Huffman, Shuxu, authorAngelini, Robin, authorKushalnagar, Raja, authorSpiel, Katta, authorACM, publisher2025-12-222025-12-222025-10-26Shuxu Huffman, Robin Angelini, Raja Kushalnagar, and Katta Spiel. 2025. "It only needs to work for one of us": Rethinking DIY Deaf Tech Through Situated Co-Design. In The 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '25), October 26–29, 2025, Denver, CO, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3663547.3749828https://hdl.handle.net/10217/242547This experience report presents a real-world case in which a Deaf open water swimmer and their hearing kayak partner designed and developed a vibration-based system for attention signaling during long-distance swims. When mainstream accessibility tools failed to meet their needs, they built a lightweight, context-specific solution grounded in Deaf cultural practices and embodied knowledge. Through in-situ use and reflective practice, we examine how this do-it-yourself (DIY) tool emerged from relational design and Deaf-centered philosophy. Rather than offering a generalized solution, this work highlights the value of culturally grounded, small-scale technologies shaped by the lived experience of a Deaf swimmer and their collaboration with a hearing ally. We conclude with a call for research approaches and design platforms that empower Deaf communities to create technologies rooted in their own values, environments, and ways of being.born digitalarticlesenghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0deaf and hard of hearingassistive technologyDIYsituated designdeaf-hearing collaborationdisabilityTextThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3663547.3749828