Literature Reviews

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

• Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Designing Accessible Systems for Users with Multiple Impairments: Grand Challenges and Opportunities for Future Research

  Arthur Theil, Chris Creed, Mohammed Shaqura, Nasrine Olson, Raymond John Holt, Sayan Sarcar, Stuart Murray (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 22)

  This workshop paper from ASSETS 2022 challenges a fundamental assumption in accessibility research: that designing for one impairment category at a time is sufficient. The authors argue that this single-impairment approach, while practical and widesp…

  • multiple impairments
  • assistive technology
  • disability studies
  • multidisciplinary design
  • inclusive design
  • participatory design
  • deafblindness
  • complex disabilities

• Depending on Independence: An Autoethnographic Account of Daily Use of Assistive Technologies

  Felix Fussenegger, Katta Spiel (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This experience report uses autoethnography to examine the daily realities of depending on assistive technologies (AT) from the first-person perspective of Felix Fussenegger, a person living with a high spinal cord injury (C6 level) resulting in comp…

  • assistive technology
  • autoethnography
  • disability studies
  • independence
  • interdependence
  • spinal cord injury
  • socio-technical dependencies
  • participatory design

• Accessibility Research and Users with Multiple Disabilities or Complex Needs

  Arthur Theil, Craig Anderton, Chris Creed, Nasrine Olson, Raymond John Holt, Sayan Sarcar (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023)

  This workshop paper argues that accessibility research has historically oversimplified disability by focusing on single categories of impairment, and calls for a fundamental shift toward inclusive research that addresses the needs of people living wi…

  • multiple disabilities
  • complex needs
  • assistive technology
  • research methodology
  • inclusive design
  • deafblindness
  • participatory design
  • disability studies

• A11yFutures: Envisioning the Future of Accessibility Research

  Jennifer Mankoff, Kelly Avery Mack, Jason Wiese, Kirk Andrew Crawford, Foad Hamidi (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023)

  This workshop paper proposes a framework for understanding the evolution of accessibility research through three "waves" and argues that the field needs to broaden significantly into what the authors call "third wave accessibility." The first wave of…

  • accessibility research
  • disability studies
  • inclusive design
  • intersectionality
  • research methodology
  • disability culture
  • participatory design

• Tackling the Lack of a Practical Guide in Disability-Centered Research

  Emma J. McDonnell, Kelly Avery Mack, Kathrin Gerling, Katta Spiel, Cynthia L. Bennett, Robin N. Brewer, Rua Mae Williams, Garreth W. Tigwell (2023) — ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This workshop paper proposes a structured effort to develop a practical guide for conducting disability-centered accessibility research. The authors — a team of eight researchers across multiple institutions, several of whom are disabled scholars — a…

  • disability justice
  • research methods
  • participatory design
  • power dynamics
  • disability studies
  • research ethics
  • positionality

• Participant Recruitment in Accessibility Research

  Lloyd May, Saad Hassan, Khang Dang, Sooyeon Lee, Oliver Alonzo (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This workshop paper addresses the critical but underexplored challenge of recruiting participants with disabilities for accessibility research. Grounded in the principle "Nothing about us without us," the paper argues that including people with disab…

  • research methods
  • participant recruitment
  • disability studies
  • ethics
  • intersectionality
  • accessibility research
  • community engagement
  • research ethics

• Rethinking Productivity with GenAI: A Neurodivergent Students' Perspective

  Hira Jamshed, Mustafa Naseem, Venkatesh Potluri, Robin N. Brewer (2025) — Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '25)

  This qualitative study examines how 19 neurodivergent university students (including those with ADHD, autism, OCD, dysgraphia, and auditory processing disorder) use LLM-based generative AI tools like ChatGPT in their academic work. Through semi-struc…

  • neurodiversity
  • generative AI
  • cognitive accessibility
  • higher education
  • disability studies
  • qualitative research
  • crip time
  • executive function

• Expanding Norms, Negotiating Bodies: How Artists with Disabilities Perceive and Use Creative Tools

  Miriam Brody, Izabella Rodrigues, Jane L. E, Jingyi Li (2025) — ASSETS '25: Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This qualitative study explores how 12 artists with disabilities use, reject, or modify tools in their creative practice, applying a crip technoscience lens to inform the design of future creativity support tools (CSTs). The artists spanned a wide ra…

  • disability arts
  • crip technoscience
  • creativity support tools
  • embodiment
  • interdependence
  • disability studies

• Designing Through Lived Experience: Reflections on Control, Embodiment, and Social Bias in Accessibility Research

  Atieh Taheri, Misha Sra, Patrick Carrington, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2025) — Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an analytic autoethnography of three accessibility research projects led by the first author, Atieh Taheri, a disabled researcher with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) who has used a wheelchair her entire life. Each project emerged f…

  • disability studies
  • autoethnography
  • crip technoscience
  • participatory design
  • disability justice
  • embodied cognition
  • ableism
  • virtual reality
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • artificial intelligence
  • motor impairment

• Tenets for Social Accessibility: Towards Humanizing Disabled People in Design

  Kristen Shinohara, Cynthia L. Bennett, Wanda Pratt, Jacob O. Wobbrock (2018) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper investigates how student designers think about disability and accessibility when tasked with designing for multiple users with and without disabilities, and uses the findings to refine the Design for Social Accessibility framework. Conduct…

  • social accessibility
  • design methodology
  • accessibility education
  • inclusive design
  • user-centered design
  • disability studies