How Accessible Are Virtual Reality Freehand Gestures? Understanding Barriers for Users with Upper Limb Motor Impairments.

Despite the growing adoption of freehand interactions in virtual reality (VR), the accessibility of default gesture implementations for individuals with upper limb motor impairments remains largely unexamined. To investigate unique accessibility challenges, we recruited adults with upper limb impairments (n=8) and a control group (n=16). We captured subjective and objective measures of impairment before participants performed common freehand interactions in VR including pinching, grasping, pressing, swiping and scrolling. Through observational analyses and semi-structured interviews, we identified usability barriers. Our findings reveal that even when gestures are functionally possible, restrictive implementations cause pain and fatigue for users with impairments. In particular, pinching - widely used in state-of-the-art systems relies heavily on the index finger, while both pinching and grasping are often defined by rigid performance thresholds. These factors exacerbate accessibility issues, especially when paired with the limitations of current tracking technologies. These insights highlight critical gaps in current design considerations and lay the foundation for developing more inclusive freehand interaction systems that reduce pain and better support a range of motor abilities.