Papers

Anticipate and Adjust: Cultivating Access in Human-Centered Methods

Methods are fundamental to doing research and can directly impact who is included in scientific advances. Given accessibility research’s increasing popularity and pervasive barriers to conducting and participating in research experienced by people with disabilities, it is critical to ask how methods are made accessibl…

Technology Developments in Touch-Based Accessible Graphics: A Systematic Review of Research 2010-2020

This paper presents a systematic literature review of 292 publications from 97 unique venues on touch-based graphics for people who are blind or have low vision, from 2010 to mid-2020. It is the first review of its kind on touch-based accessible graphics. It is timely because it allows us to assess the impact of new t…

DuoRhythmo: Design and remote user experience evaluation (UXE) of a collaborative accessible digital musical interface (CADMI) for people with ALS (PALS)

We present DuoRhythmo, a collaborative accessible digital musical interface (CADMI) that gives people living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (PALS) the experience of remotely and collaboratively creating music in real-time. We designed DuoRhythmo specifically to be utilized for eye tracking and optimized it for hea…

Matched：Scott Naylor · Independent Researcher

Accessible Design is Mediated by Job Support Structures and Knowledge Gained Through Design Career Pathways

Digital designers often do not make their work accessible (e.g., websites failing criteria set by the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), and accessible design research discusses many solutions to address this problem (e.g., teaching accessibility within university design and technical courses). However, prio…

Developing Accessible Services: Understanding Current Knowledge and Areas for Future Support

When creating digital artefacts, it is important to ensure that the product being made is accessible to as much of the population as is possible. Many guidelines and supporting tools exist to assist reaching this goal. However, little is known about developers' understanding of accessible practice and the methods that…

Matched：Hayley Reid · Independent Researcher

Sounds Accessible: Envisioning Accessible Audio Media Futures with People with Aphasia

Audio-media, such as radio and podcasts, are a vital means to engage with global events, access education, or offer entertainment. However, for people with complex communication needs, such as aphasia, there can be accessibility challenges. While accessibility research has largely focused on audiovisual media, little…

Daedalus in the Dark: Designing for Non-Visual Accessible Construction of Laser-Cut Architecture

Design tools and research for laser-cut architectures have been widely explored in the past decade. However, this discussion has mostly revolved around technical and structural design questions instead of another essential element of laser-cut models - assembly - a process that relies heavily on visual affordance of c…

SIG: Making Maps Accessible and Putting Accessibility in Maps

Digital maps represent an incredible HCI success—they have transformed the way people navigate in and access information about the world. While these platforms contain terabytes of data about road networks and points of interest (POIs), their information about physical accessibility is commensurately poor. Moreover, b…

Weaving by Touch: A Case Analysis of Accessible Making

The rise of maker communities and fabrication tools creates new opportunities for participation in design work. With this has come an interest in increasing the accessibility of making for people with disabilities, which has mainly emphasized independence and empowerment through the creation of more accessible fabrica…

How to design cognitively accessible digital design patterns for booking tickets: A participative study with Easy-to-Read users.

Accessibility of digital services needs to be improved, in particular for users with cognitive and learning disabilities. Our focus is on digital design patterns that have the potential to increase comprehension for users with low cognitive and reading skills by combining short and simple text with effective design. W…

Matched：Trang Nguyen · Independent Researcher

Recentering Reframing as an RtD Contribution: The Case of Pivoting from Accessible Web Tables to a Conversational Internet

Design produces valuable knowledge by offering new perspectives that reframe problematic situations. Research through Design (RtD) contributes new frames along with design work demonstrating a frame’s value. Interestingly, RtD papers rarely describe how reframing happens. This gap in documentation unintentionally impl…

AccessTeleopKit: A Toolkit for Creating Accessible Web-Based Interfaces for Tele-Operating an Assistive Robot

Mobile manipulator robots, which can move around and physically interact with their environments, can empower people with motor limitations to independently carry out many activities of daily living. While many interfaces have been developed for tele-operating complex robots, most of them are not accessible to people…

Matched：Noah Ponto · Independent Researcher

Toward Designing Accessible and Meaningful Software for Cancer Survivors

Cancer survivors experience a wide range of impairments arising from cancer or its treatment, such as chemo brain, visual impairments, and physical impairments. These impairments degrade their quality of life and potentially make software use more challenging for them. However, there has been limited research on desig…

3D Printing for Accessible Education: A Case Study in Assistive Technology Adoption

3D printing is a mainstream technology enabling the affordable production of 3D models that may enhance access and understanding of graphics for students who are blind or have low vision (BLV). However, the potential usefulness of a new technology does not guarantee its adoption. This paper presents a case study in th…

Accessible Video Calling: Enabling Nonvisual Perception of Visual Conversation Cues

Nonvisually Accessible Video Calling (NAVC) is a prototype that detects visual conversation cues in a video call and uses audio cues to convey them to a user who is blind or low-vision. NAVC uses audio cues inspired by movie soundtracks to convey Attention, Agreement, Disagreement, Happiness, Thinking, and Surprise. W…

"Is This Seat Accessible for Me?": An Autoethnography of a Person With a Mobility Disability Using Interactive Seat Plans for Public Events

Spectating sports matches or concerts is a popular activity, but these public live events have yet to become more accessible to people with disabilities. Inspecting the corresponding interactive seat plan before purchasing tickets online can be necessary to avoid or prepare for barriers at these venues. Unfortunately,…

Understanding the Use of a Large Language Model-Powered Guide to Make Virtual Reality Accessible for Blind and Low Vision People

As social virtual reality (VR) grows more popular, addressing accessibility for blind and low vision (BLV) users is increasingly critical. Researchers have proposed an AI “sighted guide” to help users navigate VR and answer their questions, but it has not been studied with users. To address this gap, we developed a la…

Designing Accessible Audio Nudges for Voice Interfaces

Older adults (65+) increasingly use voice assistants for information-seeking, but experience challenges and uncertainty in assessing information quality due to limited visual cues. HCI researchers have primarily used nudging, subtle approaches to guide users towards better decision-making, in visual interfaces to miti…

VIP-Sim: A User-Centered Approach to Vision Impairment Simulation for Accessible Design

People with vision impairments (VIPs) often rely on their remaining vision when interacting with user interfaces. Simulating visual impairments is an effective tool for designers, fostering awareness of the challenges faced by VIPs. While previous research has introduced various vision impairment simulators, none hav…

IncluSim: An Accessible Educational Electronic Circuit Simulator for Blind and Low-Vision Learners

Electronic circuit simulation is a core skill for electronics-based education. However, conventional introductory simulators often rely on visual tasks and features and are inherently inaccessible to learners who are blind or have low vision (BLV). In this work, we present IncluSim, a novel, open-source BLV-accessible…