EAGER: Understanding Barriers to Workplace Collaboration for People with Visual Impairments

视力障碍者在参与公共生活和在工作场所作出有益贡献方面面临重大障碍。由于无法使用信息和通信技术而造成的障碍，可能使视力障碍者难以在学校取得优异成绩或找到与其能力和潜力相称的工作。幸运的是，无障碍计算技术使视力受损的人能够访问以前无法访问的信息。例如，有视觉障碍的人可以使用屏幕阅读器软件将电子文档翻译成语音或盲文。然而，在使用计算机参与当代课堂或工作场所的背景下，障碍仍然存在，因为这些地方现在与其他人进行主动、实时、面对面的协作已成为常态，而且因为屏幕阅读器等辅助技术的外观和感觉与当代图形用户界面（如无残疾人士日常使用的界面）的外观和感觉之间存在鸿沟。屏幕阅读器很难学习和使用，其操作方式与当前的图形用户界面完全不同，而且大多数视力正常的人不知道如何使用屏幕阅读器，因此在通信和协作中共享工件的机会减少了。本提案的重点是探索和确定有视力障碍和没有视力障碍的人之间合作的障碍。这项研究将支持工具的开发，这些工具将弥合视障人士使用的非图形用户界面和正常人使用的图形界面之间的差距，使任何视觉能力水平的人都能在学校或工作中进行协作。在先前为视障人士开发无障碍用户界面的研究基础上，该项目将探索视障人士和非视障人士之间同步协作的挑战。研究人员将对有和没有视觉障碍的专业成年人进行形成性访谈和观察性研究，以了解这些人群内部和之间合作的障碍。之前很少有研究探讨这些问题。这个项目将进行深入的探索，揭示以前隐藏和未知的无障碍障碍。更广泛的影响：这项研究将确定现有的就业障碍，这些障碍可以通过政策或实践的变化或新技术的发展来解决。使视障人士能够与视力正常的同龄人一起工作，将大大改善数百万人的教育和就业结果。研究项目本身将在有视力障碍和没有视力障碍的人之间合作的背景下进行，并将包括当地社区的盲人和视力障碍人士。

People with visual impairments face significant barriers to participation in public life and productive contributions in the workplace. Barriers due to inaccessible information and communication technology can make it difficult for a person with visual impairments to excel in school or find employment commensurate with his or her abilities and potential. Fortunately, accessible computing technology enables people with visual impairments to access information that was previously inaccessible. For example, people with visual impairments can use screen reader software to translate electronic documents into speech or Braille. However, barriers still exist in the context of using computers to participate in the contemporary classroom or workplace because these are now places where active, real-time, face-to-face collaboration with other people has become the norm, and because there is a gulf between the look and feel of assistive technology such as screen readers and the look and feel of contemporary graphical user interfaces such as those used routinely by people without disabilities. Screen readers are difficult to learn and use, and operate quite differently than contemporary graphical user interfaces, and most sighted people do not know how to use screen readers, and so the opportunity for shared artifacts in communication and collaboration is reduced.The focus of this proposal is to explore and identify barriers to collaboration between people with and without visual impairments. This research will support the development of tools that will bridge the gap between the non-graphical user interfaces used by people with visual impairments and the graphical interfaces used by sighted people, enabling individuals with any level of visual ability to collaborate at school or work. Building on prior research on developing accessible user interfaces for people with visual impairments, this project will explore the challenges of collocated synchronous collaboration between people with and without visual impairments. The researchers will conduct formative interviews and observational studies of professional adults with and without visual impairments to understand the barriers to collaboration within and across these populations. Very little prior research has explored these issues. This project will conduct a deep exploration to reveal accessibility barriers that were previously hidden and unknown.Broader Impacts: This research will identify existing barriers to employment that can be addressed through changes in policy or practice, or through the development of new technology. Enabling people with visual impairments to work alongside their sighted peers will significantly improve educational and employment outcomes for millions of people. The research project itself will be developed in the context of a collaboration between people with and without visual impairments, and will include blind and visually impaired people from the local community.