Many traditional pictographic Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) symbol sets have been carefully designed with a focus on supporting language development. However, alongside these valuable resources, there is a growing need for symbol options that reflect wider cultural experiences and offer flexible ways to express identity, personal stories, and situations, particularly for people who have language but may have lost their voice. This paper aims to illustrate how generative artificial intelligence has the potential to produce personalized, pictographic symbols in designs that encompass both photorealistic and minimalist styles whilst being situationally specific. This type of symbol creation combines the use of text to image prompts with a series of trained symbol styles and hidden templates plus a chance to describe a specific culture. The goal was to enable users to be offered a set of improved AAC symbol choices for communication charts and other activities requiring symbolization. Initial feedback from an application usability survey indicated that Symbol Creator AI could be used without prior training. Further prompt data analysis showed that acceptable pictographic representation of users improved prompts was achieved, although additional development was required to collect more comprehensive outcome data and clarify where challenges emerged.
Text simplification remains a significant challenge, especially when texts must comply with Easy-to-Read (E2R) standards. This paper explores how normative E2R guidelines can be translated into prompt configurations for Large Language Models (LLMs) to support text simplification. We compare six prompting strategies, ranging from a baseline prompt without explicitly including the UNE guidelines to one-shot and few-shot strategies. Using Gemma 3 4B, we evaluate the generated simplifications on a mixed corpus of human-written and synthetic texts, through automatic linguistic complexity metrics, and human evaluation of guideline compliance and content preservation. Results indicate that prompting strategies that explicitly incorporate the guidelines, particularly those including examples, improve compliance with UNE-based E2R requirements compared to baseline configurations. Overall, this study provides initial evidence of the potential of LLMs as a support tool for generating E2R adapted content, and also highlights the importance of future evaluation with end users.
Disability inclusive language used in scholarly writing supports equitable participation by disabled scholars and shapes discourse by avoiding marginalization of the perspectives of disabled individuals and communities. While guidance documents exist to support disability-inclusive language, applying these recommendations consistently remains challenging for many scholars. This paper presents a prototype classifier fine-tuned on a corpus of conference abstracts that leverages a lexicon constructed from nine guidance documents. An initial classifier highlighted challenges associated with over-representation of certain disability-related terms in the original corpus. To address this, we evaluated a structured data augmentation strategy using a large language model to improve coverage of under-represented terms. The resulting classifier achieved 96.28
Neurodiverse (ND) students frequently encounter barriers to participation in hybrid higher education due to limited accommodations and inaccessible technologies. Addressing this challenge, we evaluated WebMoti, a telepresence system designed with inclusive principles to enhance classroom engagement for remote ND students. WebMoti integrates video conferencing, customizable sensory controls, multiple cameras, and a robotic “hand” to create a physical presence and support autonomy. Through a three-week longitudinal case study with three ND students and their instructors, we examined engagement, presence, and usability. Findings indicate that WebMoti improved perceived presence and enabled active participation, with customizable features and physical classroom representation central to user satisfaction. Instructors valued the system for facilitating interaction, though audio management challenges were noted. This research advances the inclusive design of information systems by demonstrating how embodied telepresence and user-driven customization can foster digital inclusion for marginalized learners in hybrid learning environments.
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) systems offer new opportunities for access to information, content creation, and decision-making, but their dominant interaction paradigm poses important barriers for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). In particular, open-ended prompts, long and poorly structured responses, and limited support for refinement, verification, and personalization can increase cognitive load and hinder effective use. This paper presents an exploratory, expert-informed co-design workshop aimed at rethinking GenAI interfaces from the perspective of cognitive accessibility for people with ID. The workshop involved ten researchers with expertise in accessibility, Human-Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence, and inclusive design, and was structured around five key interaction challenges identified in previous empirical work: question generation, response refinement, information verification, context management, and personalization. The workshop generated a set of preliminary design concepts that point toward more guided, structured, and adaptive interaction models, including mechanisms such as step-by-step prompting, explicit refinement controls, support for source interpretation, conversation structuring, and dynamic personalization. Rather than presenting validated interface solutions, this work offers an initial map of design opportunities for cognitively accessible GenAI and provides a foundation for future participatory design, prototyping, and evaluation with people with ID.
