Special Topics: Accessibility: A Guide to Building Future User Interfaces

Course Information

Course Number

HCI Undergraduate: 05-499
HCI Graduate: 05-899

Course Description

Disability is normal. Across the world, about one in five people have a disability. This course will combine an understanding of the inner workings of user interface technology with a guide to designing and building the user interfaces of the future. Most accessibility content focuses on web accessibility for people who are blind or low vision. In addition, through this course, you will learn how to design for people with different abilities including hearing loss, motor impairments, cognitive decline, and neurodiversity. As early adopters, people with disabilities have inspired a host of future user interface technologies, e.g., conversational assistants, text-to-speech, speech recognition, optical character recognition, predictive typing, tactile displays, etc. People with disabilities continue to be the first users of interface next-generation technologies that are gradually adopted widely. We will discuss how to design online and offline; how to design for visible and invisible disabilities; and how to design for permanent, situational, and temporary disabilities. 

Technical Accessibility Topics will include: 

Text to Speech, Speech Recognition, Screen Readers, Voice Input, Optical Character Recognition, Screen Magnification, Alternative Input, Tactile Displays, Text Summarization, Augmentative and Alternative Communication
 

Semester Offered and Units

Semester: Intermittent
Graduate: 12 units

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