The challenges in adopting assistive technologies in the workplace for people with visual impairments

There are many barriers to employment for people with visual impairments. Assistive technologies (ATs), such as computer screen readers and enlarging software, are commonly used to help overcome employment barriers and enable people with visual impairments to contribute to, and participate in, the workforce. However, recent research suggests it can be difficult for people with visual impairments to effectively adopt and implement ATs in the workplace. This paper reports insights from interviews with five professional workers with visual impairments. The interviews revealed that each participant had adopted different configurations of ATs, which they used in various ways to support their work. In addition, all participants followed a complex process to successfully select, learn, and integrate these tools into their work activities. During this process, they faced challenges, such as the need to educate colleagues to make shared documents more accessible. We conclude that despite progress in the development and use of ATs, there remains a need for future work that addresses these accessibility issues to support collaborative work between people with visual impairments and their sighted colleagues.

[1]  H. Russell Bernard,et al.  Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , 2000 .

[2]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Socio-technical environments supporting people with cognitive disabilities using public transportation , 2005, TCHI.

[3]  Tina M. Butterfield,et al.  Research and case study findings in the area of workplace accommodations including provisions for assistive technology: A literature review , 2004 .

[4]  Améziane Aoussat,et al.  A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology , 2012 .

[5]  Rogerio DePaula,et al.  A Framework for the Adoption of Assistive Technology , 2002 .

[6]  Desleigh M De Jonge,et al.  Consumer-identified barriers and strategies for optimizing technology use in the workplace , 2006, Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology.

[7]  João Barroso,et al.  Gathering the Users' Needs in the Development of Assistive Technology: A Blind Navigation System Use Case , 2013, HCI.

[8]  J. Barnes.  Who We Are and What We Do. , 2011 .

[9]  Angela L Sauer,et al.  Assistive technology effects on the employment outcomes for people with cognitive disabilities: A systematic review , 2010, Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology.

[10]  Stephen Sprigle,et al.  Approaches for Evaluating the Usability of Assistive Technology Product Prototypes , 2011 .

[11]  Jaehyun Park,et al.  The interaction experiences of visually impaired people with assistive technology: A case study of smartphones , 2016 .

[12]  J. Morse,et al.  Situating and Constructing Diversity in Semi-Structured Interviews , 2015, Global qualitative nursing research.

[13]  S. Alper,et al.  Assistive Technology for Individuals with Disabilities: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature , 2006 .

[14]  Patrick Langdon,et al.  Characterising user capabilities to support inclusive design evaluation , 2007, Universal Access in the Information Society.

[15]  Katherine M. Nagle.  Transition to Employment and Community Life for Youths with Visual Impairments: Current Status and Future Directions , 2001 .

[16]  Meredith Ringel Morris,et al.  "With most of it being pictures now, I rarely use it": Understanding Twitter's Evolving Accessibility to Blind Users , 2016, CHI.

[17]  Shaun K. Kane,et al.  The Invisible Work of Accessibility: How Blind Employees Manage Accessibility in Mixed-Ability Workplaces , 2015, ASSETS.

[18]  Markus Riesch,et al.  Checking Web Accessibility with the Content Accessibility Checker (CAC) , 2014, ICCHP.

[19]  Hans Limburg,et al.  Global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness , 2012 .

[20]  I. V. Ramakrishnan,et al.  Ubiquitous Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments: Are We There Yet? , 2017, CHI.

[21]  Diane Nelson Bryen,et al.  So you want to work? What employers say about job skills, recruitment and hiring employees who rely on AAC , 2007, Augmentative and alternative communication.

[22]  Judy Dixon.  Eight-dot Braille , 2015 .

[23]  Z. Aitken,et al.  Employment status and mental health among persons with and without a disability: evidence from an Australian cohort study , 2014, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

[24]  Aaron Allen,et al.  What Frustrates Screen Reader Users on the Web: A Study of 100 Blind Users , 2007, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[25]  Janet Reis,et al.  Employment issues and assistive technology use for persons with spinal cord injury. , 2006, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[26]  Mandy J. Gamble,et al.  Assistive technology: Choosing the right tool for the right job , 2006 .

[27]  Stephanie Ludi,et al.  Interviews and Observation of Blind Software Developers at Work to Understand Code Navigation Challenges , 2017, ASSETS.

[28]  Katherine J. Inge.  Assistive Technology as a Workplace Support , 2006 .

[29]  Katherine E Henson,et al.  Risk of Suicide After Cancer Diagnosis in England , 2018, JAMA psychiatry.

[30]  N. A. Bradley,et al.  Assistive Technology For Visually Impaired And Blind People , 2008 .

[31]  V. Braun,et al.  Using thematic analysis in psychology , 2006 .

[32]  Xiangkui Yao,et al.  Pedestrian Navigation Systems: a Case Study of Deep Personalization , 2007, First International Workshop on Software Engineering for Pervasive Computing Applications, Systems, and Environments (SEPCASE '07).

[33]  Halley P. Profita,et al.  Designing wearable computing technology for acceptability and accessibility , 2016, ACM SIGACCESS Access. Comput..

[34]  Elisabeth B. Simpson,et al.  Exploring the Costs of Providing Assistive Technology as a Reasonable Accommodation , 2017, Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling.

[35]  Sergio Luján-Mora,et al.  A Method for Accessibility Testing of Web Applications in Agile Environments , 2017 .

[36]  Sajay Arthanat,et al.  An evaluation framework to measure usability of Assistive Technology at workplace: A demonstration study , 2016 .

[37]  C Kiekens,et al.  The Global Disability Action Plan 2014-2021 of the World Health Organisation (WHO): a major step towards better health for all people with disabilities. Chance and challenge for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM). , 2015, European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine.

[38]  Amy Hurst,et al.  "just let the cane hit it": how the blind and sighted see navigation differently , 2014, ASSETS.