XR Access: Making Virtual and Augmented Reality Accessible to People with Disabilities

Shiri Azenkot is an Associate Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech who does not like bloated bios. So here are the basics: Shiri researches accessibility, with a focus on emerging platforms like augmented and virtual reality. She publishes at the typical top venues for accessibility and HCI and has received the typical awards for someone at this stage in her career. She directs the XR Access Initiative. For more information talk to her at the 2024 XR Access Symposium.

As augmented and virtual reality (XR) technologies gain traction, they remain almost completely inaccessible to people with disabilities. How can a blind person walk around a virtual bar in Horizon Worlds? How can a Deaf person have a conversation with a friend in VR Chat? It is critical to think about these challenges and address them proactively before people with disabilities are left further behind.

In this talk, she will present XR Access, which she co-founded to promote XR accessibility research and practice. For the last five years, XR Access has been bringing together practitioners, researchers, and advocates in conferences and seminars, developing resources, and supporting students in XR accessibility. She will present a taste of XR accessibility research, and outline ways in which you too can join this movement.

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).