Investigating Mobile Accessibility Guidance for People with Aphasia

The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) have become widely accepted as the standard for web accessibility evaluation. This poster investigates how the mobile version of these guidelines caters for people with aphasia (PWA) by comparing the results from user testing against that of an audit using the guidelines. We outline the efficacy of the guidelines in the broader context of how they cater for various impairments and offer some recommendations for designing for people with aphasia

Empowering Expression for Users with Aphasia through Constrained Creativity

Creative activities allow people to express themselves in rich, nuanced ways. However, being creative does not always come easily. For example, people with speech and language impairments, such as aphasia, face challenges in creative activities that involve language. In this paper, we explore the concept of constrained creativity as a way of addressing this challenge and enabling creative writing. We report an app, MakeWrite, that supports the constrained creation of digital texts through automated redaction. The app was co-designed with and for people with aphasia and was subsequently explored in a workshop with a group of people with aphasia. Participants were not only successful in crafting novel language, but, importantly, self-reported that the app was crucial in enabling them to do so. We refect on the potential of technology-supported constrained creativity as a means of empowering expression amongst users with diverse needs

CreaTable Content and Tangible Interaction in Aphasia

Multimedia digital content (combining pictures, text and music) is ubiquitous. The process of creating such content using existing tools typically requires complex, language-laden interactions which pose a challenge for users with aphasia (a language impairment following brain injury). Tangible interactions offer a potential means to address this challenge, however, there has been little work exploring their potential for this purpose. In this paper, we present CreaTable – a platform that enables us to explore tangible interaction as a means of supporting digital content creation for people with aphasia. We report details of the co-design of CreaTable and findings from a digital creativity workshop. Workshop findings indicated that CreaTable enabled people with aphasia to create something they would not otherwise have been able to. We report how users’ aphasia profiles affected their experience, describe tensions in collaborative content creation and provide insight into more accessible content creation using tangibles

The use of technology to facilitate writing in aphasia

In an age when digital technology is becoming central to communication, writing is increasingly important, with messaging and emailing often replacing phone calls [1]. As written communication shifts to the digital modality, technology poses both challenges and opportunities to people with aphasia. The cognitive and linguistic demands of using technology present potential barriers [2], but recent research has also explored the potential of technology to facilitate writing. This mini-review will describe the evidence base for using technology to support writing in aphasia therapy. It will describe a variety of applications, designed to remediate the impairment, facilitate functional writing skills and compensatory approaches which aim to bypass impaired writing skills. It will explore the role of the speech and language therapist in selecting the most suitable technology for an individual’s needs and in training people with aphasia to use the technology. In addition, it will discuss methods of assessing people with aphasia’s technology proficiency and functional writing skills, and the challenges inherent in these

Speech and Language

This chapter introduces speech and language from a clinical speech and language therapy perspective. It describes key challenges that can impact upon speech and language with a focus on the needs of individuals with aphasia, an acquired language disorder. The spe-cific impact that aphasia may have upon Web accessibility is dis-cussed with reference to existing work which illuminates what we currently do and do not know about speech, language and Web ac-cessibility. The authors provide guidance for accommodating the needs of users with aphasia within the design of Web interactions and propose future directions for development and research

Accessible Creativity with a Comic Spin

Creativity and humour allow people to be expressive and to address topics which they might otherwise avoid or find deeply uncomfortable. One such way to express these sentiments is via comics. Comics have a highly-visual format with relatively little language.They therefore offer a promising opportunity for people who experience challenges with language to express creativity and humour. Most comic tools, however, are not accessible to people with language impairments. In this paper we describe ComicSpin, a comic app designed for people with aphasia. ComicSpin builds upon the literature on supporting creativity by constraining the creative space. We report both the design process and the results of a creative workshop where people with aphasia used ComicSpin. Participants were not only successful in using the app,but were able to create a range of narrative ,humorous and subversive comics

“Just Not Together”: The Experience of Videoconferencing for People with Aphasia during the Covid-19 Pandemic

People with language impairments, such as aphasia, use a range of total communication strategies. These go beyond spoken language to include non-verbal utterances, props and gestures. The uptake of videoconferencing platforms necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic means that people with aphasia now use these communication strategies online. However, no data exists on the impact of videoconferencing on communication for this population. Working with an aphasia charity that moved its conversation support sessions online, we investigated the experience of communication via a videoconferencing platform. We report a study which investigated this through: 1) observations of online conversation support sessions; 2) interviews with speech and language therapists and volunteers; and 3) interviews with people with aphasia. Our findings reveal the unique and creative ways that the charity and its members with aphasia adapted their communication to videoconferencing. We unpack specific, novel challenges relating to total communication via videoconferencing and the related impacts on social and privacy issues

