Do-It-Yourself (DIY) assistive technology can be better suited to the needs of people with disabilities than commercial ‘off-the-shelf’ devices. Yet, DIY practices conventionally involve barriers to entry that can dissuade or intimidate practitioners. Tangible symbols (TS) are low-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) products with a history of practitioners working alongside end-users to DIY. In this paper, we study the enthusiasm and practice of DIY with TS. We present results from an initial investigation into DIY practices by practitioners that use TS. We analyze survey data collected by Brady et al. (2025) from 107 respondents, and 73 self-reported customizing their TS products to meet the needs and contexts of the individuals they serve. We share the survey self-reported motivations for engaging in DIY activities. We find that this data offers evidence that there is sustained enthusiasm in DIY with TS by practitioners. We reflect on these findings and draw connections between DIY and assistive technology abandonment, and how commercial products can be designed to support DIY practice. The use of DIY by practitioners signals both a desire to further integrate DIY into their profession, and an interest in future assistive technology products that employ a similar DIY-centered design framework.

Live coding, or real-time algorithmic performance, is a rich medium for engaging novices in informal creative STEM learning. However, despite inclusive and open-source communities, disabled practitioners are underrepresented in live coding, and prior work highlights numerous accessibility barriers. To understand the perspectives of Blind and Low Vision (BLV) live coders, we formed FiLOrk (Fil Laptop Orchestra) with five BLV teens. Across two semesters, FiLOrk performed three original works, each guided by a core concept and improvisational structure for manipulating code and maintaining shared awareness. We interviewed four musicians to understand how they felt about the learning environment and how their creative identities formed individually and in relation to one another. We reflect on FiLOrk’s outcomes and propose strategies for future live coding ensembles to meaningfully include novices with and without disabilities.

A lack of accessible exhibitions for Blind and low-vision (BLV) visitors in art museums and historical sites is a barrier to equitable participation. The design and fabrication of accessible materials can be time-consuming and expensive for many institutions. We describe our work using digital embroidery machines to interpret historical textiles to provide accessible interpretations for BLV museum visitors and tactile learners. Our work focuses on designing solutions that that are informative, durable, and enjoyable to touch, while affordable to produce. Through a collaborative design process with tactile graphics experts in museums we create prototypes of historical textiles that meet these criteria. We describe our design process and offer fabrication guidelines for patterns and materials.

The Fil Laptop Orchestra, aka FiLOrk, is an electronic music ensemble that performs through live coding, i.e. collaboratively editing in a shared document to generate sound. In forming FiLOrk, we set out to use music performance and tactile graphics to address a lack of accessible tools and curricula for teaching Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) people to code. In this poster, researchers and the high school members of FiLOrk, who use screen readers and magnification, report their experiences composing and performing two original works that incorporate assistive technologies. We discuss a shift from instruction to open-ended experimentation, and we highlight technical and pedagogical opportunities for making live coding more accessible.

Blind individuals encounter access barriers while leading the design of media they consume, particularly with tactile graphics. Blind designers are underrepresented in the field of tactile graphic design, where sighted designers routinely control the process and output on their behalf. This lack of representation is caused by inaccessible digital technology that prevents the nonvisual design of tactile graphics by Blind designers. We address these challenges by forming a Blind-led team of four Blind designers, one sighted designer, and one sighted researcher, designing tactile graphics to better understand areas of process improvement. We discuss navigating workflow challenges and reflect on the opportunities of a Blind-led design process. Based on our experience, we contribute recommendations on nonvisual tools and inclusive workflows for practitioners and researchers who wish to engage in accessible design practices. Understanding the challenges and opportunities in Blind-led design spaces supports other disability communities of design practice.

Navigating new traffic patterns can be challenging for everyone, but it poses particular difficulties for individuals who are blind or visually impaired (BVI). With the recent introduction of roundabouts in intersection design in the United States, many BVI individuals tend to be unfamiliar with them. Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialists have been teaching their clients to cross traditional intersections for decades leveraging rectilinear geometry and the predictable rhythm of vehicular and pedestrian traffic to ensure safe street crossing. Conventional training methods for crossing intersections do not directly translate to roundabout navigation since they present unique challenges due to the continuous flow of traffic, complex layouts, and the absence of predictable auditory cues. We propose the development and integration of 3D-printed tactile maps into roundabout navigation training tools to address these challenges and provide tactile educational materials that are portable, durable, lightweight, and informative. Through iterative modifications based on feedback from an O&M specialist, we refined the tactile maps to improve usability and conceptual understanding of roundabout intersections. Our work highlights the potential of 3D-printed tactile maps to empower BVI individuals to confidently and independently navigate roundabout intersections.

Understanding the uptake and use of digital coordination and communication tools by youth trainees would inform the creation of effective technical training approaches for preparing the next generation of the future workforce that often need to draw on these skills to do their jobs in hybrid working contexts. Despite growing research on the use of informal communication methods, such as chatting, in the workplace, little is known about how youth who have grown up with access to interconnected technologies encounter them in workplace training contexts and how they can be supported in using them effectively. In this study, we investigated youth employees' use of Slack, a popular workplace chatting tool, in an after-school 3D print shop. Using primarily quantitative data from workplace chat logs and participant and direct observations, we looked into youth employees' Slack adoption and use in a technical training context. Our findings show that while the youth used Slack for coordinating print jobs and troubleshooting, they faced a number of challenges preventing them from substantially and consistently using the tool. Furthermore, the youth initially had difficulty using the communication tool consistently. However, over time and with increased experience and structure, their uptake of the technology improved, and in particular, senior employees and the later cohort were able to communicate more consistently and effectively at work.

