Channelling, Coordinating, Collaborating: A Three-Layer Framework for Disability-Centered Human-Agent Collaboration

arXiv cs.AI / 3/30/2026

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Key Points

The paper argues that many disability-related tasks are inherently collaborative, so AI accessibility tools should move beyond single-user assistance toward supporting ability-diverse teamwork.
It proposes a three-layer framework—Channelling, Coordinating, and Co-Creating—to define how AI can help establish shared informational ground, mediate workflows across different abilities, and act as a bounded partner in joint goals.
The framework extends prior concepts like “agents as remote collaborators” by explicitly centering interdependence and collaborative practices already present in disability communities.
The proposal is grounded in existing theoretical foundations, including an Ability-Diverse Collaboration framework, grounding theory, and Carlile’s 3T framework, to justify the roles AI should play across collaboration stages.

Abstract

AI accessibility tools have mostly been designed for individual use, helping one person overcome a specific functional barrier. But for many people with disabilities, complex tasks are accomplished through collaboration with others who bring complementary abilities, not solitary effort. We propose a three-layer framework, Channelling, Coordinating, and Co-Creating, that rethinks AI's role in ability-diverse collaboration: establishing shared informational ground across abilities, mediating workflows between collaborators with different abilities, and contributing as a bounded partner toward shared goals. Grounded in the Ability-Diverse Collaboration framework, grounding theory, and Carlile's 3T framework, it extends the ``agents as remote collaborators'' vision by centring the collaborative, interdependent ways people with disabilities already work.