Empowering People with Vision Impairments through Accessible Wearable Computing

通过无障碍可穿戴计算为视力障碍人士提供帮助

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-05229
• 负责人: Girouard, Audrey
• 金额: $ 4.66万
• 依托单位: Carleton University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=757248
• 关键词: Empowering; People; Vision; Impairments; through

In Canada, there are 1.5 million people who identify as having a visual impairment. People with visual impairments (PVI) often use assistive technologies to gain independence, yet they still face several barriers that exclude them from fully participating in society. This proposal focuses on increasing human-computer interaction accessibility for the PVI community, through the design of accessible wearable computing, which can help create a more inclusive society in collaboration with policymakers. My research program focuses on three short-term goals. First, I aim to improve the accessibility of online tools with PVI. Second, I will facilitate remote co-design of wearable prototypes with PVI through a modular wearable toolkit. I will explore fabrication techniques to develop this toolkit, and specifically investigate a collaborative component where two PVI could remotely collaborate on the same project using shape-changing technologies. Finally, my work will empower PVI for independence in playful activities through wearable prototypes, to support PVI who are interested in independently playing board and card games and give the ability for PVI to practise musical instruments on their own. My research lies at the intersection of human computer interaction, accessibility, and wearable computing. I recognize the expertise of people with disability by using co-design methodologies where researchers and designers to work alongside people with lived experiences. By 2026, people predict that the wearable technology industry will be worth more than $260 billion, though many people with disabilities are being left behind. The project proves novel embodied, wearable, and tangible user interfaces for people with disabilities and builds strategies to enable the PVI community to be part of the design process. The work encourages companies to recruit PVI to their design teams like designers, developers, and other roles in their businesses. It is critical when designing for people with disabilities to make sure their opinions and experiences are considered in the design. The research program will also lay the groundwork for policy innovation for accessible wearables and e-textiles as the current accessibility policy in Canada often focuses on digital assets. Finally, the work will provide evidence-based design specifications for wearables and e-textiles that can be applied in various contexts and evaluation criteria for their designs which can assist in evaluating future work.

在加拿大，有150万人被认定为视力障碍。视觉障碍(PVI)患者经常使用辅助技术来获得独立，但他们仍然面临着几个障碍，使他们无法充分参与社会。这项提议的重点是通过无障碍可穿戴计算的设计，提高PVI社区的人机交互可访问性，这可以帮助与政策制定者合作创建一个更具包容性的社会。我的研究计划侧重于三个短期目标。首先，我的目标是通过PVI提高在线工具的可访问性。其次，我将通过一个模块化的可穿戴工具包，促进可穿戴原型与PVI的远程联合设计。我将探索制造技术来开发这个工具包，并专门研究一个协作组件，在该组件中，两个变坡点可以使用形状更改技术远程协作处理同一项目。最后，我的工作将通过可穿戴原型赋予PVI在娱乐活动中的独立性，支持对独立玩棋牌游戏感兴趣的PVI，并赋予PVI独立练习乐器的能力。我的研究是人机交互、可访问性和可穿戴计算的交叉点。我认可残疾人的专业知识，通过使用联合设计方法，研究人员和设计师与有生活经验的人一起工作。到2026年，人们预测可穿戴技术行业的价值将超过2600亿美元，尽管许多残疾人被甩在了后面。该项目为残疾人证明了新颖的具体化、可穿戴和有形的用户界面，并建立了战略，使PVI社区成为设计过程的一部分。这项工作鼓励公司将PVI招募到他们的设计团队中，如设计师、开发人员和他们业务中的其他角色。在为残疾人设计时，确保他们的意见和经验在设计中得到考虑是至关重要的。该研究项目还将为无障碍可穿戴设备和电子纺织品的政策创新奠定基础，因为加拿大目前的无障碍政策往往侧重于数字资产。最后，这项工作将为可在各种情况下应用的可穿戴设备和电子纺织品提供基于证据的设计规范，并为其设计提供评估标准，以帮助评估未来的工作。