PDF documents are usually not born-accessible, and so document authors need to put in additional work (remediation) to make them accessible for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, this step is often overlooked and hard to execute, resulting in a large number of inaccessible PDF documents on the internet. Previously, there have been research efforts to investigate potential solutions for remediating PDF documents for accessibility. However, most of the existing research focuses on accessibility of long or scientific PDF documents meant for passive reading. PDF documents come in different types, and this research project focuses on a distinct type of PDF document-forms-where the user is required to interact with the PDF document and enter data. Through our research work we identified that the PDF form remediation process is non-intuitive, repetitive, and overwhelming due to the high-information density of PDF forms, and existing research and tools do not yet address the challenges. Our research work culminated in the creation of a tool - FormA11y - that addresses these challenges by making the repetitive and painstaking process of form remediation easier. To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of FormA11y against the industry standard tool - Adobe Acrobat - for PDF form remediation, we performed a within-subject user study with 20 participants. With FormA11y, users remediated forms 2.8 times faster while creating more accurately accessible PDF forms.

Inclusivity for blind and low vision (BLV) professionals in data science and analytics is limited by a gap in understanding their unique data analysis needs. We contribute to the literature by reporting on a two-step online survey delving into the experiences and challenges faced by BLV individuals engaged in data-related roles. Our findings highlight that despite expertise in programming and GUI-based analysis tools, BLV professionals faced accessibility issues at various points in the data analysis pipeline—issues ranging from data loading and transformation, availability and compatibility of data tools with assistive technology, and visualization authoring. The prevalent use of tools such as Excel, Python, and SAS alongside heavy reliance on assistive technologies highlights persistent accessibility challenges. Furthermore, frequent collaboration with sighted colleagues indicates compromised independence. These results underscore the urgent need for “born accessible” tools that ensure the inclusivity and autonomy of BLV professionals in the field of data science.

Screen readers are important assistive technologies for blind people, but they are complex and can be challenging to use effectively. Over the course of several studies with screen reader users, the authors have found wide variations and sometimes surprising differences in people's skills, preferences, navigation, and troubleshooting approaches when using screen readers. These differences may not always be considered in research and development. To help address this shortcoming, we have developed five user personas describing a range of screen reader experiences.

Tactile graphics are one of the best ways for a blind person to perceive a chart using touch, but their fabrication is often costly, time-consuming, and does not lend itself to dynamic exploration. Refreshable haptic displays tend to be expensive and thus unavailable to most blind individuals. We propose TACTUALPLOT, an approach to sensory substitution where touch interaction yields auditory (sonified) feedback. The technique relies on embodied cognition for spatial awareness-i.e., individuals can perceive 2D touch locations of their fingers with reference to other 2D locations such as the relative locations of other fingers or chart characteristics that are visualized on touchscreens. Combining touch and sound in this way yields a scalable data exploration method for scatterplots where the data density under the user's fingertips is sampled. The sample regions can optionally be scaled based on how quickly the user moves their hand. Our development of TactualPlot was informed by formative design sessions with a blind collaborator, whose practice while using tactile scatterplots caused us to expand the technique for multiple fingers. We present results from an evaluation comparing our TactualPlot interaction technique to tactile graphics printed on swell touch paper.

Computer access is increasingly critical for all aspects of life from education to employment to daily living, health and almost all types of participation. The pandemic has highlighted our dependence on technology, but the dependence existed before and is continuing after. Yet many face barriers due to disability, literacy, or digital literacy. Although the problems faced by individuals with disabilities have received focus for some time, the problems faced by people who just have difficulty in using technologies has not, but is a second large, yet less understood problem. Solutions exist but are often not installed, buried, hard to find, and difficult to understand and use. To address these problems, an open-source extension to the Windows and macOS operating systems has been under exploration and development by an international consortium of organizations, companies, and individuals. It combines auto-personalization, layering, and enhanced discovery, with the ability to Install on Demand (IoD) any assistive technologies a user needs. The software, called Morphic, is now installed on all of the computers across campus at several major universities and libraries in the US and Canada. It makes computers simpler to use, and allows whichever features or assistive technologies a person needs to appear on any computer they encounter (that has Morphic on it) and want to use at school, work, library, community center, etc. This demonstration will cover both the basic and advanced features as well as how to get free copies of the open-source software and configure it for school, work or personal use. It will also highlight lessons learned from the placements.

Users frequently have trouble finding and changing technology settings, even when adjusting those settings to personalize their technology devices may significantly improve their user experience. This paper describes the Morphic project, a cloud-based auto-personalization tool. Primarily designed for improving accessibility, the auto-personalization in Morphic may also help a broader audience. This paper describes: 1) the technical infrastructure needed to support cloud-based auto-personalization, 2) the interaction design approaches necessary to support users during the personalization of their settings, and 3) which settings and modifications have been most frequently used. This paper presents the evolution of the Morphic project, the building of the infrastructure, the formative evaluation of various interaction design approaches (NFC cards, physical keypads, on-screen buttons, and menus), and implications for researchers and developers. It also includes preliminary findings from six technology probes.

Access to digital interfaces is a growing concern due to its increasing role in all aspects of our lives. Those who cannot access and use digital technologies will not be able to participate in the society or even live independently in smart or non-smart homes as they are currently evolving. This includes many who face barriers due to their disability, literacy, or digital literacy. Solutions exist but are often not installed, buried, hard to find, and difficult to understand and use. A new extension to the operating system that combines auto-personalization, layering, enhanced discovery, and Install on Demand (IoD) seeks to make computers easier to use by those who have difficulty learning and understanding them, and also make it easier to set up and use assistive technologies. Key to its utility is the ability to have these features and capabilities appear on any computer they encounter and want to use at school, work, library, community center, etc. Pilot testing is being launched in libraries, job centers and a community college.