Accessibility and Inclusive Design

Pioneering information technologies and solutions that are accessible and usable for people of all abilities.

Research Projects

RERC on Universal Access to ICT
Principal Investigator(s): J. Bern Jordan Hernisa Kacorri Amanda Lazar
Funder: HHS / ACL / National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research Other
Research Areas: Accessibility and Inclusive Design > Data Privacy and Sociotechnical Cybersecurity > Human-Computer Interaction
Exploring and developing strategies to individualize generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems to make them provide better results tailored to each individual with a disability (starting with AI systems for visual question answering for blind people); identifying and more deeply understanding the failures in technology use by people who are older and developing design strategies to allow more seniors to understand products out of the box -- especially those technologies that are critical to independent living and engagement.
Accessible Visualization for Blind Users
Principal Investigator(s): Jonathan Lazar
Funder: National Science Foundation
Research Areas: Accessibility and Inclusive Design
This project aims to enhance accessibility to large-scale data analysis for blind and low-vision individuals, bridging the gap in current tools and technologies. It focuses on creating cost-effective, user-friendly data representations based on sound, touch, and physical computing. The research involves understanding user needs and designing practical accessible data applications in collaboration with the blind community.