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Utah's Foremost Platform for Undergraduate Research Presentation
2014 Abstracts

Mobile Technologies For People With Disabilities And Impairments

Varvara Jones, Utah Valley University

Engineering

Mobile devices are promising tools today to people’s life thanks to lower-cost hardware, steep subsidies from wireless carriers and the popularity of mobile apps. Equipping with touchscreen is the point of fulfillment for all that a mobile device promises to deliver to normal users. However, few mobile devices today have been built that address accessibility and usability of the touchscreen for a wide range of physical capabilities and challenges. In this research, we investigate human capabilities, environmental factors and hardware ergonomics that can improve the usability when people with impairment disabilities use a touchscreen-equipped mobile device.

There are many challenges when it comes to employing mobile and touch technologies for people with disabilities. To get a thorough understanding of the topic, a research and perusal of currently available databases and studies was conducted in summer 2013. The study included reading of released research articles, a study of devices with assistive features and direct contact of device manufacturers for further information on assistive technologies. This literary research included group studies, community studies, age difference studies, study participants feedback and project design involvement, and further device studies. Research projects reviewed in this study involved a range of devices including some of the currently popular on the market, such as Microsoft Surface and iPad, while some other reviewed systems were designed solely by the original study conductors.

It is imperative to further understand this difficult topic and its effects on the society. Continued studies and research with larger groups, better funding and wider sharing of the research findings with the general public would be beneficial to a wide range of people with disabilities, their caretakers and everyone using modern technologies on a daily basis. It would highly improve methods of interactivity, interface usability and communication methods for everyone.