Literature Reviews — A11y Paradise

A11y-CUA Dataset: Characterizing the Accessibility Gap in Computer Use Agents

Ananya Gubbi Mohanbabu, Rosiana Natalie, Brandon Kim, Anhong Guo, Amy Pavel (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

A11y-CUA is an open dataset and benchmark designed to expose the accessibility gap in Computer Use Agents (CUAs) — AI systems like OpenAI Operator, Anthropic Computer Use, and Microsoft Copilot that operate computers by taking screenshots and perform…

aiBrowser for multimedia: introducing multimedia content accessibility for visually impaired users

Hisashi Miyashita, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

A companion paper to Sato et al.'s Flash-transcoding work, this 2007 paper from the same IBM Tokyo Research Lab team introduces aiBrowser — an accessible web browser purpose-built for multimedia-heavy sites of the era (ABC News Video, YouTube, Disney…

A Prototype of Google Interfaces Modified for Simplifying Interaction for Blind Users

Patrizia Andronico, Marina Buzzi, Carlos Castillo, Barbara Leporini (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

This demo paper from Italy's National Research Council and Università di Roma presents a prototype that restructures Google's search and results pages to be more usable for blind screen reader users. Previous research had shown that blind users took …

Making VRML Accessible for People with Disabilities

Sandy Ressler, Qiming Wang (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

This paper from researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) presents a taxonomy of techniques for making Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) environments accessible to people with disabilities. Written at a time when…

Towards a Tool for Keystroke Level Modeling of Skilled Screen Reading

Shari Trewin, Bonnie E. John, John Richards, Cal Swart, Jonathan Brezin, Rachel Bellamy, John Thomas (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

This paper explores whether cognitive models of auditory interaction — specifically the Keystroke-Level Model (KLM) — can be adapted to predict task completion times for skilled screen reader users, with the goal of helping designers evaluate the usa…

Demonstration: Screen Reader Support for a Complex Interactive Science Simulation

Taliesin L. Smith, Clayton Lewis, Emily B. Moore (2016) — ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

This demonstration presents an accessible version of "Balloons and Static Electricity," a PhET interactive science simulation that teaches electrostatic charge concepts. PhET simulations are run over 75 million times annually, yet most are inaccessib…

Combining SADIe and AxsJAX to Improve the Accessibility of Web Content

Darren Lunn, Simon Harper, Sean Bechhofer (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

This paper from the University of Manchester presents a prototype system that combines two accessibility approaches — SADIe and Google's AxsJAX framework — to improve web content access for visually impaired screen reader users. SADIe (Semantic Annot…

Enabling an Accessible Web 2.0

Becky Gibson (2007) — Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2007)

This keynote paper from IBM's Becky Gibson examines the accessibility challenges created by the emergence of Web 2.0 and the technologies being developed to address them. Written at a pivotal moment in web history, the paper describes how the shift f…

More than Meets the Eye: A Survey of Screen-Reader Browsing Strategies

Yevgen Borodin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Glenn Dausch, I. V. Ramakrishnan (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

This comprehensive survey catalogues the browsing strategies that experienced screen reader users develop to overcome the accessibility and usability barriers they encounter on the web. Drawing from multiple user studies, the authors document how bli…

Designing Search Engine User Interfaces for the Visually Impaired

Barbara Leporini, Patrizia Andronico, Marina Buzzi (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

This paper examines the fundamental differences between visual and aural perception of search engine interfaces and proposes specific design guidelines to improve usability for blind and visually impaired users interacting via screen readers. The aut…