The Emerging Professional Practice of Remote Sighted Assistance for People with Visual Impairments

People with visual impairments (PVI) must interact with a world they cannot see. Remote sighted assistance (RSA) has emerged as a conversational assistive technology. We interviewed RSA assistants ( agents ) who provide assistance to PVI via a conversational prosthetic called Aira (https://aira.io/) to understand their professional practice. We identified four types of support provided: scene description, navigation, task performance, and social engagement. We discovered that RSA provides an opportunity for PVI to appropriate the system as a richer conversational/social support tool. We studied and identified patterns in how agents provide assistance and how they interact with PVI as well as the challenges and strategies associated with each context. We found that conversational interaction is highly context-dependent. We also discuss implications for design

Iterative Design and Prototyping of Computer Vision Mediated Remote Sighted Assistance

Remote sighted assistance (RSA) is an emerging navigational aid for people with visual impairments (PVI). Using scenario-based design to illustrate our ideas, we developed a prototype showcasing potential applications for computer vision to support RSA interactions. We reviewed the prototype demonstrating real-world navigation scenarios with an RSA expert, and then iteratively refined the prototype based on feedback. We reviewed the refined prototype with 12 RSA professionals to evaluate the desirability and feasibility of the prototyped computer vision concepts. The RSA expert and professionals were engaged by, and reacted insightfully and constructively to the proposed design ideas. We discuss what we learned about key resources, goals, and challenges of the RSA prosthetic practice through our iterative prototype review, as well as implications for the design of RSA systems and the integration of computer vision technologies into RSA

Understanding Visual Arts Experiences of Blind People

Visual arts play an important role in cultural life and provide access to social heritage and self-enrichment, but most visual arts are inaccessible to blind people. Researchers have explored different ways to enhance blind people’s access to visual arts (e.g., audio descriptions, tactile graphics). However, how blind people adopt these methods remains unknown. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 blind visual arts patrons to understand how they engage with visual artwork and the factors that influence their adoption of visual arts access methods. We further examined interview insights in a follow-up survey (N=220). We present: 1) current practices and challenges of accessing visual artwork in-person and online (e.g., Zoom tour), 2) motivation and cognition of perceiving visual arts (e.g., imagination), and 3) implications for designing visual arts access methods. Overall, our findings provide a roadmap for technology-based support for blind people’s visual arts experiences. Skip Supplemental Material Sectio

"Because Some Sighted People, They Don't Know What the Heck You're Talking About:" A Study of Blind TikTokers' Infrastructuring Work to Build Independence

There has been extensive research on the experiences of individuals with visual impairments on text- and image-based social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. However, little is known about the experiences of visually impaired users on short-video platforms like TikTok. To bridge this gap, we conducted an interview study with 30 BlindTokers (the nickname of blind TikTokers). Our study aimed to explore the various activities of BlindTokers on TikTok, including everyday entertainment, professional development, and community engagement. The widespread usage of TikTok among participants demonstrated that they considered TikTok and its associated experiences as the infrastructure for their activities. Additionally, participants reported experiencing breakdowns in this infrastructure due to accessibility issues. They had to carry out infrastructuring work to resolve the breakdowns. Blind users' various practices on TikTok also foregrounded their perceptions of independence. We then discussed blind users' nuanced understanding of the TikTok-mediated independence; we also critically examined BlindTokers' infrastructuring work for such independence.Comment: Accepted at CSCW'24, 29 pages, 2 figures, and 2 table

Content development for a tool to assess the preparedness of employment environment to welcome people with visual impairment

