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• Would You Be Mine: Appropriating Minecraft as an Assistive Technology for Youth with Autism

  Kathryn E. Ringland, Christine T. Wolf, LouAnne E. Boyd, Mark S. Baldwin, Gillian R. Hayes · 2016 · Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This paper presents findings from a 24-month digital ethnography of Autcraft, a semi-private Minecraft server created for children with autism and their allies, examining how this community has appropriated the game into a variety of assistive technologies. Autcraft has over…

  autism · gaming · game accessibility · DIY assistive technology · social accessibility

• A Personalizable Mobile Sound Detector App Design for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Users

  Danielle Bragg, Nicholas Huynh, Richard E. Ladner · 2016 · Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This paper presents the design and evaluation of a personalizable mobile phone app that detects sounds of interest to deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) users by learning from training examples recorded by the user themselves. Unlike existing commercial sound detection products —…

  deaf and hard of hearing · mobile accessibility · machine learning · sound detection · personalization

• SlidePacer: A Presentation Delivery Tool for Instructors of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

  Alessandra Brandão, Hugo Nicolau, Shreya Tadas, Vicki L. Hanson · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  SlidePacer addresses a fundamental challenge for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students in mainstream classrooms: the cognitive overload caused by splitting attention between multiple visual sources—instructor, slides, and sign language interpreter. Unlike previous classroom…

  deaf and hard of hearing · sign language interpreting · cognitive load · multimedia learning · classroom accessibility

• The Cost of Turning Heads: A Comparison of a Head-Worn Display to a Smartphone for Supporting Persons with Aphasia in Conversation

  Kristin Williams, Karyn Moffatt, Jonggi Hong, Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah, Leah Findlater · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This study directly compares head-worn displays (HWDs) to smartphones for providing vocabulary support to people with aphasia—an acquired language disorder caused by brain damage (typically stroke) that affects word-finding, comprehension, and language formulation. While…

  aphasia · AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · head-worn display · wearable computing

• Magic Touch: Interacting with 3D Printed Graphics

  Lei Shi, Ross McLachlan, Yuhang Zhao, Shiri Azenkot · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  Magic Touch is a computer vision-based system that augments 3D printed tactile graphics with audio information, addressing a key limitation of physical models for blind users: while 3D printing can effectively convey shapes and textures, text annotations and labels are difficult…

  tactile graphics · 3D printing · computer vision · blind accessibility · audio labeling

• A Platform Agnostic Remote Desktop System for Screen Reading

  Syed Masum Billah, Vikas Ashok, Donald E. Porter, IV Ramakrishnan · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  Sinter addresses a fundamental barrier to remote desktop accessibility: traditional remote desktop technology scrapes pixels from the remote screen and redraws them as bitmaps on the client, losing all semantic information that screen readers require—text content, UI element…

  screen reader · remote desktop · cross-platform accessibility · UI virtualization · blind accessibility

• Closed ASL Interpreting for Online Videos

  Matthew Seita · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces "closed interpreting"—a concept analogous to closed captions where an ASL interpreter video can be toggled on and customized alongside online video content. The motivation is straightforward but often overlooked: many deaf and hard of hearing people rely on…

  deaf and hard of hearing · American Sign Language · video accessibility · closed interpreting · multimedia accessibility

• An Evaluation of SingleTapBraille Keyboard: A Text Entry Method that Utilizes Braille Patterns on Touchscreen Devices

  Maraim Alnfiai, Srinivas Sampalli · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  SingleTapBraille is a touchscreen keyboard that allows blind users to enter text by tapping braille dot patterns anywhere on the screen, eliminating the need to locate specific key positions. Unlike QWERTY keyboards that require users to slide their finger across the screen…

  braille · text entry · touchscreen accessibility · blind accessibility · mobile accessibility

• Gesture-Based Interactive Audio Guide on Tactile Reliefs

  Andreas Reichinger, Anton Fuhrmann, Stefan Maierhofer, Werner Purgathofer · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a gesture-controlled interactive audio guide (IAG) that operates directly on tactile relief surfaces using a low-cost depth camera (Intel RealSense F200). Tactile reliefs—2.5D "height field" representations where each point has a specific elevation—offer…

  tactile graphics · tactile relief · blind accessibility · depth camera · gesture recognition

• How Designing for People With and Without Disabilities Shapes Student Design Thinking

  Kristen Shinohara, Cynthia L. Bennett, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This study investigates how requiring student designers to create technologies for both disabled and non-disabled users influences their understanding of accessibility and design thinking. Unlike typical disability-specific design approaches that produce technologies usable only…

  accessibility education · design thinking · inclusive design · user-centered design · ableism

• An Affordable Virtual Reality Learning Framework for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorder

  Mirko Gelsomini · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents Wildcard, an immersive virtual reality (IVR) system designed to support therapeutic interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). NDD encompasses conditions like intellectual disability, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder that affect…

  virtual reality · neurodevelopmental disorders · autism · ADHD · intellectual disability

• Demonstration: Screen Reader Support for a Complex Interactive Science Simulation

  Taliesin L. Smith, Clayton Lewis, Emily B. Moore · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This demonstration presents an accessible version of "Balloons and Static Electricity," a PhET interactive science simulation that teaches electrostatic charge concepts. PhET simulations are run over 75 million times annually, yet most are inaccessible to blind learners due to…

  screen reader · STEM education · interactive simulation · PhET · blind accessibility

• A Computer Vision-Based System for Stride Length Estimation using a Mobile Phone Camera

  Wei Zhu, Boyd Anderson, Shenggao Zhu, Ye Wang · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents an affordable computer vision system for measuring stride length in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients using only a smartphone camera and a printed PVC mat. Gait analysis is a critical non-invasive method for PD diagnosis and assessment, but clinical systems…

