Literature Reviews

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

• TacChat: Exploring User Generation and Accessible Sharing via Tactile Graphics for the Blind and Visually Impaired

  Yuewen Zhang, Danning Li, Kexin Zhou, Pu Jiang, Jingyang Lyu, Kotaro Hara, Baoshui Chen, Shuai Gao, Yang Jiao (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Zhang and colleagues (Tsinghua University, Singapore Management University, and Beijing School for the Blind) flip the usual framing of tactile-graphics research: rather than asking how blind and low-vision (BLV) people can better consume tactile ima…

  • tactile graphics
  • refreshable tactile display
  • blind and low vision
  • accessible authoring
  • social media accessibility
  • technology probe
  • accessibility research
  • self-expression
  • non-visual interaction

• ADCanvas: Accessible and Conversational Audio Description Authoring for Blind and Low Vision Creators

  Franklin Mingzhe Li, Michael Xieyang Liu, Cynthia L Bennett, Shaun K. Kane (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Li and colleagues tackle a rarely examined corner of accessibility: the fact that the tools used to produce Audio Description (AD) are themselves largely inaccessible to the blind and low-vision (BLV) creators who are often its most skilled practitio…

  • audio description
  • blind and low vision
  • conversational agent
  • multimodal LLM
  • visual question answering
  • human-AI collaboration
  • accessible authoring
  • screen reader
  • content creation
  • technology probe

• Author Reflections on Creating Accessible Academic Papers

  Rachel Menzies, Garreth W. Tigwell, Michael Crabb (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This mixed-methods study investigates why academic papers remain inaccessible despite available guidance from SIGACCESS and others. The researchers analyzed 3,866 content elements (tables, charts, images) from 330 ASSETS conference papers spanning 20…

  • document accessibility
  • PDF accessibility
  • academic publishing
  • alt text
  • data visualization
  • content elements
  • accessible authoring

• shapeCAD: An Accessible 3D Modelling Workflow for the Blind and Visually-Impaired Via 2.5D Shape Displays

  Alexa F. Siu, Son Kim, Joshua A. Miele, Sean Follmer (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents shapeCAD, an accessible 3D modelling workflow that enables people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) to author, explore, and modify 3D models using a combination of declarative programming (OpenSCAD scripts) and a 2.5D tacti…

  • 3D printing
  • blind
  • low vision
  • tactile displays
  • haptic technology
  • accessible authoring
  • maker movement
  • CAD
  • shape display
  • participatory design
  • STEM accessibility

• A Demonstration of Molder: An Accessible Design Tool for Tactile Maps

  Lei Shi, Yuhang Zhao, Elizabeth Kupferstein, Shiri Azenkot (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This demonstration paper presents Molder, an accessible design tool that enables teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs) and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists to create 3D printed tactile maps without requiring professional 3D modeling skil…

  • tactile maps
  • tactile graphics
  • 3D printing
  • visual impairment
  • orientation and mobility
  • tangible interaction
  • design tools
  • accessible authoring
  • braille