Engaging Communities Meaningfully in Defining Disability Representation for AI Image Generation

Media representations of people with disabilities profoundly influence societal perceptions, yet have historically been absent, stereotyped, or inaccurate. As AI-generated visual media becomes increasingly prevalent, there is a critical opportunity to address these misrepresentations. Responding to the lack of collectively negotiated representation standards, this paper presents our human-centric approach to engaging disability communities meaningfully in AI data practices. Over three months, we worked closely with three disability organizations across the Global North and South to develop the Community Library Creator that introduces design scaffolds to support communities in defining ‘good’ representation and curating community-centric AI datasets; laying the foundations for community-specific evaluation metrics and future model adaptations. We contribute qualitative insights into the complexities of community-led data curation; discuss the value and practical challenges of intersecting human insights with AI requirements; and reflect on human-centered AI approaches that empower communities to share their perspectives and actively shape AI data practices.