Literature Reviews
Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.
19 results found tagged digital fabrication.
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Grassroots Maker Perspectives on Participation in Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology Development
Sarwar, Wilson, and Mahbub interviewed 20 grassroots DIY assistive-technology (DIY-AT) makers in the U.S. between July 2021 and December 2023 to build a maker-centered account of the DIY-AT ecosystem. Participants were recruited from social media (Re…
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Coming to Grips: 3D Printing for Accessibility
This demonstration paper presents a case study of using consumer-grade 3D printing to create custom assistive devices for a student with limited hand motor ability at a special education facility. The work grew out of a six-month evaluation of making…
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ABC and 3D: Opportunities and Obstacles to 3D Printing in Special Education Environments
This paper presents a formative study exploring how 3D printing can support special education across three diverse sites: a school for students with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities (Site A), a school for blind and visually impaired students…
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Inclusion and Education: 3D Printing for Integrated Classrooms
This research addresses the severe employment gap facing adults with intellectual disabilities (ID)—over 60% unemployment versus roughly 25% for the general population—by exploring whether 3D printing skills can be taught in integrated postsecondary …
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Transcribing Across the Senses: Community Efforts to Create 3D Printable Accessible Tactile Pictures for Young Children with Visual Impairments
This formative study investigates how different stakeholder communities approach designing 3D printable accessible tactile pictures (3DP-ATPs) for young children with visual impairments. While 3D printing offers potential to democratize tactile mater…
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Uncovering Challenges and Opportunities for 3D Printing Assistive Technology with Physical Therapists
This paper investigates the feasibility and challenges of integrating 3D printing into physical therapy (PT) practice for creating customized assistive technology (AT). Physical therapists routinely modify standardized AT devices using temporary mate…
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Customizable 3D Printed Tactile Maps as Interactive Overlays
This paper presents an end-to-end system that enables visually impaired individuals to independently design, customize, and interact with 3D printed tactile maps. Traditional tactile map production has been limited by high costs (Braille embossers ra…
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Making "Making" Accessible
This keynote abstract presents Amy Hurst's research program on making DIY (Do-It-Yourself) assistive technology creation accessible to end-users, clinicians, and caregivers. The talk addresses a fundamental problem: a large percentage of assistive te…
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TIP-Toy: a tactile, open-source computational toolkit to support learning across visual abilities
This paper presents TIP-Toy (Tactile Inclusive Programming Toy), an open-source educational programming toolkit using physical blocks and music output, designed for children ages 6-11 with mixed visual abilities — from full sight to total blindness. …
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Teaching Digital Fabrication to Early Intervention Specialists for Designing Their Own Tools
This demonstration paper describes a co-design project in which researchers from New Design University and TU Wien taught basic digital fabrication skills to four experienced early intervention therapists who work with children with cerebral visual i…