Modelo de acessibilidade para aplicações móveis para utilizadores com afasia

A presente dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia de Software representa uma contribuição para o projeto de investigação b-Able2, financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). Este projeto tem como objetivo a conceção de um programa híbrido e personalizado, apoiado pela aplicação móvel ComVida, para promover a autogestão na relação paciente-cuidador. A afasia, que afeta entre 25% a 40% dos sobreviventes de Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC), emerge como um desafio notável, exercendo impacto significativo na comunicação e apresentando obstáculos na adaptação a mudanças de ordem profissional, social e económica. A aplicação ComVida, desenvolvida através da framework Flutter, carecia, inicialmente, de considerações específicas para utilizadores afásicos, motivando a necessidade de conceber um modelo destinado ao desenho e implementação de interfaces de utilizador acessíveis e ajustadas às suas necessidades. No sentido de melhorar a acessibilidade da aplicação ComVida para indivíduos afásicos, o presente estudo identificou requisitos durante a fase de design, preenchendo uma lacuna na literatura relativa à acessibilidade móvel direcionada a este público. Foi desenvolvido um Modelo de Acessibilidade Móvel para Afásicos (AIMMA), integrando diretrizes provenientes da revisão literária e da entrevista com um especialista em intervenção terapêutica com doentes afásicos Posteriormente à adaptação da aplicação ComVida, de acordo com o modelo proposto, foram realizadas avaliações com peritos e utilizadores afásicos. A avaliação detalhada realizada com peritos proporcionou uma análise minuciosa das funcionalidades e oferecendo feedback sobre diversos componentes da UI da aplicação. Incluiu uma comparação entre a aplicação sem adaptações e a versão adaptada, bem como uma avaliação de cada uma das diretrizes propostas no modelo. O estudo realizado com utilizadores afásicos, conduzido no Centro Hospitalar de Setúbal, consistiu na observação e registo da interação destes com a aplicação, durante a execução de tarefas predefinidas, seguida do preenchimento de um questionário SUS adaptado. Os utilizadores afásicos demonstraram interesse na aplicação, relatando facilidade de uso, embora alguns possam necessitar de assistência de um parceiro de comunicação preferido. O modelo proposto para acessibilidade móvel serve como base para adaptar aplicações móveis para pessoas com afasia. As avaliações identificaram áreas de melhoria, enfatizando que as adaptações não devem estar limitadas aos aspetos de interação, mas também devem considerar o conteúdo fornecido e a complexidade das funcionalidades implementadas.The present master's thesis in Software Engineering represents a contribution to the b-Able2 research project, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). This project aims to conceive a hybrid and personalized program, facilitated by the ComVida mobile application, to promote self-management in the patient-caregiver relationship. Aphasia, affecting between 25% and 40% of survivors of Stroke (AVC), emerges as a notable challenge, exerting a significant impact on communication and presenting obstacles in adapting to professional, social, and economic changes. The ComVida application, developed using the Flutter framework, initially lacked specific considerations for aphasic users, prompting the need to design a model for the implementation of accessible user interfaces tailored to their needs. To enhance the acessibility of the ComVida application for individuals with aphasia, this study identified requirements during the design phase, filling a gap in the literature related to mobile interfaces for this audience. A Accessibility and Inclusive Mobile Model for Aphasic (AIMMA) was developed, integrating guidelines from the literature review and the interview with a specialist in therapeutic intervention with aphasic patients. Following the adaptation of the ComVida application according to the outlined model, tests were conducted with experts and aphasic users. The detailed evaluation with experts provided a thorough analysis of the functionalities, offering feedback on various components of the application. It also included a comparison between the mobile application without adaptations and the adapted version, as well as an assessment of each of the proposed guidelines in the model. The study conducted with aphasic users at the Setúbal Hospital Center involved the observation and recording of their interaction with the application while performing predefined tasks, followed by the completion of an adapted SUS questionnaire. Aphasic users expressed interest in the application, reporting ease of use, although some may require assistance from a preferred communication partner. Although the suggested model for mobile accessibility lays the groundwork for tailoring mobile apps for individuals with aphasia, assessments have pinpointed areas for enhancement. This underscores the importance of broadening adaptations beyond interaction elements to encompass the content provided and the complexity of implemented functionalities