Digital technological advancements have been a driving force in the continued evolution of the modern workplace. One notable change is an increased reliance on informal chatting tools in support of both distributed and co-located work. However, while researchers have recognized the growing prominence of these tools in work, little is known about how to best support youth who have grown up with access to interconnected technologies in acquiring and practicing the relevant skills needed to effectively communicate using these tools. In this study, we studied youth's utilization of Slack, a popular workplace chatting tool, in an after-school 3D print shop. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, we uncovered the factors that supported or hindered youth employees' Slack use in a technical work context. This work offers implications for how to design youth workplace communication and coordination protocols that support the needs of this population.

Digital fabrication methods have been shown to be an effective method for producing customized assistive technology (AT). However, the skills required to utilize these tools currently require a high level of technical skill. Previous research showed that integration of these skills within physical therapy training is appropriate but that the level of technical difficulty required can be an issue. We worked to address these issues by introducing a group of PT students to maker concepts and having them develop custom AT for real end users with the help of makers. We present three considerations when integrating making into PT curriculum: 1) including all stakeholders, 2) developing interdisciplinary competencies for PTs and makers, and 3) leveraging academic training programs to connect makers and PT students. In this paper, we contribute to knowledge on how to facilitate the 3D printing of customized ATs for PT students by connecting them with a community organization that provides digital fabrication services and technical expertise. By connecting multiple stakeholders (i.e., PT students, digital fabricators, and AT users), we offer an approach to overcome time and capacity constraints of PT students to utilize advanced fabrication technologies to create customized ATs through connecting them to professional makers.

Commercial technologies for notating music pose usage barriers to blind and visually impaired (BVI) musicians because they use graphic user interfaces and only produce visual, print scores. However, more research to date has studied how to make existing scores available in braille or large print rather than understand the needs and workflows of BVI musicians who notate new music. To address this gap, we conducted a six-week remote study in which six BVI musicians with wide-ranging backgrounds wrote original music culminating in a live performance. To create their scores, participants used SoundCells, a product of ongoing co-design and testing with BVI musicians that uses text to generate audio, print, and braille music. Across three interviews, participants offered diverse and nuanced views of how text input could facilitate creative expression. We uncovered how vision ability, music experience, and assistive technology preference affected how music was accessed and traversed. From this research, we provide design recommendations for improving SoundCells’ input and output systems, discuss how visual cues embedded in SoundCells’ syntax make learning and remembering harder for people who can’t view it, and reflect on how our chosen methods resulted in high engagement.

Earcons are a critical auditory modality for those who perceive information best through sound. Yet earcons can trigger sensory sensitivities with neurodivergent individuals, causing pain or discomfort and creating barriers to information access. They must be carefully designed with neurodivergent representation in the design process to minimize the harm they impose. To address these challenges, we conduct a study on Twitter, a social media platform with frequent earcons, to understand how to design sensory-sensitive earcons for neurodivergent individuals. We present the results of our qualitative interviews with nine neurodivergent Twitter users, uncovering six key themes for designing sensory-sensitive earcons. Based on our findings, we offer a set of novel guidelines for practitioners to design sensory-sensitive earcons for accessibility.

Many blind musicians and composers read and write music using braille. Yet, braille music is not as widely available as print (visual) music, sighted collaborators and educators do not read braille music, and workflows and toolchains for converting between print and braille music are complex. In this research, we present Sound Cells, a music notation system that simultaneously outputs visual and braille notation, and provides audio feedback as a user writes music with text. We share findings from a Design Probe in which two experienced blind musicians notated music using Sound Cells and reflected on it in the context of their current notation practices. Finally, we highlight music navigation and outputted score customization as opportunities for further study.

Sports enhances cultural and social life by bringing individuals and communities together. While sports have a different meaning and importance depending on the culture and people, there is a long history of people watching sports. However, sports viewing can rely on visual information, and not fully accessible to People with Vision Impairments (PVI). In this paper, we present findings from interviews with 43 PVI about their experiences and attitudes toward watching sports. We report on their stories about accessibility challenges, and suggestions for future accessible technologies that could increase the accessibility of watching sports, with a focus on the information needs and modality.

Math graphs need to be accessible to People with Visual Impairments (PVI). While tactile graphics are a common way for PVI to access math graphs, their use becomes complicated in remote learning. To make math graphs more accessible in remote education, we focused on sonification, the use of non-speech sound. In this study, we designed techniques of sonification of math graphs to introduce the concept of discontinuity in calculus to PVI. First, we conducted a remote interview with six participants to understand their experiences with math education using graphs. Based on these findings, we developed a series of sonifications of math graphs that we remotely evaluated with three participants from our initial interviews. Our findings reveal that sonification can intuitively convey simple patterns and trends in math graphs with a little practice, be useful to introduce the discontinuities, and be more effective with descriptions of the sound and graphs.

