Literature Reviews

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

• Mosaic: Collaborative Ways for Older Adults to Use Their Expertise through Information Technologies

  Atsushi Hiyama, Masatomo Kobayashi, Hironobu Takagi, Michitaka Hirose (2014) — ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing, Issue 110

  This SIGACCESS Newsletter article from IBM Research Tokyo and the University of Tokyo argues that accessibility research for older adults has focused too narrowly on healthcare and assistive tools that compensate for declining abilities, and proposes…

  • aging
  • older adults
  • hyper-aged society
  • senior cloud
  • crowdsourcing
  • telepresence
  • remote work
  • social inclusion
  • ICT for aging
  • workforce participation

• Robot-Assisted Group Tours for Blind People

  Yaxin Hu, Masaki Kuribayashi, Allan Wang, Seita Kayukawa, Daisuke Sato, Bilge Mutlu, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Hu and colleagues investigate how an assistive mobile robot can support blind people's participation in mixed-visual group tours, where blind and sighted visitors share the same guided experience. The motivation is that group activities are central t…

  • assistive robotics
  • museum accessibility
  • blindness and low vision
  • visual impairment
  • group activities
  • social inclusion
  • mixed-ability
  • human-robot interaction
  • navigation
  • inclusive design

• NavTap: A Long Term Study with Excluded Blind Users

  Tiago Guerreiro, Hugo Nicolau, Joaquim Jorge, Daniel Gonçalves (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a long-term evaluation of NavTap, a navigational text-entry method designed specifically for blind users who cannot effectively use standard mobile phone text input. Unlike traditional MultiTap — where users press a key multiple t…

  • mobile accessibility
  • blind users
  • text entry
  • assistive technology
  • longitudinal study
  • social inclusion
  • SMS
  • mobile devices

• Collaborative Music Application for Visually Impaired People with Tangible Objects on Table

  Shotaro Omori, Ikuko Eguchi Yairi (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper presents a collaborative music composition application designed to enable visually impaired and sighted people to work together on equal ground. The system uses a tabletop tangible interface inspired by Reactable, where physical obje…

  • visual impairment
  • tangible user interface
  • music accessibility
  • collaborative design
  • AR markers
  • Kinect
  • social inclusion

• AphasiaWeb: A Social Network for Individuals with Aphasia

  Hannah Miller, Heather Buhr, Chris Johnson, Jerry Hoepner (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents AphasiaWeb, a social network designed specifically for individuals with aphasia, an acquired language disorder typically resulting from stroke or head injury that impairs speaking, writing, and language comprehension. The authors …

  • aphasia
  • social networks
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • participatory design
  • cognitive accessibility
  • social inclusion
  • tablet applications

• Auditory Displays for Accessible Fantasy Sports

  Jared M. Batterman, Jonathan H. Schuett, Bruce N. Walker (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper addresses the inaccessibility of online fantasy sports platforms for visually impaired users and presents an accessible fantasy football system built around auditory display techniques. Fantasy sports are a major social and recreatio…

  • auditory display
  • sonification
  • blind users
  • visual impairment
  • sports accessibility
  • earcons
  • spearcons
  • auditory graphs
  • screen readers
  • recreation
  • social inclusion

• Supporting Social Inclusion with DIY-ATs: Perspectives of Kenyan Caregivers of Children with Cognitive Disabilities

  Foad Hamidi, Patrick Mbullo, Michaela Hynie, Melanie Baljko (2023) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper examines how DIY assistive technologies (DIY-ATs) can support social inclusion for children with cognitive disabilities in Western Kenya, drawing on interviews with 12 female primary caregivers. The research is part of a multi-year partici…

  • DIY assistive technology
  • cognitive disabilities
  • AAC
  • social inclusion
  • low- and middle-income countries
  • participatory design
  • caregivers
  • children

• Emotionally Oriented Analysis of the Experiences of Visually Impaired People on Facebook

  Cristiane N. Nobre, Magali R. G. Meireles, Débora B. F. Da Silva, Alberto H. Faria, Niltom Vieira (2018) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper investigates the emotional experiences of visually impaired Facebook users compared to sighted users, using the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) psychological instrument. The research addresses a gap in accessibility literatur…

  • blindness
  • low vision
  • social media accessibility
  • Facebook
  • emotional design
  • user experience
  • PANAS
  • social inclusion

• Developing countries; developing experiences: approaches to accessibility for the real world

  Brian Kelly, Sarah Lewthwaite, David Sloan (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper critically examines the limitations of relying solely on technical accessibility guidelines like WCAG to achieve digital inclusion, particularly in the context of developing countries. The authors argue that the WAI model — which depends o…

  • accessibility policy
  • social inclusion
  • disability studies
  • WCAG limitations
  • developing countries
  • digital divide
  • cognitive accessibility

• Contextual Web Accessibility - Maximizing the Benefit of Accessibility Guidelines

  David Sloan, Andy Heath, Fraser Hamilton, Brian Kelly, Helen Petrie, Lawrie Phipps (2006) — Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This influential paper challenges the prevailing approach to web accessibility that treats WCAG conformance as the sole measure of success. The authors argue that while guidelines like WCAG are valuable tools, the persistently low levels of web acces…

  • accessibility policy
  • WCAG
  • contextual design
  • e-learning accessibility
  • inclusive design
  • accessibility frameworks
  • metadata
  • personalization
  • social inclusion