Building Inclusive & Accessible Applications for VR @ VRED

A presentation at Building and Using Virtual Reality in Education in in New York, NY, USA by Roland Dubois

Building Inclusive & Accessible Applications for VR

Building Inclusive & Accessible Applications for VR

Hello, I am Roland Dubois

Hello, I am Roland Dubois

Collage of community outreach

Collage of community outreach

Agenda

Agenda

HMI and Device evolution

HMI and Device evolution

What do we think when we hear VR

What do we think when we hear VR

How do we interact and play in VR?

How do we interact and play in VR?

Trend towards spatial hand/gesture motion control

Trend towards spatial hand/gesture motion control

Hand tracking in current hardware

Hand tracking in current hardware

Is VR inherently inaccessible?

Is VR inherently inaccessible?

What Is Accessibility? #a11y

What Is Accessibility? #a11y

In Other Words:

In Other Words:

Disability Statistics From the CDC

Disability Statistics From the CDC

61 million adults in the United States live with a disability

61 million adults in the United States live with a disability

Tim Berners-Lee, Creator of the World Wide Web and director of the W3C

Tim Berners-Lee, Creator of the World Wide Web and director of the W3C

Some Types of Disabilities

Some Types of Disabilities

Keep In Mind

Keep In Mind

Microsoft's new accessible controller

Microsoft's new accessible controller

Domino’s Pizza v. Robles, Guillermo

Domino’s Pizza v. Robles, Guillermo

Accessibility & The Law

Accessibility & The Law

Know Your Abbreviations

Know Your Abbreviations

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Section 504

Section 504

Section 508

Section 508

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)

Developing semantically structured apps solves more than 50% of the most common accessibility issues

Developing semantically structured apps solves more than 50% of the most common accessibility issues

How Is Compliance Enforced?

How Is Compliance Enforced?

Accessibility Tools & Plugins For VR Apps

Accessibility Tools & Plugins For VR Apps

ColorBlindr Unity Plugin

ColorBlindr Unity Plugin

SeeingVR: Low Vision Tools For VR

SeeingVR: Low Vision Tools For VR

WalkinVR: Steam Driver For VR

WalkinVR: Steam Driver For VR

WalkinVR: Steam Driver For VR

WalkinVR: Steam Driver For VR

Accessible Experiments In VR

Accessible Experiments In VR

Online Survey: People with Disabilities & VR Accessibility

Online Survey: People with Disabilities & VR Accessibility

BBC VR subtitle research & ImAc Prototypes

BBC VR subtitle research & ImAc Prototypes

Enabling People with Visual Impairments to Navigate Virtual Reality with a Haptic and Auditory Cane Simulation

Enabling People with Visual Impairments to Navigate Virtual Reality with a Haptic and Auditory Cane Simulation

Seeing AI app from Microsoft

Seeing AI app from Microsoft

Navigating virtual environments for the visually impaired with spatial audio.

Navigating virtual environments for the visually impaired with spatial audio.

DOT NY Prototype (POC) of a NYC street crossing with acoustic navigation training for people who are blind or visually impaired.

DOT NY Prototype (POC) of a NYC street crossing with acoustic navigation training for people who are blind or visually impaired.

DOT NY Prototype (POC) of a NYC street crossing with acoustic navigation training for people who are blind or visually impaired.

DOT NY Prototype (POC) of a NYC street crossing with acoustic navigation training for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Intersection Example - Desktop Playback

Intersection Example - Desktop Playback

From Sip-and-Puff To Binary

From Sip-and-Puff To Binary

Accessible Locomotion and Interaction in WebXR

Accessible Locomotion and Interaction in WebXR

Take Action

Take Action

Action Plan

Action Plan

Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement

Considerations

Considerations

Engage and Interact

Engage and Interact

Thank You!

Thank You!

This presentation is reflecting on the question “Is VR inherently inaccessible?”, is giving an overview of what accessibility means and why we should consider integrating WCAG standards into our product design and development pipeline for educational VR applications. It provides a brief glance at ADA guidelines, laws for software and the web, experiments, and projects, and some practical tips and tools to get started.

Resources

The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.