3D printing technologies can help individuals get customized assistive technologies that increase independence. However, designing these technologies is complicated and many users must rely on fabricators to translate their ideas and transform them into customized tools. We have developed a design framework, inspired by IDEO's Human-Centered Design principles [6], to help organize end-user's ideas, spark creativity, and engage end-users in a collaborative design process. It consists of digital artifacts divided into three main categories: explore, ideate, and create. We conducted virtual interviews with four occupational therapists and two people with motor disabilities to understand how end-users describe their abilities and needs in order to facilitate ideation and collaboration with fabricators.

Today, music creation software and hardware are central to the workflow of most professional composers, producers, and songwriters. Music is an aural art form, but it is notated graphically, and highly visual mainstream technologies pose significant accessibility barriers to blind and visually impaired users. Very few studies address the current state of accessibility in music technologies, and fewer propose alternative designs. To address a lack of understanding about the experiences of blind and visually impaired music technology users, we conducted an interview study with 11 music creators who, we demonstrate, find ingenious workarounds to bend inaccessible technologies to their needs, but still face persistent barriers including a lack of options, a limited but persistent need for sighted help, and accessibility features that fail to cover all use cases. We reflect on our findings and present opportunities and guidelines to promote more inclusive design of future music technologies.

Blind and low vision learners are underrepresented in STEM and maker culture, both of which are historically inaccessible. In this paper we describe our experience conducting a three-day nonvisual soldering workshop and discuss the opportunities and challenges for designing accessible electronics curricula. Workshop attendees learned nonvisual soldering skills, adapted from publications for blind and low vision electronics professionals [4, 13, 18], while building a complex circuit. We detail our curriculum design and its complexities for learners with different levels of technical experience and learning modalities. While our instruction pacing proved challenging for some, all attendees succeeded with operating hot soldering irons and commanding basic soldering techniques over the course of three days. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for educators wanting to design similar nonvisual STEM curricula and workshops. These include supplying tactile and textual instruction to support multiple learning styles and pacing, and standardizing workshop materials to support nonvisual hands-on learning for novices.

University students graduating and entering into technology design and development fields are underprepared to support digital accessibility due to a lack of awareness and training. Teach Access is a consortium of 10 industry partners, 5 advocacy groups, and 20 university partners working to address this issue. In an attempt to bridge the gap between what is taught to students and the increasing demand from industry, the initiative described here was aimed at awarding instructor grants to support the development of accessibility modules in tech-related courses. In our study we surveyed student attitudes toward accessibility pre- and post-instruction of these modules, as well as, instructor strategy. We found that across all courses, student confidence in accessibility-related concepts increased. The largest increases were found in student confidence in defining the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Our work makes the following contributions: 1) A detailed description of how accessibility was integrated into 18 different university and college courses 2) Instructional delivery methods found to be effective by participating instructors 3) Insights for resource materials development.

Unlike past eras in which select few had the means and con- nections to compose music, today almost anyone can engage in meaningful music making and craft their own compositions thanks in part to the ubiquity of affordable and easy-to-use music software. However, this advancement has not fully extended to non-sighted users as evidenced by online com- munities seeking and offering help and third party companies that have stepped in to fill a void of accessibility features. To address the lack of alternative input modalities and pervasive visual design of music creation software, we redesigned the Groove Pizza, a popular online rhythm application. This work describes our implementation and its use of custom key- board mappings for sequencing rhythm, screen reader output using text-to-speech and sonification, and global audio settings designed for different use cases.

Schematics are a visual language used to describe the relationships between components in an electronic circuit and present accessibility challenges for blind, low vision, and tactile learners. Creating discernible tactile schematics using low-cost microcapsule fusers (which create raised surfaces on paper) is non-trivial as circuit diagrams contain small elements, complex relationships, and must follow industry standards. We conducted iterative design activities with tactile graphic experts, blind and low vision students wanting to learn schematics, graphic designers, and physical computing instructors to create an improved set of tactile schematic symbols and nine guidelines for novices to create readable tactile graphics for schematics.

Customizable systems that let children and adults with disabilities control audio playback can support different forms of therapy, including music therapy and speech-language therapy. We present SenseBox, a low-cost, open-source, customizable hardware/software prototyping platform to turn everyday objects into audio triggers for people with disabilities. Users can add tags to physical objects that when in proximity to SenseBox trigger the playback of associated audio files. We designed SenseBox with input from three therapists and an assistive technology expert. We detail our human-centered design process that took place over 16 months and describe a detailed example use case where SenseBox was used to create an accessible music player for a child with cognitive disabilities. This project illustrates how to design physical computing prototyping platforms for therapists to create customized interfaces for their clients without requiring prior programming or design experience.

Customizing assistive technologies based on user needs, abilities, and preferences is necessary for accessibility, especially for individuals whose abilities vary due to a diagnosis, medication, or other external factors. Adaptive Assistive Technologies (AATs) that can automatically monitor a user's current abilities and adapt functionality and appearance accordingly offer exciting solutions. However, there is an often-overlooked privacy tradeoff between usability and user privacy when designing such systems. We present a general privacy threat model analysis of AATs and contextualize it with findings from an interview study with older adults who experience pointing problems. We found that participants had positive attitude towards assistive technologies that gather their personal data but also had strong preferences for how their data should be used and who should have access to it. We identify a need to seriously consider privacy threats when designing assistive technologies to avoid exposing users to them.

