Literature Reviews

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

• Designing the World Wide Web for People with Disabilities: A User Centered Design Approach

  Lila F. Laux, Peter R. McNally, Michael G. Paciello, Gregg C. Vanderheiden (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This 1996 panel paper brings together four perspectives on making the early World Wide Web accessible to people with disabilities. Lila Laux frames the problem by identifying special user populations — elderly people, those with low incomes, rural an…

  • web accessibility
  • user-centered design
  • assistive technology
  • universal design
  • presentation independence
  • hypermedia
  • pervasive accessible technology

• Software and Technologies Designed for People with Autism: What Do Users Want?

  Cynthia Putnam, Lorna Chong (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper reports on an online survey of 114 respondents (12 adults with ASD completing it themselves, 102 submissions about children with ASD from parents, teachers, and professionals) investigating what users actually want from software and techno…

  • autism
  • user-centered design
  • cognitive accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • educational technology
  • social skills
  • user research
  • technology adoption

• Accessible Indoor Navigation

  Kyle Montague (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents early-stage research on designing an accessible indoor navigation application for disabled users. Montague identifies a key gap: while outdoor navigation benefits from GPS, indoor wayfinding remains a significa…

  • indoor navigation
  • wayfinding
  • adaptive interface
  • mobile accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • user-centered design

• Basic Senior Personas: A Representative Design Tool Covering the Spectrum of European Older Adults

  Bernhard Wöckl, Ulcay Yildizoglu, Isabella Buber, Belinda Aparicio Diaz, Ernst Kruijff, Manfred Tscheligi (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper introduces a set of 30 "basic senior personas" representing European citizens aged 60 and older, developed using a quantitative approach based on micro-level data from approximately 12,500 individuals across 17 European countries from the …

  • older adults
  • personas
  • user-centered design
  • ambient assisted living
  • activities of daily living
  • cognitive function
  • design methodology
  • quantitative research
  • European demographics
  • persona layering

• Involving Clinical Staff in the Design of a Support Tool to Improve Dental Communication for Patients with Intellectual Disabilities

  Rachel Menzies, Daniel Herron, Lesley Scott, Ruth Freeman, Annalu Waller (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This poster paper describes a design workshop conducted as part of the "Stories at the Dentist" project, which aims to develop a computer-based support tool to help people with intellectual disabilities (ID) better understand dental procedures. Visit…

  • intellectual disability
  • healthcare accessibility
  • communication
  • user-centered design
  • clinical communication
  • social stories
  • dental care

• What Health Topics Older Adults Want to Track: A Participatory Design Study

  Jennifer L. Davidson, Carlos Jensen (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This paper presents a participatory design study investigating what health topics older adults (aged 65+) want to track using mobile health (mHealth) applications. The authors argue that most mHealth app developers fail to conduct needs assessments w…

  • older adults
  • aging
  • participatory design
  • mHealth
  • mobile accessibility
  • health technology
  • smartphone applications
  • aging in place
  • user-centered design
  • digital health

• Access and Empowerment: Commentary on "Computers and People with Disabilities"

  Richard E. Ladner (2008) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  Richard Ladner offers an optimistic assessment of progress since Glinert and York's 1992 call-to-arms, emphasizing how market forces—not just legal mandates—have driven accessibility improvements. With 16% of the U.S. population disabled and 10% of t…

  • universal design
  • ubiquitous computing
  • web accessibility
  • user empowerment
  • accessibility history
  • user-centered design

• Accessible Computing -- Past Trends and Future Suggestions: Commentary on "Computers and People with Disabilities"

  Alan F. Newell (2008) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This influential commentary by Alan Newell reflects on 15 years of progress since Glinert and York's seminal 1992 paper on computers and disability. While acknowledging advances—specialized journals, accessibility features in mainstream software, AAC…

  • inclusive design
  • older adults
  • cognitive accessibility
  • design methodology
  • user-centered design
  • aging
  • accessibility history

• Vocational Rehabilitation of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Virtual Reality

  Lal Bozgeyikli, Evren Bozgeyikli, Andrew Raij, Redwan Alqasemi, Srinivas Katkoori, Rajiv Dubey (2017) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents VR4VR, a comprehensive virtual reality system designed to train individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder on transferable job skills. The system addresses a critical employment gap—while 66% of people with disabilities want employ…

  • virtual reality
  • autism spectrum disorder
  • vocational rehabilitation
  • job training
  • immersive technology
  • user-centered design

• Consistency of a Tactile Pattern Set

  Denise Prescher, Jens Bornschein, Gerhard Weber (2017) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in tactile graphics production: how to create fill patterns that remain recognizable and distinguishable across different production media with varying resolutions. The three media studied were microcapsul…

  • tactile graphics
  • blindness
  • non-visual access
  • fill patterns
  • cross-media consistency
  • user-centered design