I am pleased to announce the completion of two recent works that offer crucial insights into survivance, equity, and trauma-wise care. A key focus of this research is how Indigenous cultural continuity and reimagined human-computer interaction can transform health technologies to better mitigate both immediate trauma impacts and the long-term physiological consequences, such as chronic pain, experienced by sexual assault survivors.
1. Bridging the Gap: Geography, Justice, and Sexual Assault Care
I’m thrilled to present the Report to Community from research co-created with the incredible team at She Matters. This project directly addresses the challenge of getting timely, trauma-wise care and services to survivors of sexual assault in northern and remote communities. We went directly to survivors and care providers in remote regions to hear their lived experiences and decision processes when seeking post-assault care.
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Key Focus: We explored the critical interactions that could improve support, access to forensic evidence collection, and—most importantly—how to offer culturally relevant care that enhances immediate and longer-term healing pathways.
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Why This Matters Now: The report tackles a critical gap, particularly for Indigenous women, who experience disproportionately high rates of sexual violence and face systemic barriers within the Canadian healthcare system.
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The Impact: The findings directly inform the development of more equitable, accessible, and trauma-wise evidence collection and care pathways in remote Canadian and Indigenous communities. We prioritize the voices of survivors.
You can read the full findings here: https://www.shematters.ca/does-geography-impact-access-to-justice
Citation:
May-Derbyshire, P., & She Matters. (2025). Does geography impact access to justice—Research findings. She Matters. https://www.shematters.ca/does-geography-impact-access-to-justice
2. Rethinking Technology: From Human-Computer Interaction to Kinship
I’ve also recently published a chapter that fundamentally challenges how we think about the relationship between people and technology. Kitot’sattook: Indigitalized spaces, Time Travel and Kinship Computing Interconnection (KCI), appears in the book Future Spaces of Power.
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The Problem with HCI: Traditional Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is rooted in Eurocentric paradigms that prioritize efficiency and profit. This approach, I argue, can unintentionally perpetuate systemic racism and social injustice by ignoring relational ethics.
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The Decolonial Shift (KCI): In direct contrast, I introduce Kinship Computing Interconnection (KCI)—a powerful decolonizing framework. This framework is enriched by Blackfoot teachings (nitsitapissini) and centers concepts like kitot′sattook (intimate relationship with kin) and saaponsstaa (magical, mysterious experiencing).
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The Goal: KCI is a transformative approach that rejects the field’s historical complicity in cultural erasure. It proposes moving beyond human-computer interaction to Indigitalized interconnection, where technology is designed around kinship, animacy, and relational ethics to nurture youth well-being and community healing.
I hope this chapter contributes to a fundamental shift in how we can use digital spaces for healing and connection.
Citation:
May-Derbyshire, P. (2026). Kitot’sattook: Indigitalized spaces, time travel and Kinship Computing Interconnection (KCI). In C. Alphin, E. L. McKagen, & S. E. Ward (Eds.), Future spaces of power: The cultural politics of digital and outer spaces (pp. 181–204). Bloomsbury Publishing.
I’m excited for the conversations these two pieces will spark, both here at the SFU Pain Lab and Indigitalized discussions beyond!
(Patti Derbyshire, MA, M.Ed, PhD Student)