Adaptive assistive technologies can support the accessibility needs of people with changing abilities by monitoring and adapting to their performance over time. Despite their benefits, these systems can pose privacy threats to users whose data is collected. This issue is amplified by the ambiguity on how user performance data, which might reveal sensitive health data, is used by these applications and whether similar to medical data it is protected from unauthorized sharing with third-parties. In interviews with older adults who experience pointing difficulties, we found that participants felt a lack of agency over their collected pointing data and desired clear communication mechanisms to keep them informed about the privacy characteristics of adaptive assistive systems. Based on this input, we present an icon set, that can be used in online application stores or with the licensing agreements of adaptive systems, to visually communicate privacy characteristics to users.

As digital fabrication technology has become mainstream, the increased demand for 3D printed objects has created a new market for professional outsourcing. Given that most of this work does not require advanced training, and is an appropriate entry-level manufacturing job, there is an exciting opportunity to employ youth already skilled in "making" and interested in technology to do this work as an after-school job. The combination of this new technology and workforce calls for new workflows that streamline client-driven digital manufacturing. However, the limitations of current digital fabrication technology and youth schedules require that this work be spread between multiple shifts, necessitating employees to coordinate and handoff their work. We investigated the collaborative practices between youth employees while working on client jobs in a 3D print shop during one year of field work. In this paper, we describe instances where youth employees successfully, and unsuccessfully, handed off work between shifts and identify techniques utilized by youth to support successful handoffs, including: counting physical artifacts, using asynchronous chat programs, and documenting work. We then discuss the impact of the print shop manager's presence, physical characteristics of 3D prints, and youth perspectives of work on the selection of and effectiveness of these techniques. Finally, we offer lessons learned from successful handoffs in the print shop and recommendations for supporting youth in collaborative work environments.

For decades, researchers have investigated and developed technologies that support independent navigation for people who are blind. This has led to systems that primarily aid in detecting routes, landmarks, and building features. However, there has been relatively little inquiry regarding how technologies might support navigation around and in the presence of other people. What visual information, if any, do blind navigators wish they had about people on their path? To address this question, we surveyed 58 blind and low vision individuals and interviewed 10 blind individuals. We discovered our participants were interested in using visual information about others to increase their physical safety. For example, they wanted to know if a passerby was holding a weapon, if a presumed official had a proper uniform or badge, and how to describe visual aspects of a criminal to law enforcement. This paper presents one of the only reports documenting accessibility challenges related to physical safety posed by others, including how future assistive tools can empower individuals with disabilities to more actively increase their sense of safety. We call this emerging area Personal Safety Management and contribute a set of four broad subareas that deserve further exploration by researchers and designers working within the blind and broader disabilities communities.

Wearable fitness devices have demonstrated the capacity to improve overall fitness and athletic performance. Previous research has identified a need for these technologies to take into consideration a broader range of abilities to create more inclusive fitness communities. The adaptive sports community offers opportunities to explore technology use within a specialized community wherein physical activity is central to its identity. In this paper, we explore the current use and future potential of fitness technologies for stamina and fatigue management in wheelchair basketball, a team-based sport originally created for paraplegic athletes. We present findings from observations, seven interviews, and a survey (76 responses) with wheelchair basketball players and coaches. We present findings relating to their experience with and interest in automatic tracking of fatigue and stamina related metrics for themselves and their players.

Individuals who experience temporary, intermittent, or gradual changes in pointing ability may encounter frustrating experiences when using computer input devices. Personalized pointing systems that automatically assess changes in performance and provide individualized information and assistance may benefit these users. However, there has been little inquiry into this populations' expectations for interacting with these types of systems. We describe a participatory design process in which we used a technology probe to assess the information needs and expectations of 27 individuals who experience occasional changes in pointing ability, through interactions with and discussion regarding a high-fidelity personalized pointing prototype. Participants preferred notification and adaptation interactions that provided them with control and explanation of system actions, instead of abstract notifications and automatic adaptations. We describe how we applied these finding in the design of the PINATA system.

Prevention of errors has been an orienting goal within the field of Human-Computer Interaction since its inception, with particular focus on minimizing human errors through appropriate technology design. However, there has been relatively little exploration into how designers can best support users of technologies that will inevitably make errors. We present a mixed-methods study in the domain of navigation technology for visually impaired individuals. We examined how users respond to device errors made in realistic scenarios of use. Contrary to conventional wisdom that usable systems must be error-free, we found that 42% of errors were acceptable to users. Acceptance of errors depends on error type, building feature, and environmental context. Further, even when a technical error is acceptable to the user, the misguided social responses of others nearby can negatively impact user experience. We conclude with design recommendations that embrace errors while also supporting user management of errors in technical systems.

Large indoor spaces continue to pose challenges to independent navigation for people who are blind. Unfortunately, assistive technologies designed to support indoor navigation frequently make errors that are technically difficult or impossible to eliminate. We conducted a study to explore whether there are strategic ways designers can minimize the impact of inevitable errors on user experience. This paper summarizes an online survey of 41 blind individuals regarding their projected acceptance to three types of errors expected of these devices. We found that some errors were more acceptable than others. Factors that impacted results included the error type and the social/environmental setting.

