Developing accessible technologies for a changing world: understanding how people with vision impairment use smartphones

Over a six week period, 845 people with low vision or blindness responded to our survey regarding how they used their smartphone, contributing to the first ever large-scale research project on the importance of smartphones in the Australian blind community. The results were significant − 79% of peop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDisability & society Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 111 - 128
Main Authors Locke, Kathryn, McRae, Leanne, Peaty, Gwyneth, Ellis, Katie, Kent, Mike
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.01.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
accessibility
Blindness
Disability
Physical disabilities
Smartphones
Technology
Uptake
Vision
Visual impairment
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Summary:Over a six week period, 845 people with low vision or blindness responded to our survey regarding how they used their smartphone, contributing to the first ever large-scale research project on the importance of smartphones in the Australian blind community. The results were significant − 79% of people with vision impairment use smartphones. They are part of their everyday lives and used for a broad range of purposes. Furthermore, the broad adoption of this device is a recent phenomenon - there has been a 365% increase in smartphone use in less than five years. While the rapid uptake of the smartphone by the vision impaired community demonstrates one level of 'access' is being achieved, we also identified ongoing issues impacting users. Our research demonstrates that people with disability must be included in the development process in order to ensure technological advancements are empowering and inclusive, especially in challenging times.
ISSN:0968-7599
1360-0508
DOI:10.1080/09687599.2021.1946678