“Chatty Library” (CL) and “InftyReader Online” (IRO) are web-based platforms that provide print-disabled students and their teachers with innovative online services, including the conversion of mathematical PDF documents into accessible formats. Several teachers have already used CL to implement reasonable accommodations for school examinations in elementary and junior-high schools. Although these initial attempts yielded promising results, they also revealed the need for further optimization of the conversion workflow in CL and IRO. To address this issue, we recently incorporated large language models as OCR engines to enhance the performance and efficiency of both systems.
Objective: The primary aim of this study is to determine whether PWID require specific, accessible financial tools and to identify their specific issues related to the accessibility of financial services, money management, and financial literacy. This study focuses on the lived experiences of PWID, parents, and their caregivers in three European countries—Malta, Ireland, and Italy—to better understand everyday challenges and support needs. Hypothesis: PWID require accessible financial tools to improve their ability to interact with financial systems, increase independence, and deepen their financial understanding. Research Questions: What are the issues faced by PWID related to money management, financial services, and financial services? Do PWID need specific and accessible financial tools? Methodology: In this research, we collected structured feedback from PWID, parents, and their caregivers in Malta, Ireland, and Italy. The questionnaires were accessible and easy to read. The data collected were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The results indicated that PWID face challenges with money management, difficulties understanding financial concepts, and difficulties accessing financial services. Most participants rely on caregivers, and financial education tools are not accessible or effective for PWID. The results suggested a need for simplified, visually supported, and user-friendly tools for PWID, along with approaches that incorporate real-life scenarios and caregiver involvement. Conclusion: This study shows the importance of developing inclusive and accessible financial literacy solutions. If we address existing barriers and design appropriate tools and support systems for PWID, we can enhance financial independence, reduce reliance on caregivers, and promote social and economic inclusion for PWID.
Non-speaking people with cerebral palsy who communicate primarily through gestures and sounds can struggle to be understood, particularly when meanings are subtle or ambiguous. In natural interactions, caregivers frequently use spoken prompts and confirmation questions to clarify meaning, providing important contextual information that could support next-generation gesture-based AAC systems. This paper proposes a machine-learning based, multi-stage intent classification pipeline that uses caregiver speech as contextual input. The system follows a confidence-based design in which inputs are resolved using fast semantic matching, while more ambiguous cases are selectively routed to lightweight and higher-capacity models. This cascaded architecture is designed to balance classification reliability, low latency, and offline deployability. The proposed pipeline is presented as a proof-of-concept prototype designed around practical deployment constraints in AAC settings. The paper describes the system architecture, discusses offline deployment considerations, and outlines limitations and directions for integration with real-time gesture recognition.
Blissymbolics is a pictographic, translingual communication system currently used in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), particularly among nonspeaking individuals with autism. Existing mobile AAC applications either provide static symbol boards or rely on natural-language lookup, limiting flexibility and often requiring prior linguistic competence. This paper presents a mobile-first Android application that introduces a radical-based input method enabling users to construct Bliss symbols from semantic primitives. A gamified learning module is used to scaffold the acquisition of Bliss composition rules. Unlike static communication boards, the proposed approach supports dynamic symbol construction and aims to increase expressive flexibility. The system is evaluated using a controlled comparative study measuring time-to-completion against an existing open-source Bliss keyboard. The results provide empirical evidence regarding speed, efficiency, learnability, and perceived communicative adequacy of radical-based mobile input. Although there is still room for improvement. To our knowledge, this is the first mob5ile implementation that integrates hinted radical-based input with an embedded compositional learning mechanism specifically tailored to Blissymbolics.
Speech generating devices (SGDs) are used as a form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to support individuals with complex communication needs. While prior research has mainly focused on improving input efficiency, less attention has been paid to generating utterances that reflect users’ individual linguistic styles. This study proposes a prompt-based method for generating personalized utterances using Big Five personality traits. The method adjusts linguistic properties such as lexical tendencies and diversity, sentence length, hedge expressions, and levels of formality and politeness to support self-representative expression. The results of our evaluations showed that linguistic characteristics of generated utterances varied with personality trait scores, and that approximately 87
Digital learning platforms are essential for educational equity, but students with learning disabilities (LD) often face extraneous cognitive load from poor design. This study utilized eye-tracking technology to investigate the impact of multimedia learning principles on the cognitive processes of 15 elementary students with LD. Employing a within-subjects design, participants viewed mathematics videos from two distinct platforms while their fixation patterns were recorded at a 180Hz sampling rate and supplemented with retrospective think-aloud (RTA) protocols. Results identified “temporal contiguity” (audio-visual synchronization) as a critical determinant of attention. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the two platforms regarding this principle (t (4.37) = 2.86, p < .05), which directly influenced the “fixation ratio on instructional Areas of Interest (AOI)” (t (14) = 2.32, p < .05). A strong positive correlation (r = .84, p < .01) was observed between temporal contiguity and instructional fixation allocation. Findings suggest synchronous audio-visuals effectively mitigate the split-attention effect for LD learners. We recommend prioritizing temporal contiguity in digital content to optimize learning for students with special needs.