Physical therapists have a history of modifying and making assistive technology (AT) to fit the unique needs of their patients. However, lack of materials, time, and access to training can restrict what they can create. While 3D printing has the opportunity to empower physical therapists to develop highly customized, economical, and timely assistive technology; little is known about the feasibility of using 3D printing in a clinical setting, and how to teach and engage physical therapists in physical prototyping. We collaborated with physical therapy professors and students at a medical university to integrate 3D printing and AT design into a graduate-level physical therapy class. Our investigation showed 3D printing is a viable tool for clinical production of AT. We found opportunities and barriers to 3D printing in the physical therapy field, and we present four considerations relevant to integrating 3D printing into clinical practice: 1) exploring augmentations versus novel AT designs, 2) improvements to novice 3D modeling software, 3) adjusting for prototype fidelity, and 4) selecting 3D printing materials. This paper contributes knowledge toward the understanding of practical applications of 3D printing in a clinical setting and teaching 3D modeling to non-engineers.

Over 60% of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in the U.S. are unemployed; this is more than twice the unemployment rate of the general population [19]. Of the adults with ID who are employed, only half receive competitive wages alongside co-workers without disabilities. While the enactment of IDEA [20] has helped to promote access to education for people with ID and other disabilities, there are still obstacles to employment. Misconceptions about ability and lack of opportunities to learn and practice employability skills contribute to this problem.

Wearable fitness devices have demonstrated the capacity to improve overall physical activity, which can lead to physical and mental health improvements as well as quality of life gains. Although wheelchair athletes who participate in adaptive sports are interested in using wearable fitness trackers to capture their activity, we have observed low adoption of wearable fitness trackers among wheelchair athletes. We interviewed five wheelchair athletes and three physical and occupational therapists to explore fitness activities, experience with wearable technology, and potential uses for wearable fitness devices. None of the wheelchair athletes we interviewed had previously used any wearable fitness devices, however four out of five were interested in tracking their physical activity. We present five thematic areas helpful for thinking about wearable computing systems and accessibility challenges that arise based on incorrect assumptions about the athletic community. We highlight opportunities for improving the impact and accessibility of fitness tracking technologies for wheelchair athletes. These opportunities include improving the analysis of data from existing sensors, instrumenting the custom equipment used by adaptive sport athletes, and revising the language used in the presentation of fitness data to create a more inclusive community of users.

An increasing number of online communities support the open-source sharing of designs that can be built using rapid prototyping to construct physical objects. In this paper, we examine the designs and motivations for assistive technology found on Thingiverse.com, the largest of these communities at the time of this writing. We present results from a survey of all assistive technology that has been posted to Thingiverse since 2008 and a questionnaire distributed to the designers exploring their relationship with assistive technology and the motivation for creating these designs. The majority of these designs are intended to be manufactured on a 3D printer and include assistive devices and modifications for individuals with disabilities, older adults, and medication management. Many of these designs are created by the end-users themselves or on behalf of friends and loved ones. These designers frequently have no formal training or expertise in the creation of assistive technology. This paper discusses trends within this community as well as future opportunities and challenges.

Low-cost and commercially available 3D printers are predicted to be the next disruptive innovation in technology. However, little research has examined how non-designers might interact with fabrication tools in their homes. To explore the potential uses of 3D printers and other fabrication devices in the home, we conducted a study in which 10 households (with 28 individuals) kept a faux 3D printer in their homes for four weeks. Participants kept a log of items that they would want to print, and completed a series of design probes. We found that participants' use of the fabrication tools involved three activities: replicating existing objects, modifying and customizing existing objects, and creating new custom objects. Our study also provides insights on the types of objects that individuals wish to create, and how the faux 3D printer was situated in our participants' homes.

In this demonstration, we discuss a case study involving a student with limited hand motor ability and the process of exploring consumer grade, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) technology in order to create a viable assistive solution. This paper extends our previous research into DIY tools in special education settings [1] and presents the development of a unique tool, GripFab, for creating 3D-printed custom handgrips. We offer a description of the design process for a handgrip, explain the motivation behind the creation of GripFab, and explain current and planned features of this tool.

Consumer-grade digital fabrication such as 3D printing is on the rise, and we believe it can be leveraged to great benefit in the arena of special education. Although 3D printing is beginning to infiltrate mainstream education, little to no research has explored 3D printing in the context of students with special support needs. We present a formative study exploring the use of 3D printing at three locations serving populations with varying ability, including individuals with cognitive, motor, and visual impairments. We found that 3D design and printing performs three functions in special education: developing 3D design and printing skills encourages STEM engagement; 3D printing can support the creation of educational aids for providing accessible curriculum content; and 3D printing can be used to create custom adaptive devices. In addition to providing opportunities to students, faculty, and caregivers in their efforts to integrate 3D printing in special education settings, our investigation also revealed several concerns and challenges. We present our investigation at three diverse sites as a case study of 3D printing in the realm of special education, discuss obstacles to efficient 3D printing in this context, and offer suggestions for designers and technologists.

Crowd work web sites such as Amazon Mechanical Turk enable individuals to work from home, which may be useful for people with disabilities. However, the web sites for finding and performing crowd work tasks must be accessible if people with disabilities are to use them. We performed a heuristic analysis of one crowd work site, Amazon's Mechanical Turk, using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. This paper presents the accessibility problems identified in our analysis and offers suggestions for making crowd work platforms more accessible

Interacting with touch screen-based computing devices can be difficult for individuals with mobility impairments that affect their hands, arms, neck, or head. These problems may be especially difficult for power wheelchair users, as the frame of their wheelchair may obstruct the users' range of motion and reduce their ability to reach objects in the environment. The concept of chairable input devices refers to input devices that are designed to fit with the form of an individual's wheelchair, much like wearable technology fits with an individual's clothing. In this paper, we introduce a new chairable input device, the Gest-Rest, which provides a pressure-sensitive input surface that fits over a standard power wheelchair armrest. The Gest-Rest enables users to perform traditional touch screen gestures, such as press and flick, as well as pressure-based gestures such as squeezing and punching. The Gest-Rest enables multiple inputs, unlike most switches, and does not substantially change the shape of the wheelchair armrest. We present a formative evaluation in which nine wheelchair users and three clinicians tested multiple gestures using the Gest-Rest prototype, and provided recommendations for integrating the Gest-Rest with computing applications. Our study showed that our motor impaired participants were each able to perform multiple gestures using the prototype, but had some difficulty with the pre-set sensitivity settings, and would thus benefit from a more robust gesture recognizer.

