Accessibility of 3D Game Environments for People with Aphasia: An Exploratory Study

People with aphasia experience difficulties with all aspects of language and this can mean that their access to technology is substantially reduced. We report a study undertaken to investigate the issues that confront people with aphasia when interacting with technology, specifically 3D game environments. Five people with aphasia were observed and interviewed in twelve workshop sessions. We report the key themes that emerged from the study, such as the importance of direct mappings between users’ interactions and actions in a virtual environment. The results of the study provide some insight into the challenges, but also the opportunities, these mainstream technologies offer to people with aphasia. We discuss how these technologies could be more supportive and inclusive for people with language and communication difficulties

Making Spatial Information Accessible on Touchscreens for Users who are Blind and Visually Impaired

Touchscreens have become a de facto standard of input for mobile devices as they most optimally use the limited input and output space that is imposed by their form factor. In recent years, people who are blind and visually impaired have been increasing their usage of smartphones and touchscreens. Although basic access is available, there are still many accessibility issues left to deal with in order to bring full inclusion to this population. One of the important challenges lies in accessing and creating of spatial information on touchscreens. The work presented here provides three new techniques, using three different modalities, for accessing spatial information on touchscreens. The first system makes geometry and diagram creation accessible on a touchscreen through the use of text-to-speech and gestural input. This first study is informed by a qualitative study of how people who are blind and visually impaired currently access and create graphs and diagrams. The second system makes directions through maps accessible using multiple vibration sensors without any sound or visual output. The third system investigates the use of binaural sound on a touchscreen to make various types of applications accessible such as physics simulations, astronomy, and video games

Developing Dynamic Audio Navigation UIs to Pinpoint Elements in Tactile Graphics

Access to complex graphical information is essential when connecting blind and visually impaired (BVI) people with the world. Tactile graphics readers enable access to graphical data through audio-tactile user interfaces (UIs), but these have yet to mature. A challenging task for blind people is locating specific elements–areas in detailed tactile graphics. To this end, we developed three audio navigation UIs that dynamically guide the user’s hand to a specific position using audio feedback. One is based on submarine sonar sounds, another relies on the target’s coordinate plan x and y-axis, and the last uses direct voice instructions. The UIs were implemented in the Tactonom Reader device, a new tactile graphic reader that enhances swell paper graphics with pinpointed audio explanations. To evaluate the effectiveness of the three different dynamic navigation UIs, we conducted a within-subject usability test that involved 13 BVI participants. Beyond comparing the effectiveness of the different UIs, we observed and recorded the interaction of the visually impaired participants with the different navigation UI to further investigate their behavioral patterns during the interaction. We observed that user interfaces that required the user to move their hand in a straight direction were more likely to provoke frustration and were often perceived as challenging for blind and visually impaired people. The analysis revealed that the voice-based navigation UI guides the participant the fastest to the target and does not require prior training. This suggests that a voice-based navigation strategy is a promising approach for designing an accessible user interface for the blind

Developing and Implementing an Accessible, Touch-based Web App for Inclusive Learning

With the prevalence of mobile devices and platforms used throughout the world and the increasing number of organizations with mobile versions of their web sites, it is essential that those applications and sites are accessible, usable and flexible. This project involved the inclusive development and iterative evaluation of a platform-independent, web-based learning app. Usability testing with students, faculty, and individuals with disabilities were combined with manual accessibility evaluations to ensure that a wide range of users and devices would be able to benefit from the structure of such an application. The results of this project detail the process of creating a flexible, platform-independent mobile learning app as well as some of the broader benefits that can result from accessibility and usability improvements to a mobile application. The resulting prototype has been implemented in a “live” environment at a non-profit organization that serves individuals with disabilities

Communication challenges in social board games

Background: Discussion-based communication scenarios are present in many aspects of life. These can range from conversations with friends in a social setting to formal consultation processes and focus groups used by industry and government. However, reliance on speech does not easily permit the fair and equitable involvement of people who face communication-based accessibility challenges. Aim: This work aimed to understand the communication challenges present within social board games, how these challenges arise, and participants’ perceptions of the difficulties these challenges may cause. Method: We conducted four social gameplay sessions to understand what parts of discussion may cause communication challenges and what techniques are commonplace in overcoming these. Results: Our results highlight how group facilitation and conversation pacing are essential in promoting accessibility within discussion-type situations. Our analysis identified four themes that focused on speech and delivery, access strategies, viewing and position, balance of power, and awareness of others. Conclusions: Communication within board game scenarios is a complex area that creates several intersectional accessibility challenges. These challenges can impact how group communication is facilitated, how pacing and delivery relate to overall group understanding, and how an awareness of accessibility is critical in developing inclusive environments

The Global Care Ecosystems of 3D Printed Assistive Devices

The popularity of 3D printed assistive technology has led to the emergence of new ecosystems of care, where multiple stakeholders (makers, clinicians, and recipients with disabilities) work toward creating new upper limb prosthetic devices. However, despite the increasing growth, we currently know little about the differences between these care ecosystems. Medical regulations and the prevailing culture have greatly impacted how ecosystems are structured and stakeholders work together, including whether clinicians and makers collaborate. To better understand these care ecosystems, we interviewed a range of stakeholders from multiple countries, including Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, France, India, Mexico, and the U.S. Our broad analysis allowed us to uncover different working examples of how multiple stakeholders collaborate within these care ecosystems and the main challenges they face. Through our study, we were able to uncover that the ecosystems with multi-stakeholder collaborations exist (something prior work had not seen), and these ecosystems showed increased success and impact. We also identified some of the key follow-up practices to reduce device abandonment. Of particular importance are to have ecosystems put in place follow up practices that integrate formal agreements and compensations for participation (which do not need to be just monetary). We identified that these features helped to ensure multi-stakeholder involvement and ecosystem sustainability. We finished the paper with socio-technical recommendations to create vibrant care ecosystems that include multiple stakeholders in the production of 3D printed assistive devices