Literature Reviews

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

• Adapting UX Research for People Living with Alzheimer's, Dementia, and MCI: Improving the UX Research Process for Participants

  Krista D. Kleban (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This practitioner-focused paper shares first-hand lessons from conducting UX research with people living with Alzheimer's disease, other forms of dementia, and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The author, a UX researcher at the Alzheimer's Associatio…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • dementia
  • Alzheimer's
  • UX research
  • usability testing
  • inclusive research methods
  • participatory design
  • mild cognitive impairment

• Speed-of-Light VR for Blind People: Conveying the Location of Arm-Reach Targets

  Diogo Lança, Manuel Piçarra, Inês Gonçalves, Uran Oh, André Rodrigues, João Guerreiro (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper explores how blind people can locate and interact with close-range virtual objects in Virtual Reality (VR), a space that relies almost entirely on visual cues. Researchers from the University of Lisbon and Ewha Womans University adapted th…

  • virtual reality
  • visual impairments
  • blindness
  • nonvisual feedback
  • sonification
  • spatial awareness
  • gaming accessibility
  • exergames

• Self-supervised learning using unlabeled speech with multiple types of speech disorder for disordered speech recognition

  Ryoichi Takashima, Takeru Otani, Ryo Aihara, Tetsuya Takiguchi, Shinya Taguchi (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper tackles a critical barrier in accessible speech technology: automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems perform poorly for people with speech disorders because they are trained almost exclusively on typical speech. The authors from Kobe Uni…

  • speech recognition
  • speech disorders
  • machine learning
  • self-supervised learning
  • assistive technology
  • cerebral palsy
  • dysarthria

• Echolocation as an Accessible Navigation Tool in a Virtual 3D Environment

  Mai Ricaplaza Thøgersen, Rasmus Jens Frølich Kjeldsen (2024) — Assets '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates whether active echolocation — emitting a sound and interpreting its echo — can serve as a viable navigation tool for blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals in virtual 3D environments. Virtual spaces remain overwhelmingly visua…

  • virtual environments
  • echolocation
  • blind and low vision
  • spatial navigation
  • sonic design space
  • user study

• User Capability in an Adaptive World

  Robert Dodd, Steve Green, Elaine Pearson (2009) — MSIADU '09: Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGMM International Workshop on Media Studies and Implementations that Help Improving Access to Disabled Users

  This paper presents a fundamental rethinking of how user profiles should be constructed for adaptive and accessible computing. Published at MSIADU '09 (co-located with ACM Multimedia), it critiques the dominant Access For All standard (ISO/IEC 24751)…

  • user profiling
  • capability modeling
  • adaptive interfaces
  • user modeling
  • accessibility standards

• Self-Adapting User Interfaces as Assistive Technology for Handheld Mobile Devices

  Robert Dodd (2006) — Assets '06: Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in mobile device accessibility: the limitations of bolt-on assistive technology solutions for handheld devices. Published at Assets '06, the premier ACM conference on accessible computing, it proposes a pa…

  • mobile accessibility
  • self-adapting interfaces
  • assistive technology
  • user modeling
  • design space

• The CISNA model of accessible adaptive hypermedia

  Robert Dodd, Steve Green, Elaine Pearson (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents CISNA (Content, Inventory, Semantics, Navigation, Adaptation), a five-layer document model designed to make web content adaptable to individual user needs and capabilities. The research addresses a fundamental problem: as web page…

  • adaptive hypermedia
  • abstract user interface
  • hypertext models
  • assistive technology
  • content adaptation

• 20 years on: the Dexter Model of Hypertext and its impact on web accessibility

  Robert Dodd (2008) — SIGACCESS Access. Comput.

  This paper examines the Dexter Reference Model of Hypertext, published in 1988, and asks whether the foundational assumptions it encodes still serve the needs of accessibility twenty years later. The Dexter Model was created as a superset description…

  • hypertext models
  • HTML
  • assistive technology
  • adaptive content
  • web standards

• Born Accessible: Exploring Organizational Practices at CNIB

  Bob Dodd (2022) — Research Paper

  An exploration of how the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) embeds accessibility into its organizational DNA, from procurement and development processes to training and culture. Based on direct experience working within the organizatio…

  • organizational practices
  • born accessible
  • CNIB
  • culture

• What We Know About Digital Accessibility for People with Cognitive, Learning, and Neurological Disabilities

  Clayton Lewis (2023) — ACM Computing Surveys

  A comprehensive review of research on digital accessibility for people with cognitive, learning, and neurological disabilities. Examines the gap between current standards (which focus primarily on sensory and motor disabilities) and the needs of this…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • inclusive design
  • research review