Understanding the Video Content Creation Journey of Creators with Sensory Impairment in Kenya

Video creation has become a global medium for self-expression and communication. However, due to its inherently multimodal nature, the video production process can pose significant barriers for creators with sensory impairments . Worldwide, an estimated 596 million individuals are blind or partially sighted (BPS), and ≈ 70 million are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) .

Video content creation offers vital opportunities for expression and participation, yet remains largely inaccessible to creators with sensory impairments, especially in low-resource settings. We conducted interviews with 20 video creators with visual and hearing impairments in Kenya to examine their tools, challenges, and collaborative practices. Our findings show that accessibility barriers and infrastructural limitations shape video creation as a staged, collaborative process involving trusted human partners and emerging AI tools. Across workflows, creators actively negotiated agency and trust, maintaining creative control while bridging sensory gaps. We discuss the need for flexible, interdependent collaboration models, inclusive human-AI workflows, and diverse storytelling practices. This work broadens accessibility research in HCI by examining how technology and social factors intersect in low-resource contexts, suggesting ways to better support disabled creators globally.