Literature Reviews

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

• WADER: a novel wayfinding system with deviation recovery for individuals with cognitive impairments

  Shih-Kai Tsai (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster paper from Shih-Kai Tsai at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan presents WADER (Wayfinding system with DEviation Recovery), a prototype indoor wayfinding system aimed at individuals with cognitive impairments — exp…

  • wayfinding
  • indoor navigation
  • QR code
  • cognitive accessibility
  • cognitive disabilities
  • traumatic brain injury
  • cerebral palsy
  • intellectual disability
  • schizophrenia
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • PDA
  • mobile accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • independent living
  • employment

• Indoor Wayfinding: Developing a Functional Interface for Individuals with Cognitive Impairments

  Alan L. Liu, Harlan Hile, Henry Kautz, Gaetano Borriello, Pat A. Brown, Mark Harniss, Kurt Johnson (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper from the University of Washington describes the design and user evaluation of an indoor wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments, including traumatic brain injury, Down syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, and ce…

  • cognitive impairment
  • wayfinding
  • indoor navigation
  • wizard of oz
  • multimodal interface
  • adaptive interface
  • traumatic brain injury
  • Down syndrome
  • cerebral palsy
  • assistive technology

• DuckCall: Tackling the First Hundred Yards Problem

  Stephen Fickas, Craig Pataky, Zebin Chen (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper describes DuckCall, a TV-based reminder system designed to help people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) overcome the "first hundred yards problem" — the challenge of preparing for and getting to the first transit pick-up point for communi…

  • cognitive disabilities
  • traumatic brain injury
  • social isolation
  • community navigation
  • transportation access
  • reminder system
  • assistive technology
  • independent living
  • smart home

• Solo: Interactive Task Guidance

  Edmund LoPresti, Ned Kirsch, Richard Simpson, Debra Schreckenghost (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper describes Solo, a cognitive orthosis being developed by AT Sciences, the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, and TRACLabs to help cognitively impaired clients and their caregivers manage daily activities. Solo builds on t…

  • cognitive assistive technology
  • traumatic brain injury
  • cognitive disability
  • task guidance
  • scheduling
  • independent living
  • telerehabilitation
  • cognitive prosthetic

• Designing a Cognitive Aid for the Home: A Case-Study Approach

  Jessica Paradise, Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Cliff Williams, John Goldthwaite (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper describes the design of a computational pacing aid for a woman ("C") with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) who struggles with chronic tardiness during her morning routine at a residential program. The researchers from Georgia Tech and Dre…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • traumatic brain injury
  • cognitive aid
  • smart home
  • independent living
  • participatory design
  • case study
  • pacing
  • ambient display

• Computer-Based Cognitive Prosthetics: Assistive Technology for the Treatment of Cognitive Disabilities

  Elliot Cole, Parto Dehdashti (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents over a decade of research and clinical work from the Institute for Cognitive Prosthetics on designing computer-based cognitive prosthetic (CBCP) systems for individuals with acquired cognitive disabilities from traumatic brain inj…

  • cognitive disability
  • cognitive prosthetic
  • traumatic brain injury
  • stroke recovery
  • brain injury rehabilitation
  • participatory design
  • assistive technology
  • executive function
  • cognitive rehabilitation

• Context-Aware Prompting to Transition Autonomously Through Vocational Tasks for Individuals with Cognitive Impairments

  Yao-Jen Chang, Wan Chih Chang, Tsen-Yung Wang (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a context-aware task prompting system designed to help individuals with cognitive impairments work more independently in vocational settings. The system uses Bluetooth beacons placed at key work locations ("points of work") to tri…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • task prompting
  • supported employment
  • context-aware computing
  • intellectual disability
  • traumatic brain injury
  • ubiquitous computing
  • vocational rehabilitation
  • distributed cognition

• Social Media Apps: A Paradigm for Examining Usability of Mobile Apps for Working-Age Adults with Mild-Moderate Cognitive Disabilities

  Morris Huang, Greg McGrew, Cathy Bodine (2025) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This empirical usability study examines how working-age adults (18-65) with mild-to-moderate cognitive disabilities interact with five mainstream social media apps: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Tumblr. The research addresses a signif…

  • cognitive disability
  • intellectual disability
  • traumatic brain injury
  • social media
  • mobile apps
  • usability testing
  • inclusive design
  • user interface design

• Designing Voice-Assisted Technology (VAT) Training for Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) for Adults with Cognitive-Communication Needs (CCNs) at Home

  Claire O'Connor, Lauren H Kim, Ginna Byun, Priyal Vora, Yao Du (2023) — ASSETS 2023: The 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper describes the design, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of a 6-week virtual training program that teaches adults with cognitive-communication needs (CCNs) resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI) to use Amazon Alexa voice comma…

  • voice assistants
  • cognitive-communication needs
  • traumatic brain injury
  • activities of daily living
  • telehealth
  • speech-language pathology
  • Amazon Alexa
  • cognitive rehabilitation
  • assistive technology training
  • independent living

• Investigating Day-to-day Experiences with Conversational Agents by Users with Traumatic Brain Injury

  Hu, Yaxin, Lim, Hajin, Johnson, Hailey L., O'Shaughnessy, Josephine M., Kakonge, Lisa, Turkstra, Lyn, Duff, Melissa, Toma, Catalina, Mutlu, Bilge (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a four-week in-the-wild field study investigating how nine adults with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the chronic stage (1-19 years post-injury) used Amazon Alexa on Echo Dot devices in their homes. TBI can cau…

  • traumatic brain injury
  • conversational agents
  • voice assistants
  • cognitive accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • mental health
  • rehabilitation
  • smart speakers
  • in-the-wild study