovation, demonstrating how accessibility as infrastructure can strengthen communication safety at the exact moments disabled people are least able to seek help.

Date: 2026-09-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mid
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:c579y_v1

DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/c579y_v1

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