In this demonstration, we describe our exploration in making graphic design theory accessible to a visually impaired student with the use of rapid prototyping tools. We created over 10 novel aids with the use of a laser cutter and 3D printer to demonstrate tangible examples of color theory, type face, web page layouts, and web design. These tactile aids were inexpensive and fabricated in a relatively small amount of time, suggesting the feasibility of our approach. The participant's feedback concluded an increased understanding of the class material and confirmed the potential of tactile aids and rapid prototyping in an educational environment

Sighted people often have the best of intentions when they want to help a blind person navigate, but their well meaning is also often coupled with a lack of knowledge and understanding about how a person navigates without vision. As a result what sighted people think is the right feedback is too often the wrong feedback to give to a person with a visual impairment. Understanding how to provide feedback to blind navigators is crucial to the design of assistive technologies for navigation. In our research investigating the design of a personal pedestrian navigation device, we observed firsthand the ways that sighted people seemingly misunderstand how many blind people navigate when using a white cane mobility aid. Throughout our qualitative end user studies that included focus groups and observations (including couple-based observations with a close companion) we gathered data that explicitly shows how the language and understanding of sighted vs. blind pedestrians differs greatly and even how it can be dangerous when people interfere in the wrong way. From our findings we discuss why it is difficult for a blind person to navigate like a sighted person to ensure designers are aware of the difficulties and designing with new training in mind, not simply designing from their own point of view. We also want to encourage advocacy and empathy amongst the sighted community towards this activity of walking around independently.

Power wheelchair users often use and carry multiple mobile computing devices. Many power wheelchair users have some upper body motor impairment that can make using these devices difficult. We believe that mobile device accessibility could be improved through designs that take into account users' functional abilities and take advantage of available space around the wheelchair itself. In this paper we present findings from multiple design sessions and interviews with 13 power wheelchair users and 30 clinicians, exploring the placement and form factor possibilities for input and output on a power wheelchair. We found that many power wheelchair users could benefit from chairable technology that is designed to work within the workspace of the wheelchair, whether worn on the body or mounted on he wheelchair frame. We present participants' preferences for chairable input and output devices, and identify possible design configurations for wearable and chairable devices.

Individuals often leverage their social network to receive feedback from their peers about various decisions. Capitalizing on this trend, fashion retailers, such as the eyeglass frame retailer Warby Parker, have created 'home try-on' programs and encourage customers to solicit feedback from their friends before making a purchasing decision. In this paper, we investigate Warby Parker's Facebook page and explore the ways customers formulate questions and conversations as they shop for new eyeglass frames. Our research presents insights derived from a dataset of over 10,000 Facebook posts, consisting of photos, comments, and 'likes'. Using statistical analyses and qualitative coding techniques, we examine trends and patterns of conversation on the Warby Parker Facebook page. We find that contributors produce a broad range of content, and use the Warby Parker Facebook page as a platform for creative self-expression, and socially driven decision-making.

Assistive technologies empower individuals to accomplish tasks they might not be able to do otherwise. Unfortunately, a large percentage of assistive devices that are purchased (35% or more) end up unused or abandoned [8], leaving many people with assistive technology that is inappropriate for their needs. This paper describes our ongoing work to help more people gain access to the assistive technology they need by empowering non-engineers to "Do-It-Yourself" (DIY), and thus create, modify, or build their own assistive technology. We discuss how a new generation of rapid prototyping tools and online communities can empower more individuals, and we describe two technologies we have developed to enable novices to prototype and create physical objects.

People with motor impairments experience a range of challenges when interacting with computers. While much prior research has explored the effects of motor impairments on accessing computer input devices, such as keyboards, mice, and touch screens, we know relatively little about how real world use of a wheelchair affects why people in power wheelchairs choose specific computing devices, and how they switch between such devices. We interviewed 8 power wheelchair users about their use of computers and mobile devices. We found that participants often had difficulty switching between the various devices in their life, and that technology use was especially challenging on the go. Our findings suggest that there are numerous opportunities to make computing more wheelchair-friendly, by consolidating devices, improving reachability and portability of devices, and by creating technology that is robust to the challenges of moving around in a wheelchair.

Personal navigation tools have greatly impacted the lives of people with vision impairments. As people with vision impairments often have different requirements for technology, it is important to understand users' ever-changing needs. We conducted a formative study exploring how people with vision impairments used technology to support navigation. Our findings from interviews with 30 adults with vision impairments included insights about experiences in Orientation & Mobility (O&M) training, everyday navigation challenges, helpful and unhelpful technologies, and the role of social interactions while navigating. We produced a set of categorical data that future technologists can use to identify user requirements and usage scenarios. These categories consist of Personality and Scenario attributes describing navigation behaviors of people with vision impairments. We demonstrate the usefulness of these attributes by introducing navigation-style personas backed by our data. This work demonstrates the complex choices individuals with vision impairments undergo when leaving their home, and the many factors that affect their navigation behavior.

