Literature Reviews

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

• Increasing Agency of Screen-Reader Users in Consuming Information From Online Data Visualizations

  Ather Sharif, Andrew Zhang, Jacob Wobbrock (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper addresses a fundamental equity problem in data visualization accessibility: screen-reader users are limited to consuming only the information that visualization creators choose to provide, with no agency to customize what they hear. Prior …

  • data visualization accessibility
  • screen readers
  • user agency
  • sonification
  • alt text
  • data tables
  • customization
  • blind users

• Accessible workplace, inaccessible workflows: mandatory documents, challenges and workarounds in accessible onboarding

  Scott Hollier, Justin Brown, Ruchi Permvattana (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper presents a lived-experience case study from the Centre For Accessibility Australia (CFAA), a not-for-profit accessibility auditing organization where 9 of 12 staff have lived experience of disability, including the legally blind dire…

  • PDF accessibility
  • workplace accessibility
  • government forms
  • screen readers
  • document accessibility
  • lived experience
  • onboarding

• AccessMenu: Enhancing Usability of Online Restaurant Menus for Screen Reader Users

  Nithiya Venkatraman, Akshay Kolgar Nayak, Suyog Dahal, Yash Prakash, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper addresses the significant accessibility barriers that blind and visually impaired (BVI) screen reader users face when trying to access online restaurant menus, which are typically presented as images or PDFs. The research proceeds in two p…

  • screen readers
  • blind users
  • visual document understanding
  • LLM accessibility
  • multimodal AI
  • browser extension
  • web accessibility
  • OCR

• Adapting Online Customer Reviews for Blind Users: A Case Study of Restaurant Reviews

  Mohan Sunkara, Akshay Kolgar Nayak, Sandeep Kalari, Yash Prakash, Sampath Jayarathna, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper addresses the significant usability challenges blind screen reader users face when navigating online customer reviews, using restaurant reviews on Google Maps as a case study. The research proceeds in two phases. First, an interview study …

  • screen readers
  • blind users
  • online reviews
  • LLM accessibility
  • content summarization
  • sentiment analysis
  • web accessibility

• QuickQue: Enabling Quick Access to Information in User Reviews for Screen Reader Users

  Mohan Sunkara, Akshay Kolgar Nayak, Sandeep Kalari, Yash Prakash, Sampath Jayarathna, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A 2025)

  This paper presents QuickCue, a Google Chrome browser extension that helps blind screen reader users efficiently access online customer reviews by using LLM-powered aspect and sentiment classification to organize and summarize review content. The cur…

  • screen readers
  • blind users
  • online reviews
  • large language models
  • browser extension
  • information accessibility
  • sentiment analysis

• The Promise and Pitfalls of Web Accessibility Overlays for Blind and Low Vision Users

  Tlamelo Makati, Garreth W. Tigwell, Kristen Shinohara (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This study provides the first substantial empirical evidence from blind and low-vision users about their experiences with web accessibility overlays—third-party JavaScript tools that claim to enhance website usability for people with disabilities by …

  • web accessibility
  • accessibility overlays
  • screen readers
  • blind users
  • low vision
  • assistive technology
  • WCAG

• A Recipe for Success? Exploring Strategies for Improving Non-Visual Access to Cooking Instructions

  Franklin Mingzhe Li, Ashley Wang, Patrick Carrington, Shaun K. Kane (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper investigates how people with vision impairments access and follow cooking recipes, identifying practices, challenges, and design opportunities for more accessible kitchen technologies. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews w…

  • blind
  • visual impairment
  • cooking accessibility
  • recipe access
  • assistive technology
  • non-visual interaction
  • screen readers
  • hands-free interaction
  • kitchen accessibility
  • multimodal interaction
  • vision rehabilitation

• "I look at it as the king of knowledge": How Blind People Use and Understand Generative AI Tools

  Rudaiba Adnin, Maitraye Das (2024) — ASSETS 2024: 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This study investigates how blind individuals use and make sense of mainstream generative AI tools, based on semi-structured interviews with 19 blind participants who regularly use tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and Be …

  • generative AI
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • ChatGPT
  • mental models
  • AI accessibility
  • screen readers
  • information verification
  • ableism in AI

• Breaking the News Barrier: Towards Understanding News Consumption Practices among BVI Individuals in India

  Peya Mowar, Meghna Gupta, Mohit Jain (2024) — ASSETS 2024: 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This study examines digital news consumption practices among blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals in India, a country home to approximately 4.95 million blind and 35 million visually impaired people. Through semi-structured interviews and co…

  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • news consumption
  • screen readers
  • information access
  • digital media accessibility
  • Global South
  • India

• Benthic: Perceptually Congruent Structures for Accessible Charts and Diagrams

  Catherine Mei, Josh Pollock, Daniel Hajas, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan (2025) — Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2025)

  This paper introduces Benthic, a system that creates perceptually congruent screen reader structures for graphical representations such as charts and diagrams. The core insight is that graphical representations communicate meaning through visual stru…

  • data visualization accessibility
  • screen readers
  • blind and low vision
  • chart accessibility
  • diagram accessibility
  • Gestalt principles
  • hypergraph
  • perceptual congruence