Common Ground

The mutual knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions shared between people communicating or collaborating. In accessibility and inclusive design, establishing common ground is essential for effective collaboration between people with different sensory abilities. Sighted people often rely on visual cues like gestures and gaze to maintain common ground, but these channels are inaccessible to people who are blind. Accessible collaborative systems must provide alternative mechanisms—such as audio cues, haptic feedback, or structured verbal protocols—to help all participants maintain shared awareness of the collaborative workspace.