Literature Reviews

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

• Co-Designing Programmable Fidgeting Experience with Swarm Robots for Adults with ADHD

  Samira Pulatova, Lawrence H Kim (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper explores how small tabletop swarm robots can provide customisable fidgeting experiences for adults with ADHD through co-design sessions with 16 diagnosed participants. Fidgeting — repetitive body movements or object manipulation — has been…

  • ADHD
  • fidgeting
  • swarm robots
  • co-design
  • emotional regulation
  • sensory stimulation
  • neurodiversity
  • tangible interaction
  • customisation

• An Ecosystem of Support: A U.S. State Government-Supported DIY-AT Program for Residents with Disabilities

  Erin Higgins, Marie E Sakowicz, Foad Hamidi (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper documents an Action Research study in which the authors collaborated with the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD) to launch and study a state-level Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology (DIY-AT) program. The program connected people w…

  • assistive technology
  • DIY
  • digital fabrication
  • 3D printing
  • makerspaces
  • action research
  • government policy
  • disability services
  • ecosystem model

• Accessible Bus Stop Preview for Visually Impaired

  Mahmut Erdemli (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents research on creating an accessible bus stop preview system for visually impaired users, addressing a significant gap in public transportation accessibility. While navigation apps can guide visually impaired people to a bus stop's …

  • visual impairment
  • public transportation
  • outdoor navigation
  • bus stops
  • accessible maps
  • digital mapping
  • inclusive design
  • transit accessibility

• Misfitting With AI: How Blind People Verify and Contest AI Errors

  Rahaf Alharbi, Pa Lor, Jaylin Herskovitz, Sarita Schoenebeck, Robin N. Brewer (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents an in-depth qualitative study with 26 blind participants examining how they encounter, verify, and contest errors produced by AI-enabled visual assistance technologies (AI VAT) such as Seeing AI, Be My Eyes, and ChatGPT. While bli…

  • blind users
  • artificial intelligence
  • visual assistance technology
  • explainable AI
  • AI errors
  • verification
  • responsible AI
  • disability studies
  • misfitting

• MAIDR Meets AI: Exploring Multimodal LLM-Based Data Visualization Interpretation by and with Blind and Low-Vision Users

  JooYoung Seo, Sanchita S. Kamath, Aziz Zeidieh, Saairam Venkatesh, Sean McCurry (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates how blind and low-vision (BLV) users interact with large language models to interpret data visualizations, building on the authors' previously developed MAIDR (Multimodal Access and Interactive Data Representation) framework. …

  • blind and low vision
  • data visualization
  • large language models
  • generative AI
  • sonification
  • screen readers
  • multimodal interaction
  • prompt engineering
  • accessibility

• EditScribe: Non-Visual Image Editing with Natural Language Verification Loops

  Ruei-Che Chang, Yuxuan Liu, Lotus Zhang, Anhong Guo (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces EditScribe, a prototype system that makes image editing accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) users through natural language interaction powered by large multimodal models (LMMs). Image editing is inherently visual and iterat…

  • blind and low vision
  • image editing
  • generative AI
  • large multimodal models
  • natural language interaction
  • creativity support
  • visual authoring
  • non-visual interaction

• Dude, Where's My Luggage? An Autoethnographic Account of Airport Navigation by a Traveler with Residual Vision

  Cameron Tyler Cassidy, Stacy Marie Branham (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents an autoethnographic study of airport navigation by a legally blind traveler with residual vision, conducted across eight round-trips through six U.S. airports. The first author, Cameron, who has Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy r…

  • visual impairment
  • low vision
  • residual vision
  • indoor navigation
  • wayfinding
  • airport accessibility
  • autoethnography
  • assistive technology

• "Slipping through the cracks": A Duoethnography of Web Accessibility

  Shira Abramovich, Elizabeth Patitsas (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This position paper uses duoethnography — a collaborative qualitative method where two researchers examine a shared topic through their contrasting personal experiences — to explore the practical labour of doing web accessibility work. The authors, S…

  • web accessibility
  • professional practice
  • accessibility management
  • organizational accessibility
  • qualitative research
  • autoethnography
  • compliance

• Is it Part of Me? Exploring Experiences of Inclusive Avatar Use For Visible and Invisible Disabilities in Social VR

  Katrin Angerbauer, Phoenix Van Wagoner, Tim Halach, Jonas Vogelsang, Natalie Hube, Andria Smith, Ksenia Keplinger, Michael Sedlmair (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates the lived experiences of people with disabilities (PWD) using inclusive avatars — avatars featuring disability signifiers — in the social VR platform VRChat. While prior research has documented accessibility barriers and haras…

  • virtual reality
  • avatars
  • invisible disability
  • visible disability
  • social VR
  • identity
  • self-representation
  • harassment
  • inclusion

• SoundHapticVR: Head-Based Spatial Haptic Feedback for Accessible Sounds in Virtual Reality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users

  Pratheep Kumar Chelladurai, Ziming Li, Maximilian Weber, Tae Oh, Roshan L Peiris (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents SoundHapticVR, a head-based haptic feedback system that converts spatial audio cues in virtual reality into vibrotactile feedback for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users. VR environments rely heavily on spatial audio to convey cr…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • haptics
  • virtual reality
  • sound localization
  • sensory substitution
  • spatial audio
  • head-mounted display