Le taux de chômage des personnes vivant avec une déficience visuelle (PDV) demeure préoccupant, malgré la mise en place de lois progressistes et d’actions diverses pour favoriser leur emploi. Les PDV éprouvent continuellement des difficultés d'intégration à l'emploi en raison de barrières dans le marché du travail et de l’inaccessibilité des lieux de travail. L'objectif de ce mémoire était de développer le contenu d'un outil de mesure qui pourrait évaluer l’état de préparation des milieux de travail pour accueillir des PDV. L’objectif a été atteint en deux temps. Premièrement, une synthèse de la littérature scientifique a permis de prendre la mesure des connaissances existantes et d’identifier les lacunes dans la recherche sur l'intégration à l'emploi. Deuxièmement, une étude co-créative a exploré les expériences vécues d’employés vivant avec une déficience visuelle et celles d’experts dans la création d’environnement de travail prêt à employer des PDV. Les résultats indiquent que traditionnellement l’approche pour faciliter l'intégration à l'emploi des PDV visait l'identification d’obstacles et de facilitateurs à la réussite professionnelle. Cette approche axée sur l’individu, souhaitait préparer les PDV à l'emploi. Peu de recherches ont été menées sur les efforts déployés par les employeurs et sur l’environnement de travail. Même si le milieu de travail a été identifié comme facteur de réussite et comme barrière dans l'intégration en emploi, aucune approche n'existe pour préparer les employeurs à l'arrivée de PDV. L’atteinte d’une répartition équitable des efforts impliquant tous les déterminants dans la réussite passe inévitablement par la préparation des environnements d'emploi.The unemployment rate among people living with vision impairment (PVI) remains a significant concern, despite the implementation of progressive laws and various actions committed to promoting their employment. PVI continually experience difficulties in employment integration due to labor market barriers and inaccessible workplaces. The objective of this master’s thesis was to develop the content of a tool to access the preparedness of the employment environment to welcome PVI. This objective was accomplished across two phases as presented in this thesis. First, a scoping review synthesized existing knowledge and identified gaps in employment integration research. This knowledge informed the second phase, a co-creation study that explored the experiences of employees with vision impairment and employment domain experts in the creation of a work environment that is prepared to employ PVI. The findings indicate that previous attempts to facilitate the employment integration of PVI focused mainly on identifying barriers and facilitators to employment success. Furthermore, attempts to translate findings into employment integration plans focused on the individual perspective, making PVI employment ready. There has been little research into the efforts made by employers and their environments to achieve sustainable employment. Even though the employment environment was identified to contribute to employment success and lacking in the ability to ensure employment integration, no approach exists to prepare employers for the arrival of PVI. To achieve an equilibrium of effort among all the determinants of employment success, the preparedness of the employment environments must also be explored

Goodnight Alexa – Theorising interactions between people with visual impairments and digital voice assistants

Visually impaired individuals face various physical, digital, and social challenges. While specialised technologies such as screen readers can mitigate some of these challenges, they are associated with unresolved dilemmas including stigma. Digital voice assistants, which were not intentionally developed for people with visual impairments, have a large potential to offer desirable benefits without a negative stereotype. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge of how people with visual impairments perceive this technology, how they interact with it, for which tasks they use it and what are the respective outcomes. To address these questions, we conducted a qualitative study and interviewed 21 people with visual impairments who use digital voice assistants. Relying on a sociotechnical perspective and the concept of IS delegation, we identified six different roles of voice assistants that differ based on their agentic capabilities, their delegation mechanisms, the tasks they execute, and the associated instrumental or humanistic outcomes

Shining a light on disparities to access. Specialist teachers’ perceptions on the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on learning for students with blindness and low vision in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific

COVID-19 restrictions have had significant impacts on teaching and learning globally. A growing body of literature has been published on the experiences of students and teachers as they negotiated school closures and social restrictions. Much less has been published about the experiences of students with disability, and very little about students with blindness and low vision (BLV). The impact of BLV on learning is significant due to the visual nature of the curriculum. To address the dearth of research on how COVID-19 restrictions impacted educational access and participation for students with BLV, the authors, supported by a research grant through the South Pacific Educators of Vision Impairment (SPEVI), surveyed and interviewed Specialist Teachers of students with BLV in Australia, New Zealand, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific region, that is, the region that encompasses SPEVI’s work. The results bring teachers’ voices into the collation of strategies to inform future educational responses. These are presented as a series of six key catalysts or drivers for change over four stages of action; moving through times of crisis that necessitate remote teaching and learning or other fundamental shifts in practice due to crisis-driven changes

Information and Communications Technologies in Special Needs Education: Challenges and Prospects

Scientific and technological progress of the last few decades has brought not only the economy globalization and worldwide expansion of technologies but changes in social relations, culture, and education as well. Experience has shown that the impact of disability on individuals could be cushioned through the intelligent application of technology. The usefulness of ICT in special needs education manifests in at least four dimensions: instructional, environmental, human resources and the learner technologies. How can ICT help to facilitate effective instruction in special needs education both in special and inclusive classes? Can ICT alleviate the environmental challenges confronting persons with special needs? In what ways can ICT empower the teaching and support staff in special needs education? What gadgets are relevant and suitable for use by special learners to ease their education? These are some of the questions this paper addressed under the sub-headings: special needs children; education of special needs children; ICT in education of special needs children; challenges of ICT in the education of special needs children; and prospects of ICT in education of special needs children. The paper concludes that there exists a considerable potential in the educational uses of ICTs alongside with many challenges and dangers. Useful recommendations were made to maximize the benefits of ICT in special needs education. Keywords: ICT, Special, education, children