Effective visual accessibility in Virtual Reality (VR) is crucial for Blind and Low Vision (BLV) users. However, designing visual accessibility systems is challenging due to the complexity of 3D VR environments and the need for techniques that can be easily retrofitted into existing applications. While prior work has studied how to enhance or translate visual information, the advancement of Vision Language Models (VLMs) provides an exciting opportunity to advance the scene interpretation capability of current systems. This paper presents EnVisionVR, an accessibility tool for VR scene interpretation. Through a formative study of usability barriers, we confirmed the lack of visual accessibility features as a key barrier for BLV users of VR content and applications. In response, we used our findings from the formative study to inform the design and development of EnVisionVR, a novel visual accessibility system leveraging a VLM, voice input and multimodal feedback for scene interpretation and virtual object interaction in VR. An evaluation with 12 BLV users demonstrated that EnVisionVR significantly improved their ability to locate virtual objects, effectively supporting scene understanding and object interaction.

This paper examines the levels of exclusion encountered by disabled and older users of consumer-level VR and AR technology and identifies methods formed by people with diverse access needs to circumvent encountered barriers to use. First, we estimate exclusion rates for a selection of nine immersive experiences of VR and AR, computed using population statistics data for the United Kingdom (UK). We then present an empirical lab-based study evaluating the usability of the same VR and AR experiences. The study involved 60 UK-based participants with varying access needs and the study results were used to calculate the empirical exclusion rates. Both the estimated and empirical exclusion rates display high levels of exclusion, which for the more complex experiences in the study reached 100 %. However, multiple participants overcame usability barriers and completed experiences through provided assistance and self-initiated adaptations, suggesting that future VR and AR can become more inclusive if designed to counter these barriers.

Participatory performance provides methods for exploring social identities and situations in ways that can help people to imagine new ways of being. Digital technologies provide tools that can help people envision these possibilities. We explore this combination through a performance workshop process designed to help stroke survivors imagine new physical and social possibilities by enacting fantasies of "things they always wanted to do". This process uses performance methods combined with specially designed real-time movement visualisations to progressively build fantasy narratives that are enacted with and for other workshop participants. Qualitative evaluations suggest this process successfully stimulates participant's embodied imagination and generates a diverse range of fantasies. The interactive and communal aspects of the workshop process appear to be especially important in achieving these effects. This work highlights how the combination of performance methods and interactive tools can bring a rich, prospective and political understanding of people's lived experience to design.