“If you don’t involve people with disabilities or people with facial differences in the development of these processes, no one will think about these issues,” says Kathleen Bogart, a psychology professor at Oregon State University who specializes in disability research and lives with facial differences. “AI has exacerbated these issues, but they are rooted in long-standing underrepresentation and prejudice against people with facial differences that occurred long before AI existed.”
too little too late
When face verification systems fail, it is often difficult to get help – adding more pressure to a stressful situation. For months, Maryland resident Noor Al-Khalid has struggled to create an online account with the Social Security Administration. Al-Khalid, who lives with a rare craniofacial condition ablepharon macrostomiasays that having an online account will allow her to easily access SSA records and send documents to the agency quickly.
“I don’t drive because of my vision; I need to be able to trust the site,” says Al-Khalid. “You have to take a selfie and the photos have to match,” says Al-Khalid. “Because of the facial differences, I don’t know if it’s not recognizing the ID or the selfie, but it’s always saying the images don’t match.”
Not having that access makes life difficult. “On an emotional level, it makes me feel isolated from society,” she says. Al-Khalid says all services should provide people with alternative ways to access online systems. “The lack of other fallback options means that sometimes people get stuck in these mazes of technical systems,” says Byram of Present Moment Enterprises.
Source courtesy of WIRED
A spokesperson for the SSA says that alternative options for face verification are available, and that it is “committed” to making its services accessible to all. The spokesperson says the agency does not run the facial recognition system itself but uses Login.gov and ID.me for verification services. The General Services Administration, which runs Login.gov, did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. “Accessibility is a fundamental Priority As for ID.me,” a spokesperson for ID.me says they have helped people with facial differences before and offered to help Al-Khalid directly after WIRED contacted him.
“There are few things more dehumanizing than being told by a machine that you’re not real because of your face,” he says. Corey R. TailorAn actor and motivational speaker from New York who lives with a craniofacial anomaly. Last year, Taylor says, he was using a financial app to access a small amount of money; As he attempted to complete the payment processes, he discovered that the face verification system could not match his selfie to the image on his ID. To get the system to work, he had to move to different positions. “I literally had to look up and scrunch up my face,” says Taylor. When he emailed the company, he got what seemed like a boilerplate response.
