Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• Collaborative AI Scaffolding for Structured Drawing in Dementia Care: A Feasibility Study

  Hui-Lien Huang, I-Ping Chen (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  This CHI 2026 Extended Abstract reports a one-on-one feasibility study of a tablet-based AI drawing tool for older adults with dementia, conducted at a day-care centre in Taiwan. The system pairs a Google Gemini vision-language model (VLM) with Azure…

  • dementia
  • older adults
  • human-AI collaboration
  • human-in-the-loop
  • vision-language model
  • text-to-speech
  • art therapy
  • cognitive accessibility
  • feasibility study

• Reading with Diversity in Mind: Pupillometry and Typography Towards Inclusive Design for ADHD Readers

  Borano Llana, Alisa Baron, Haihan Yu, Maedeh Hosseinpour, Yusra Suhail, Sean Chin, Kushas Khadka, Shaun Wallace (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Llana and colleagues at the University of Rhode Island examine how typographic choices interact with ADHD when reading digital text. The motivation is practical: digital reading is now the default for most education and work, and small typographic de…

  • readability
  • typography
  • ADHD
  • eye tracking
  • pupillometry
  • cognitive accessibility
  • reading

• Mapping Movies: A Mind-Map Approach to Aphasia-Friendly Video

  Shayan Bali, Alexandre Nevsky, Filip Bircanin, Timothy Neate (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Bali, Nevsky, Bircanin, and Neate (King's College London) target an under-served corner of media accessibility: viewers with aphasia and other complex communication needs (CCNs) for whom subtitles, audio description, and existing simplified-media int…

  • aphasia
  • complex communication needs
  • video accessibility
  • cognitive accessibility
  • mind maps
  • artificial intelligence
  • media accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • visualisation

• Steering Generative Models for Accessibility: EasyRead Image Generation

  Nicolas Dickenmann, Yanis Merzouki, Sonia Laguna, Thy Nowak-Tran, Emanuele Palumbo, Julia E. Vogt, Gerda Binder (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Dickenmann and colleagues (ETH Zurich and UNICEF Digital Impact Division) present the first open-source pipeline for generating Easy Read-style pictograms using a fine-tuned diffusion model. Easy Read pairs short sentences with simple, high-contrast …

  • diffusion models
  • stable diffusion
  • LoRA
  • generative AI
  • cognitive accessibility
  • intellectual disability
  • pictograms
  • Easy Read
  • AAC
  • symbol communication
  • image generation

• Shared Stories, Shared Bonds: People with Dementia Exploring Generative AI Together

  Teis Arets, Maarten Houben, Fleur van Haeren, Wijnand IJsselsteijn, Giulia Perugia (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This paper reports on a qualitative workshop study examining how people living with mild to moderate dementia engage with three generative AI tools - Microsoft Copilot (text), Midjourney (images), and Suno (music) - in a group setting, and what forms…

  • dementia
  • generative AI
  • social connectedness
  • cognitive accessibility
  • aging
  • participatory design
  • qualitative research
  • thematic analysis
  • reminiscence
  • shared reality
  • personhood
  • co-creation

• GuideMe: A VLM-Based System Assisting Independent Smartphone Learning for Older Adults

  Kairong Fang, Jiesi Zhang, Shi-Ting Ni, Pan Hui, Yuyang Wang (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  GuideMe tackles a problem familiar to anyone who has watched an older relative struggle to learn a new smartphone app: the combined weight of declining vision, memory, and motor function plus unfamiliar terminology makes independent learning extremel…

  • older adults
  • aging
  • cognitive accessibility
  • vision-language model
  • conversational agent
  • independent learning
  • smartphone accessibility
  • in-situ guidance
  • mobile accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • intent articulation
  • clarifying questions

• Navigating Financial Lives: How Autistic Adults Adapt Financial Technologies, Tools and Strategies

  Helena Lyhme, Belen Barros Pena, Stephanie Wilson (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper is, to the authors' knowledge, the first HCI study of how autistic adults navigate their financial lives — budgeting, banking, bill-paying, saving, managing unpredictability — using, adapting, and re-inventing financial technologi…

  • autism
  • neurodiversity
  • fintech
  • financial accessibility
  • moneywork
  • qualitative research
  • neuroqueer technoscience
  • cognitive accessibility

• I Can Do It: Exploring Voice Assistants for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

  Madhuka Nadeeshani, Jacqueline Johnstone, Kirsten Ellis, Swamy Ananthanarayan (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper reports an eight-week deployment of screen-based voice assistants (Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Show 8) with 17 adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) — including co-occurring autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Rett …

  • voice assistant
  • intellectual disability
  • smart display
  • cognitive accessibility
  • qualitative research
  • speech recognition
  • peer support

• Harmonizing the Senses: Designing a Cross-Modal Interactive Art System to Enhance Older Adults' Affective Experiences

  SiHan An, Yifan Wu, Zihan Zhang, Yuanlinxi Li, Mengqi Jiang, Jiaxin Zhang, Qingchuan Li (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates how cross-modal correspondence and congruency across visual, auditory, and kinetic modalities shape older adults' affective experiences in digital art systems, and how an AI-infused drawing mode can scaffold those exp…

  • older adults
  • multisensory stimulation
  • affective computing
  • cross-modal correspondence
  • generative AI
  • cognitive accessibility
  • digital art
  • aging

• Redesigning Educational Videos for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Learners

  Si Chen, Haocong Cheng, Suzy Su, Lu Ming, Sarah Masud, Qi Wang, Yun Huang (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Educational videos have exploded in higher education and online learning, but accessibility guidance for d/Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) learners has barely moved beyond captions and transcripts. Chen and colleagues argue this is a theoretical gap a…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • video accessibility
  • captioning
  • multimedia learning
  • cognitive accessibility
  • educational technology
  • motion design
  • inclusive design