Many clothing characteristics (from garment color to care instructions) are inaccessible to people with vision impairments. To address this problem, clothing information is gathered from sighted companions, and later recalled using low-tech solutions such as adding safety pins to clothes. Unfortunately, these low-tech solutions require precise memory (such as recalling a pin's meaning) and provide limited information. Using an iterative design approach, we prototyped several alternative technology solutions and tested them with five people with vision impairments. We are working towards an interface that provides detailed information in a streamlined interaction, focusing our future efforts on a wearable RFID tagging solution.

This paper describes a Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) outreach workshop conducted with post-secondary students diagnosed with learning differences, including Learning Disabilities (LD), Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorders (AD/HD), and/or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this workshop, students were actively involved in participatory design exercises such as data gathering, identifying accessible design requirements, and evaluating mobile applications and games targeted for diverse users. This hands-on experience broadened students' understanding of STEM areas, provided them with an opportunity to see themselves as computer scientists, and demonstrated how they might succeed in computing careers, especially in human-centered computing and interface design. Lessons learned from the workshop also offer useful insight on conducting participatory design with this unique population.

Fashion is a language. How we dress signals to others who we are and how we want to be perceived. However, this language is primarily visual, making it inaccessible to people with vision impairments. Someone who is low-vision or completely blind cannot see what others are wearing or readily know what constitutes the norms and extremes of fashion, but most everyone they encounter can see (and judge) their fashion choices. We describe our findings of a diary study with people with vision impairments that revealed the many accessibility barriers fashion presents, and how an online survey revealed that clothing decisions are often made collaboratively, regardless of visual ability. Based on these findings, we identified a need for a collaborative and real-time environment for fashion advice. We have tested the feasibility of providing this advice through crowdsourcing using VizWiz, a mobile phone application where participants receive nearly real-time answers to visual questions. Our pilot study results show that this application has the potential to address a great need within the blind community, but remaining challenges include improving photo capture and assembling a set of crowd workers with the requisite expertise. More broadly our research highlights the feasibility of using crowdsourcing for subjective, opinion-based advice.

Aging causes physical and cognitive changes that influence how we interact with the world around us. As personal data becomes increasingly available from a variety of sources, older adults can use this information to better understand these changes and adapt. Our project explores information visualization as a tool to help older adults interpret and understand their own personal data. To test this concept, we created visualizations of user's pointer performance metrics to help demystify problems in real-world mouse use. In a user study conducted with older adults with a range of computing experience, we learned that visualizations such as these can be a highly engaging information medium for this population. This paper presents our value-driven design process and recommendations for visualizations for older adults.

Visual mathematical concepts have long been challenging to access for people with limited or no vision. Given that functions and data plots are typically presented visually; there are few affordable and accessible solutions for individuals with limited or no vision to interpret data in this format. We have developed software that leverages new affordable 3D printing technology to rapidly and automatically generate tactile visualizations. In this paper, we describe development of the VizTouch software through a user-centered design process. We worked with six individuals with low or limited vision to understand the usefulness of 3D printed custom tactile visualizations, and their design. We describe how VizTouch can be used to make data visualizations in education, business, and entertainment accessible.

Assistive Technologies empower individuals to accomplish tasks they might not be able to do otherwise. Unfortunately, a large percentage of Assistive Technology devices that are purchased (35% or more) end up unused or abandoned [7,10], leaving many people with Assistive Technology that is inappropriate for their needs. Low acceptance rates of Assistive Technology occur for many reasons, but common factors include 1) lack of considering user opinion in selection, 2) ease in obtaining devices, 3) poor device performance, and 4) changes in user needs and priorities [7]. We are working to help more people gain access to the Assistive Technology they need by empowering non-engineers to "Do-It-Yourself" (DIY) and create, modify, or build. This paper illustrates that it is possible to custom-build Assistive Technology, and argues why empowering users to make their own Assistive Technology can improve the adoption process (and subsequently adoption rates). We discuss DIY experiences and impressions from individuals who have either built Assistive Technology before, or rely on it. We found that increased control over design elements, passion, and cost motivated individuals to make their own Assistive Technology instead of buying it. We discuss how a new generation of rapid prototyping tools and online communities can empower more individuals. We synthesize our findings into design recommendations to help promote future DIY-AT success.

Information about the location and size of the targets that users interact with in real world settings can enable new innovations in human performance assessment and soft-ware usability analysis. Accessibility APIs provide some information about the size and location of targets. How-ever this information is incomplete because it does not sup-port all targets found in modern interfaces and the reported sizes can be inaccurate. These accessibility APIs access the size and location of targets through low-level hooks to the operating system or an application. We have developed an alternative solution for target identification that leverages visual affordances in the interface, and the visual cues produced as users interact with targets. We have used our novel target identification technique in a hybrid solution that combines machine learning, computer vision, and accessibility API data to find the size and location of targets users select with 89% accuracy. Our hybrid approach is superior to the performance of the accessibility API alone: in our dataset of 1355 targets covering 8 popular applications, only 74% of the targets were correctly identified by the API alone.