  Parkinson's disease · gait analysis · computer vision · mobile health · movement disorders

• Gaze Typing Through Foot-Operated Wearable Device

  Vijay Rajanna · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a dwell-free gaze typing system that combines eye tracking with a foot-operated wearable device to enable text entry for people with motor impairments affecting arms or spine. Traditional gaze typing requires users to "dwell" (fixate) on virtual keyboard keys…

  gaze typing · eye tracking · wearable devices · foot interaction · motor impairment

• Teach or Design? How Older Adults' Use of Ticket Vending Machines Could Be More Effective

  Michael Sengpiel · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study addresses the "teach or design" debate in accessible technology by comparing two interventions to improve older adults' use of ticket vending machines (TVMs). The research recruited 62 older adults (mean age 68) and 62 younger adults (mean age 25) to test three…

  older adults · public access systems · universal usability · computer literacy · kiosk design

• Exploring Auditory Graphing Software in the Classroom: The Effect of Auditory Graphs on the Classroom Environment

  Brianna J. Tomlinson, Jared Batterman, Yee Chieh Chew, Ashley Henry, Bruce N. Walker · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study examines the real-world deployment of GNIE (Graph and Number line Input and Exploration), an auditory graphing software developed by Georgia Tech's Sonification Lab, in a middle school math classroom at the Georgia Academy for the Blind over two school years…

  auditory displays · sonification · STEM accessibility · educational technology · visual impairment

• Evaluating Haptic and Auditory Directional Guidance to Assist Blind People in Reading Printed Text Using Finger-Mounted Cameras

  Lee Stearns, Ruofei Du, Uran Oh, Yumeng Wang, Leah Findlater, Rama Chellappa, Jon E. Froehlich · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents HandSight, a finger-mounted camera system that enables blind people to read printed text by tracing their finger across lines while receiving real-time directional guidance to stay on track. The research addresses a significant gap in print accessibility:…

  blindness · wearable technology · haptic feedback · auditory feedback · OCR

• Social Predictors of Assistive Technology Proficiency Among Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments

  Valerie S. Morash, Yue-Ting Siu · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates why only about 40% of Teachers of students with Visual Impairments (TVIs) integrate assistive technology into their practice, despite AT being critical for K-12 students' educational engagement and predictive of positive postsecondary outcomes. Previous…

  assistive technology · visual impairment · special education · teacher training · community of practice

• The Effect of Font Type on Screen Readability by People with Dyslexia

  Luz Rello, Ricardo Baeza-Yates · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This eye-tracking study investigates how different font types affect screen reading performance for people with dyslexia compared to non-dyslexic readers. The researchers recruited 97 native Spanish speakers—48 diagnosed with dyslexia and 49 without—to read short texts displayed…

  dyslexia · typography · readability · eye tracking · font design

• Sign Transition Modeling and a Scalable Solution to Continuous Sign Language Recognition for Real-World Applications

  Kehuang Li, Zhengyu Zhou, Chin-Hui Lee · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a scalable framework for continuous sign language recognition (SLR) designed to work in real-world conditions using affordable hardware. The researchers address a fundamental challenge in SLR: modeling the transitions between signs. Unlike spoken language…

  sign language recognition · hidden Markov models · machine learning · deaf and hard of hearing · wearable technology

• Isolated Sign Language Recognition with Grassmann Covariance Matrices

  Hanjie Wang, Xiujuan Chai, Xiaopeng Hong, Guoying Zhao, Xilin Chen · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper proposes a novel method for isolated sign language recognition using Grassmann Covariance Matrices (GCM) to fuse multimodal features captured by Microsoft Kinect. With 360 million people worldwide affected by hearing loss—21 million in China alone—automatic sign…

  sign language recognition · Chinese sign language · computer vision · machine learning · deaf and hard of hearing

• Best Practices for Teaching Accessibility in University Classrooms: Cultivating Awareness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Diverse Users

  Cynthia Putnam, Maria Dahman, Emma Rose, Jinghui Cheng, Glenn Bradford · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This qualitative study investigates how accessibility is taught in US university computing programs, drawing on interviews with 18 professors from top institutions and content analysis of syllabi and course materials. Framed by "authentic learning" pedagogy and the 21st Century…

  accessibility education · pedagogy · computing education · curriculum development · inclusive design

• Exploring Traditional Phones as an E-Mail Interface for Older Adults

  Robin N. Brewer, Raymundo Cornejo Garcia, Tedra Schwaba, Darren Gergle, Anne Marie Piper · 2016 · ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents V-Mail, a voice-based email system that enables older adults to send and receive email using traditional landline telephones. The research addresses a critical digital divide: 41% of adults over 65 do not use the internet, and many acquire late-life…

  older adults · voice interfaces · digital divide · email accessibility · IVR

• Self-Conscious or Self-Confident? A Diary Study Conceptualizing the Social Accessibility of Assistive Technology

  Kristen Shinohara, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This landmark study introduces the concept of "social accessibility" as a complement to functional accessibility in assistive technology design. The authors argue that ATs have traditionally been defined purely in functional terms—the Technical Assistance to the States Act…

  assistive technology · social accessibility · AT abandonment · stigma · disability identity

• An Uninteresting Tour Through Why Our Research Papers Aren't Accessible

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Erin L. Brady, Cole Gleason, Anhong Guo, David A. Shamma · 2016 · Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA 2016)

  This paper provides a candid examination of why academic research papers, delivered almost exclusively as PDFs, remain largely inaccessible to people with disabilities. The authors — who have spent years actively trying to improve the situation — trace the problem from PDF's…

  PDF accessibility · document accessibility · academic publishing · screen readers · alternative text