Literature Reviews

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

• Web Development Training for Students That Are Blind

  Claire Ferrari (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper outlines a mixed-methods dissertation research plan for developing and evaluating a 10-day web development course specifically designed for students who are blind or have low vision. The author contextualizes the work w…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • web development
  • coding education
  • accessible programming
  • self-efficacy
  • participatory design
  • vocational training
  • digital inclusion

• Adaptable Accessibility Features for Mathematics on the Web

  Davide Cervone, Volker Sorge (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents the accessibility features in MathJax version 3, the widely-used JavaScript library for rendering mathematics on the web. The fundamental challenge is that standard mathematical markup formats (LaTeX, ASCIIMath, presentation MathM…

  • mathematics accessibility
  • MathJax
  • STEM accessibility
  • screen reader
  • Braille
  • speech output
  • dyslexia
  • low vision
  • personalization
  • web accessibility
  • MathML
  • semantic enrichment

• Pushpak: Voice Command-based eBook Navigator

  Shradha Holani, Akashdeep Bansal, M Balakrishnan (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Pushpak, a voice command-based eBook navigator designed to reduce the steep learning curve associated with screen reader software. The authors identify a key accessibility barrier: effective use of screen readers lik…

  • voice control
  • screen reader
  • NVDA
  • eBook
  • natural language understanding
  • visual impairment
  • STEM accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • speech recognition
  • touchscreen accessibility

• Blind Web Development Training at Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Uganda

  Claire Ferrari, Amy Hurst, Scott Fitzgerald (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes the development and delivery of a 7-day web development course for 13 blind and low-vision students (ages 18-35, average 24) at the Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Gulu, northern Uganda. None of the students had prior exper…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • web development
  • coding education
  • developing nations
  • Africa
  • screen reader
  • JAWS
  • tactile learning
  • digital inclusion
  • accessible programming

• AudioFunctions.web: Multimodal Exploration of Mathematical Function Graphs

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, João Guerreiro, Sergio Mascetti, Anna Capietto (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This full research paper presents AudioFunctions.web, a web application that enables blind and visually impaired people to explore mathematical function graphs through a combination of sonification, earcons, and speech synthesis. The system is the pl…

  • sonification
  • mathematics accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • STEM accessibility
  • multimodal interaction
  • data visualization
  • assistive technology
  • web accessibility
  • user study
  • touchscreen
  • keyboard accessibility

• Multimodal Exploration of Mathematical Function Graphs with AudioFunctions.web

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Niccolò Cantù, Cristian Bernareggi, João Guerreiro, Sergio Mascetti, Anna Capietto (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents AudioFunctions.web, a web-based system designed to make mathematical function graphs accessible to people who are blind or have visual impairments. Function graphs are a fundamental tool in mathematics education and …

  • sonification
  • mathematics accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • STEM accessibility
  • multimodal interaction
  • data visualization
  • assistive technology
  • web accessibility

• Navigating Graduate School with a Disability

  Dhruv Jain, Venkatesh Potluri, Ather Sharif (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents a three-person autoethnography by computer science Ph.D. students at the University of Washington, each with a different disability: Dhruv Jain (hard of hearing, congenital bilateral sensorineural hearing loss), Venkatesh Potluri …

  • education accessibility
  • disability identity
  • autoethnography
  • accommodation
  • STEM accessibility
  • higher education
  • disability disclosure
  • lived experience

• Web-ALAP: A Web-based LaTeX Editor for Blind Individuals

  Safa Arooj, Shaban Zulfiqar, Muhammad Qasim Hunain, Suleman Shahid, Asim Karim (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents Web-ALAP (Web-Accessible LaTeX-based Authoring and Presentation), an open-source, web-based LaTeX editor designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users. The system addresses a critical gap in STEM accessibility: while…

  • blindness
  • STEM accessibility
  • mathematics accessibility
  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • education accessibility

• Haptic and Auditive Mesh Inspection for Blind 3D Modelers

  Sebastian Lieb, Benjamin Rosenmeier, Thorsten Thormählen, Knut Buettner (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses a critical gap in accessible 3D modeling for blind users. While constructive geometry programming languages like OpenSCAD allow blind modelers to write text-based code to create 3D objects (accessible via screen readers and brail…

  • blindness
  • 3D modeling
  • haptic technology
  • sonification
  • 3D printing
  • STEM accessibility
  • creative accessibility

• Automated Generation of Accessible PDF

  Shaban Zulfiqar, Safa Arooj, Umar Hayat, Suleman Shahid, Asim Karim (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents AGAP (Automated Generation of Accessible PDF), an open-source tool that automates the generation of accessible PDFs from LaTeX source files while making the authoring process itself accessible to people with vision i…

  • PDF accessibility
  • document accessibility
  • screen readers
  • STEM accessibility
  • automated testing
  • blindness and low vision
  • web accessibility
  • software development