Literature Reviews

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

• A11yExtensions: Accessibility Extensions to Augment Mobile AI Assistive Technology In-Situ

  Jaylin Herskovitz, Ellie Seehorn, Ather Jammoa, Jason Meddaugh, Anhong Guo (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  A11yExtensions introduces the concept of in-situ extensions for mobile AI assistive technology — add-on services that augment existing deployed applications like Seeing AI, Be My AI, and Lookout with additional features, without modifying or replacin…

  • blind and low vision
  • mobile accessibility
  • AI assistive technology
  • co-design
  • automation
  • in-situ
  • camera aiming
  • AI verification
  • iOS
  • research through design

• Automating Tactile Graphics Translation

  Richard E. Ladner, Melody Y. Ivory, Rajesh Rao, Sheryl Burgstahler, Dan Comden, Sangyun Hahn, Matthew Renzelmann, Satria Krisnandi, Mahalakshmi Ramasamy, Beverly Slabosky, Andrew Martin, Amelia Lacenski, Stuart Olsen, Dmitri Groce (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper addresses the critical shortage of tactile graphics available to blind students in mathematics, science, and engineering (MSE) courses. Postsecondary science textbooks may have images on half their pages — sometimes up to 500 images per bo…

  • tactile graphics
  • braille
  • STEM accessibility
  • image processing
  • machine learning
  • visual impairment
  • assistive technology
  • automation
  • accessible publishing

• Machine Generation of Audio Description for Blind and Visually Impaired People

  Virgínia P. Campos, Tiago M. U. de Araújo, Guido L. de Souza Filho, Luiz M. G. Gonçalves (2023) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents an extension to CineAD, a system for automatically generating audio descriptions (AD) for videos. The authors address a critical accessibility gap: most videos, films, and cultural programming lack audio descriptions, leaving blin…

  • audio description
  • blind and visually impaired
  • computer vision
  • machine learning
  • video accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • object detection
  • automation

• From Automation to User Empowerment: Investigating the Role of a Semi-automatic Tool in Social Media Accessibility

  Leticia Seixas Pereira, Jose Coelho, Andre Rodrigues, Joao Guerreiro, Tiago Guerreiro, Carlos Duarte (2024) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents SONAAR (Social Networks Accessible Authoring), a semi-automatic tool designed to improve social media accessibility by combining AI-powered image recognition with user-generated descriptions. The research addresses a persistent pr…

  • social media accessibility
  • alternative text
  • image descriptions
  • crowdsourcing
  • assistive technology
  • user empowerment
  • automation

• Breaking Barriers with Assistive Macros

  André Rodrigues (2015) — ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper introduces Assistive Macros, an Android accessibility service that enables users with motor impairments to perform multi-step interactions with a single selection. The system addresses two critical problems: the extreme time consumption of…

  • switch access
  • motor impairment
  • mobile accessibility
  • Android
  • macros
  • scanning
  • assistive technology
  • automation
  • caregivers
  • multi-impairment

• Employment in the Digital Age for People with Impairments

  Kevin Carey (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This position paper from Kevin Carey of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) offers a provocative critique of existing disability employment strategies in the context of digital transformation. Carey argues that while no technological …

  • employment accessibility
  • disability employment
  • digital economy
  • automation
  • web accessibility
  • SME
  • policy
  • WAI

• A Return to Community: Flintstones or Jetsons?

  Vivienne Conway (2020) — Proceedings of the 17th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This keynote-style paper uses the cultural lens of two iconic 1960s cartoons — The Flintstones and The Jetsons — to reflect on how automation and technology are shaping the lives of people with disabilities. Dr. Conway, writing from Western Australia…

  • digital accessibility
  • automation
  • assistive technology
  • disability representation
  • home automation
  • algorithmic bias
  • community
  • Internet of Things