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly used to produce user-facing content and interfaces, yet its application to cognitive accessibility remains limited. Accessibility standards are usually applied during evaluation rather than embedded within generation pipelines. This paper presents a standards-aware adaptive interface generation system that operationalizes accessibility requirements as generation-time constraints and combines them with explicit accessibility profiles to shape content structure, multimodal output, and interaction properties. A central contribution is the shift from intended accessibility to measured accessibility through post-render verification that accessibility-related features remain visible and operational in the final interface. Initial results from a clinical visit-summary use case show profile-sensitive interface variation and inspection-ready trace artefacts. The paper provides an executable and traceable foundation for cognitively accessible GenAI interface generation.
Neurodivergent individuals, particularly those on the autism spectrum, often experience increased stress in everyday situations and may benefit from accessible digital support tools. This work presents the human-centered development and evaluation of a mobile application for stress self-assessment and management, involving neurodivergent users and caregivers. Interactive mock-ups were evaluated with 16 participants using the System Usability Scale (SUS), achieving a mean score of 81, indicating high perceived usability. A functional prototype was subsequently tested in a think-aloud usability study with four participants. Qualitative content analysis revealed key strengths in intuitive interaction, alongside challenges in navigation, interaction feedback, data visualization, and terminology. Participants also emphasized the need for enhanced personalization, accessibility features, and clearer visual communication. The results suggest that mobile applications can provide effective and accessible support for stress management in neurodivergent populations, while highlighting important design considerations for future development and real-world deployment.
This introduction surveys the current state of the art in accessible digital publishing, covering key standards (WCAG 2.2, EPUB Accessibility 1.1), the DAISY Consortium’s activities, the European Accessibility Act, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence, and contextualises the five contributions accepted for this session. The papers address alternative text and extended description workflow integration, front-end development practices across regulatory contexts, accessibility-first design, accessibility-oriented translator training, and NLP-based detection of disability-insensitive language. Together they demonstrate that accessible publishing is no longer solely a technical compliance challenge but an organisational, pedagogical, and sociolinguistic problem requiring interdisciplinary responses.
Digital government services increasingly serve as mandatory gateways to essential rights. Legal frameworks (Section 508 Chapter 3, EN 301 549 Clause 4.2.5) explicitly require that systems support users with cognitive and executive function limitations. However, current accessibility auditing practice centers on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) technical conformance and does not operationalize evaluation of executive function support. This creates what we term the Compliance Paradox: systems can pass WCAG-based conformance checks yet remain functionally inaccessible to users with executive function impairments. We investigate this paradox through a two-phase qualitative study. First, a structured cognitive walkthrough of N=8 government services found no clearly task-blocking WCAG Level A/AA issues in the tested flows. Second, moderated sessions with N=7 participants stress-tested executive function demands ( n=5 self-reporting persistent EF difficulties; n=2 interacting in a second language as a situational cognitive load condition). Across sessions, three recurrent mechanisms were identified. Participants reported that they would seek external help despite task completion under safe research conditions. They also verbalized self-blame when encountering barriers (“I am bad at these things”) and were unable to determine the consequences of errors from interface information, creating high-stakes uncertainty that delayed or prevented commitment. These patterns point to a central requirement: consequence transparency, defined as explicit disclosure of error recoverability, action reversibility, and outcome severity. We propose the Functional Adequacy Bridge (FAB), a four-criterion audit protocol targeting consequence transparency, persistent information availability, error recovery support (including validation, session, and system-related failures), and completion certainty. FAB complements WCAG with a functional evaluation layer for high-consequence administrative contexts. Findings are based on a small purposive sample and identify interaction mechanisms rather than prevalence. Further work is required to evaluate inter-rater reliability and outcome impact of FAB across broader populations.
