Xinru Tang

About

I am a Ph.D. candidate at Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine. I am advised by Dr. Anne Marie Piper as a member of Accessibility Research Collective. Outside school, I volunteer with AImpower.org to co-design and develop language and communication technologies with and for people who stutter. I work and collaborate across interconnected areas essential to human-centered computing, e.g., I led and assisted in projects related to inclusive security and privacy when I interned at Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP).

Research Interests

I conduct interdisciplinary research to critically examine how humans are represented and modeled in AI development. Much of this work has focused on revealing flawed assumptions embedded in AI development, which often overlook the subjectivity, ambiguity, and creativity in human perception, communication, and work.

My current focus is disability, which I position as a vital source of knowledge for understanding human difference and interrogating the power dynamics that shape AI development. I developed "Cripping AI" as an overarching framework to bring together and articulate my broader research agenda.

My work has appeared in top-tier venues in human-centered computing and Responsible AI including ACM CHI, CSCW, FAccT, DIS, and IEEE S&P. I have received recognitions including two Honorable Mention Awards from CHI and two Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) recognitions from CSCW.

Selected Publications

Rethinking AI Development Through Lived Disability Experience

Cripping AI: Reimagining AI Through Lived Disability Experiences
Xinru Tang, Ting-an Lin, Jingjin Li and Shaomei Wu
@FAccT2026 [PDF] [ACM] [slides]

Reimagining Sign Language Technologies: Analyzing Translation Work of Chinese Deaf Online Content Creators
Xinru Tang and Anne Marie Piper
@CHI2026 [PDF] [ACM] [slides]
*Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%)

Everyday Uncertainty: How Blind People Use GenAI Tools for Information Access
Xinru Tang, Ali Abdolrahmani, Darren Gergle and Anne Marie Piper
@CHI2025 [PDF] [ACM] [slides]

Developing Disability-Centered AI Practices

Disability-First AI Dataset Annotation: Co-designing Stuttered Speech Annotation Guidelines with People Who Stutter
Xinru Tang, Jingjin Li and Shaomei Wu
@CHI2026 [PDF] [ACM] [slides]

"It's trained by non-disabled people": Evaluating How Image Quality Affects Product Captioning with VLMs
Kapil Garg, Xinru Tang, Jimin Heo, Dwayne R Morgan, Darren Gergle, Erik B Sudderth and Anne Marie Piper
@CHI2026 [PDF] [ACM]
*Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%)

Critical Perspectives on Accessibility & Inclusive Design

Beyond "Vulnerable Populations'': A Unified Understanding of Vulnerability From A Socio-Ecological Perspective
Xinru Tang, Gabriel Lima, Li Jiang, Lucy Simko and Yixin Zou
@CSCW2025 [PDF] [ACM] [slides] [blog]
*Recognition for Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion

Access in the Shadow of Ableism: An Autoethnography of a Blind Student's Higher Education Experience in China
Weijun Zhang* and Xinru Tang*
@CHI2026 [PDF] [ACM]

Designing for Collective Access: In Search of a Solution to Accessible Communication in a Mixed-Ability Non-Profit
Xinru Tang and Anne Marie Piper
@DIS2026 [PDF] [ACM]