Ruei-Che Chang
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
In this paper, we propose the designs for low cost and 3D-printable add-on components to adapt existing breadboards, circuit components and electronics tools for users with blind or low vision (BLV). Through an initial user study, we identified several barriers to entry for beginners with BLV in electronics and circuit prototyping. These barriers guided the design and development of our add-on components. We focused on developing adaptations that provide additional information about the specific component pins and breadboard holes, modify tools to make them easier to use for users with BLV, and expand non-visual feedback (e.g., audio, tactile) for tasks that require vision. Through a second user study, we demonstrated that our adaptations can effectively overcome the accessibility barriers in breadboard circuit prototyping.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445690
The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (https://chi2021.acm.org/)