Hair salons are everyday service settings in which smooth interaction between hairstylists and clients strongly affects satisfaction and trust; however, communication conditions are not equal for all users. This study investigates communication challenges and needs in hair salon settings from two comparative perspectives: foreigners versus Japanese (differences in language proficiency) and deaf/hard-of-hearing versus hearing people (differences in auditory capacity). We conducted an online questionnaire survey with three groups in Japan: foreign residents ( n=22 ), Japanese deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals ( n=22 ), and hearing Japanese individuals ( n=19 ). The results show that deaf and hard-of-hearing participants were significantly less likely to converse with hairstylists than hearing Japanese participants, particularly for socially oriented small talk, while still requiring detailed task-related communication. Reported barriers were concentrated during procedures when hearing devices or visual aids had to be removed and when physical constraints limited signing or writing. In contrast, foreign participants showed conversation rates comparable to hearing Japanese participants (given generally high Japanese proficiency), but some experienced difficulty conveying detailed requests and understanding explanations; many relied on translation applications to compensate. These findings highlight the need for improved visual and multimodal support tailored to the unique constraints of hair salon environments.
This paper presents the design and development of a non-visual drawing system for blind and visually impaired users. Although drawing is commonly considered a vision-dependent activity, we reconceptualize drawing as an exploratory, experiential process that can be supported through auditory interactions. Based on needs analysis and an insider-led development approach, several key design considerations were identified, including continuous spatial awareness, separation of semantic and continuous feedback, and support for exploratory interaction. The developed system, called EgokoroChan, is a software-based environment that provides continuous auditory feedback linked with cursor movement, thereby enabling users to perceive spatial relationships without visual input. Our interaction design integrates navigation, drawing, and review, supporting fluid and iterative exploration of the canvas. Rather than focusing on performance evaluation, this study demonstrates the feasibility of non-visual drawing as a creative activity, indicating that auditory interaction can support spatial understanding and creative expression beyond visual modalities.
This paper introduces the special thematic session at ICCHP 2026 focusing on neurodiversity, digital accessibility and assistive technologies. It provides an overview of the shift in thinking from deficit-based models to participatory, context-aware design in relation to neurodiversity. Rather than being viewed as compensatory tools, assistive technologies are presented as sociotechnical mediators that promote autonomy and inclusion. The session brings together thirteen papers spanning education, higher education, and workplace contexts. Several contributions focus on co-designed, longitudinal interventions in learning environments, including serious games to support early handwriting, mobile systems to organize cognitive tasks, and tools to encourage the participation of neurodivergent students in hybrid classes. Other session papers address infrastructural and assessment-oriented systems in higher education, such as modular dyslexia support platforms integrating screening, anamnesis, and assistive technology workflows. A systematic review connects digital mental health and return-to-work research, highlighting the need for multi-stakeholder, work-integrated interventions that go beyond a focus on symptoms. Further contributions examine multimodal learning design, immersive educational tools, accessibility standards and AI-enabled assistive systems, including applications for communication support and workplace preparation. Emerging work also explores the contextual and neurophysiological factors that influence learning performance in real-world settings. The session papers converge on three key themes: reducing cognitive load through structured, multimodal design; embedding technologies within institutional and social workflows; and strengthening long-term, mixed-methods evaluation. Together, the papers advocate for integrated, participatory assistive technology ecosystems that support neurodivergent individuals in various areas of their lives.
In this paper, we explore techniques for directing visual attention to assist low vision users in immersive Virtual Reality (VR) work environments. Extending the 2D pointer locator concept from assistive technologies into three dimensions, we derive three design principles for 3D focus guidance: consistent visibility across diverse backgrounds and Field of View, exact alignment with the cursor’s hot spot, and animations that are controlled yet salient. Guided by these principles, we develop four VR prototypes that provide visual cues emerging in the current Field of View of the user and pointing to the position of the 3D target: a Single Line, corner-based Crosshairs, a mid-edge Cross, and animated Sonar Circles. We then conducted a pilot study with three low vision participants who performed different reading or writing activities in VR. They favored different guidance techniques presumably due to their type of visual impairment and use case. The results highlight the importance of customizable, prominent, and on-demand visual focus guidance cues.
