  Accessibility--the process of designing for people with disabilities
(PWD)--is an important but under-explored challenge in the visualization
research community. Without careful attention, and if PWD are not included as
equal participants throughout the process, there is a danger of perpetuating a
vision-first approach to accessible design that marginalizes the lived
experience of disability (e.g., by creating overly simplistic "sensory
translations" that map visual to non-visual modalities in a one-to-one
fashion). In this paper, we present a set of sociotechnical considerations for
research in accessible visualization design, drawing on literature in
disability studies, tactile information systems, and participatory methods. We
identify that using state-of-the-art technologies may introduce more barriers
to access than they remove, and that expectations of research novelty may not
produce outcomes well-aligned with the needs of disability communities.
Instead, to promote a more inclusive design process, we emphasize the
importance of clearly communicating goals, following existing accessibility
guidelines, and treating PWD as equal participants who are compensated for
their specialized skills. To illustrate how these considerations can be applied
in practice, we discuss a case study of an inclusive design workshop held in
collaboration with the Perkins School for the Blind.
