Literature Reviews

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

• Imagine, Interact: Eliciting Accessible Interactions from Users with Motor Impairments via Imagined Input Devices

  Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This paper reports an end-user gesture elicitation study with eleven participants with upper-body motor impairments - including spinal cord injury, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's, and traumatic brain injury - who were a…

  • motor impairment
  • gesture input
  • end-user elicitation
  • imagined devices
  • ability-based design
  • accessible computing
  • assistive technology

• Evaluating a Pen-based Computer Interface for Novice Older Users

  Dante Arias Torres (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This short paper from the University of Oaxaca in Mexico proposes and evaluates a simplified pen-based gesture interface designed for novice older computer users who struggle with the traditional WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointers) paradigm. T…

  • older adults
  • pen input
  • gesture input
  • alternative input
  • usability
  • WIMP
  • age-related accessibility
  • novice users

• Tapulator: A Non-Visual Calculator Using Natural Prefix-Free Codes

  Vaspol Ruamviboonsuk, Shiri Azenkot, Richard E. Ladner (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents the Tapulator, a non-visual calculator for smartphones that replaces traditional on-screen buttons with a simple gesture-based numeric entry system using multi-finger taps and swipes. The core innovation is a natural…

  • blindness
  • low vision
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • screen reader
  • gesture input
  • mobile accessibility
  • non-visual interface
  • VoiceOver

• A Performance Comparison of On-Hand versus On-Phone Nonvisual Input by Blind and Sighted Users

  Uran Oh, Leah Findlater (2015) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This study investigates whether using one's own hand as an input surface offers performance advantages over touchscreen phones for blind users performing nonvisual interaction. On-body input is particularly attractive for blind users because it provi…

  • on-body interaction
  • mobile accessibility
  • blindness
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • gesture input
  • proprioception
  • tactile feedback
  • nonvisual interaction
  • alternative input
  • user study

• Personalized Wearable Interactions with WearSkill

  Ovidiu-Andrei Schipor, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Alexandru-Ionut Siean, Alexandru-Tudor Andrei, Radu-Daniel Vatavu (2022) — Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents WearSkill, a web-based middleware application that enables people with upper-body motor impairments to control connected smart home devices through personalised wearable interactions. The system addresses a significant…

  • wearable technology
  • motor impairment
  • personalization
  • smart home
  • gesture input
  • assistive technology
  • middleware
  • ability-based design

• WearSkill: Personalized and Interchangeable Input with Wearables for Users with Motor Impairments

  Ovidiu-Andrei Schipor, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Radu-Daniel Vatavu (2022) — Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces WearSkill, a web-based application designed to provide personalized and interchangeable input for wearable computing, with a specific focus on users with motor impairments. The system addresses a fundamental challenge in wearabl…

  • wearable technology
  • motor impairments
  • personalization
  • input modalities
  • gesture input
  • voice input
  • touch input
  • machine learning
  • accessibility
  • ability-based design

• How Do People with Limited Movement Personalize Upper-Body Gestures? Considerations for the Design of Personalized and Accessible Gesture Interfaces

  Momona Yamagami, Alexandra A Portnova-Fahreeva, Junhan Kong, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Jennifer Mankoff (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '23)

  This study investigates how people with upper-body motor impairments design personalized gestures for common device functions like move, select, zoom-in, open, and delete. The researchers recruited 25 participants with conditions including spinal cor…

  • motor impairments
  • gesture input
  • personalization
  • wearable sensors
  • electromyography
  • spinal cord injury
  • muscular dystrophy
  • assistive technology
  • user-defined gestures

• Gesture-A11Y: A Large-Scale Hub for Accessible Gesture Input

  Mihail Terenti, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A 2025)

  This paper introduces Gesture-A11Y, a large-scale, open-source, web-based hub that serves as a searchable database of gesture input data collected from users with visual or motor disabilities. The tool is the culmination of an eight-year research eff…

  • gesture input
  • motor disabilities
  • visual disabilities
  • open data
  • accessible interaction design
  • touchscreen gestures
  • wearable devices