Understanding how pointing performance varies in real world computer use and over time can provide valuable insight about how systems should accommodate changes in pointing behavior. Unfortunately, pointing data from individuals with pointing problems is rarely studied during real world use. Instead, it is most frequently evaluated in a laboratory where it is easier to collect and evaluate data. We developed a technique to collect and analyze real world pointing performance which we used to investigate the variance in performance of six individuals with a range of pointing abilities. Features of pointing performance we analyzed include metrics such as movement trajectories, clicking, and double clicking. These individuals exhibited high variance during both supervised and unsupervised (or real world) computer use across multiple login sessions. The high variance found within each participant highlights the potential inaccuracy of judging performance based on a single laboratory session.

Since not all persons interact with computer systems in the same way, computer systems should not interact with all individuals in the same way. This paper presents a significant step in automatically detecting characteristics of persons with a wide range of abilities based on observing their user input events. Three datasets are used to build learned statistical models on pointing data collected in a laboratory setting from individuals with varying ability to use computer pointing devices. The first dataset is used to distinguish between pointing behaviors from individuals with pointing problems vs. individuals without with 92.7% accuracy. The second is used to distinguish between pointing data from Young Adults and Adults vs. Older Adults vs. individuals with Parkinson’s Disease with 91.6% accuracy. The final data set is used to predict the need for a specific adaptation based on a user’s performance with 94.4 % accuracy. These results suggest that it may be feasible to use such models to automatically identify computer users who would benefit from accessibility tools, and to even make specific tool recommendations.

If applications were able to detect a user's expertise, then software could automatically adapt to better match exper-tise. Detecting expertise is difficult because a user's skill changes as the user interacts with an application and differs across applications. This means that expertise must be sensed dynamically, continuously, and unobtrusively so as not to burden the user. We present an approach to this prob-lem that can operate without a task model based on low-level mouse and menu data which can typically be sensed across applications at the operating systems level. We have implemented and trained a classifier that can detect "nov-ice" or "skilled" use of an image editing program, the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), at 91% accuracy, and tested it against real use. In particular, we developed and tested a prototype application that gives the user dy-namic application information that differs depending on her performance.

A common task in graphical user interfaces is controlling onscreen elements using a pointer. Current adaptive pointing techniques require applications to be built using accessibility libraries that reveal information about interactive targets, and most do not handle path/menu navigation. We present a pseudo-haptic technique that is OS and application independent, and can handle both dragging and clicking. We do this by associating a small force with each past click or drag. When a user frequently clicks in the same general area (e.g., on a button), the patina of past clicks naturally creates a pseudo-haptic magnetic field with an effect similar to that ofsnapping or sticky icons. Our contribution is a bottom-up approach to make targets easier to select without requiring prior knowledge of them.

Many of today's desktop applications are designed for use with a pointing device and keyboard. Someone with a disability, or in a unique environment, may not be able to use one or both of these devices. We have developed an approach for automatically modifying desktop applications to accommodate a variety of input alternatives as well as a demonstration implementation, the Input Adapter Tool (IAT). Our work is differentiated from past work by our focus on input adaptation (such as adapting a paint program to work without a pointing device) rather than output adaptation (such as adapting web pages to work on a cellphone). We present an analysis showing how different common interactive elements and navigation techniques can be adapted to specific input modalities. We also describe IAT, which supports a subset of these adaptations, and illustrate how it adapts different inputs to two applications, a paint program and a form entry program.

Designers often borrow from the natural world to achieve pleasing, unobtrusive designs. We have extended this practice by combining living plants with sensors and lights in an interactive display, and by creating a robotic analogue that mimics phototropic behavior. In this paper, we document our design process and report the results of a 2-week field study. We put our living plant display, and its robotic counterpart, in a cafeteria between pairs of trash and recycling containers. Contributions of recyclables or trash triggered directional bursts of light that gradually induced the plant displays to lean toward the more active container. In interviews, people offered explanations for the displays and spoke of caring for the plants. A marginally significant increase in recycling behavior (p=.08) occurred at the display with living plants. Apparent increases also occurred at the robotic display and a unit with only lights. Our findings indicate value in exploring the use of living material and biomimetic forms in displays, and in using lightweight robotics to deliver simple rewards.

In addition to providing information to individual visitors, electronic guidebooks have the potential to facilitate social interaction between visitors and their companions. However, many systems impede visitor interaction. By contrast, our electronic guidebook, Sotto Voce, has social interaction as a primary design goal. The system enables visitors to share audio information - specifically, they can hear each other's guidebook activity using a technologically mediated audio eavesdropping mechanism. We conducted a study of visitors using Sotto Voce while touring a historic house. The results indicate that visitors are able to use the system effectively, both as a conversational resource and as an information appliance. More surprisingly, our results suggest that the technologically mediated audio often cohered the visitors' conversation and activity to a far greater degree than audio delivered through the open air

This paper reports findings from a study of how a guidebook was used by pairs of visitors touring a historic house. We describe how the guidebook was incorporated into their visit in four ways: shared listening, independent use, following one another, and checking in on each other. We discuss how individual and groupware features were adopted in support of different visiting experiences, and illustrate how that adoption was influenced by social relationships, the nature of the current visit, and any museum visiting strategies that the couples had. Finally, we describe how the guidebook facilitated awareness between couples, and how awareness of non-guidebook users (strangers) influenced use.