Literature Reviews
Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.
11 results found tagged independence.
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From Autonomy to Sovereignty — A New Telos for Socially Assistive Technology
This CHI 2026 theory paper argues that assistive-technology (AT) research has long treated 'independence' as its primary goal — a framing codified in the 1988 U.S. Technology-Related Assistance Act — even though disabled people's lived experience is …
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Fluid Independence: Powered Wheelchair Users' Perspectives on Autonomy, Care, and Assistive Technology
This CHI 2026 paper reports a large qualitative study of 55 powered-wheelchair users (PWUs) across ten U.S. states, using 45-minute semi-structured interviews and Braun-and-Clarke thematic analysis to examine how independence is experienced, negotiat…
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Voice-Powered Assembly: Boosting Self-Efficacy in Older Adults with "Build2Race"
This study investigates whether voice assistants (VAs) can support older adults in physical product assembly—a largely unexplored use case despite the proliferation of self-assembly products and the importance of such tasks for independent living. Th…
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Opinions and Preferences of Blind and Low Vision Consumers Regarding Self-Driving Vehicles: Results of Focus Group Discussions
This paper explores the opinions, concerns, and preferences of 38 blind and low vision participants regarding self-driving vehicle technology through eight focus group sessions conducted over two days in north central Florida. Participants had a mean…
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What My Eyes Can't See, A Robot Can Show Me: Exploring the Collaboration Between Blind People and Robots
This University of Lisbon and University of São Paulo study explores how assistive robots can go beyond information-giving technologies (like screen readers) by physically collaborating with blind people. The research consists of two studies. Study 1…
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Interdependence as a Frame for Assistive Technology Research and Design
This influential paper introduces interdependence as a complementary frame to the traditional focus on independence in assistive technology research and design. The authors argue that "independence" — long the unquestioned gold standard of AT design …
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Understanding the Power of Control in Autonomous Vehicles for People with Vision Impairment
This University of Michigan study investigates how people with vision impairments perceive control in semi-autonomous versus fully autonomous vehicles, a distinction previous research had not explored. The researchers conducted design-based focus gro…
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VizWiz: Nearly Real-Time Answers to Visual Questions
This paper introduces VizWiz, a pioneering mobile application that enables blind and low-vision people to get nearly real-time answers to visual questions by connecting their smartphone cameras to remote paid workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Users …
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Am I Too Old to Drive? Opinions of Older Adults on Self-Driving Vehicles
This paper explores the opinions, preferences, and concerns of 39 older African American adults (aged 57-91, mean 74) regarding fully autonomous (Level 5) self-driving vehicles through seven focus group sessions conducted over five days in South Caro…
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Write-it-Yourself: Empowering Blind People to Independently Fill-out Paper Forms
This demonstration paper introduces WiYG (Write-it-Yourself Guide), a system that enables blind people to independently fill out printed paper forms such as bank checks, consent forms, and restaurant receipts — a task that has until now been impossib…