Too often, the accessibility of technology to people with disabilities is an afterthought (if it is considered at all); post-hoc or third-party patches to accessibility, while better than no solution, are less optimal than interface designs that consider ability-based concerns from the start. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are at a crucial point of near-maturity, with emerging, but not yet widespread, commercialization; as such, VR technologies have an opportunity to integrate accessibility as a fundamental, developing cross-industry standards and guidelines to ensure high-quality, inclusive experiences that could revolutionize the power and reach of this medium. In this position paper, we discuss the needs, opportunities, and challenges of creating accessible VR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Too often, the accessibility of technology to people with disabilities is an afterthought (if it is considered at all); post-hoc or third-party patches to accessibility, while better than no solution, are less optimal than interface designs that consider ability-based concerns from the start. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are at a crucial point of near-maturity, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":575103,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"msr-content-type":[3],"msr-research-highlight":[],"research-area":[13551,13554],"msr-publication-type":[193716],"msr-product-type":[],"msr-focus-area":[],"msr-platform":[],"msr-download-source":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-field-of-study":[],"msr-conference":[],"msr-journal":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-605370","msr-research-item","type-msr-research-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-research-area-graphics-and-multimedia","msr-research-area-human-computer-interaction","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_publishername":"IEEE","msr_edition":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_published_date":"2019-10-14","msr_host":"","msr_duration":"","msr_version":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_journal":"","msr_volume":"","msr_number":"","msr_editors":"","msr_series":"","msr_issue":"","msr_organization":"","msr_how_published":"","msr_notes":"","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_download_urls":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":1,"msr_main_download":"","msr_publicationurl":"","msr_doi":"","msr_publication_uploader":[{"type":"file","viewUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2019\/08\/ismar_mra_workshop_microsoft_final_draft.pdf","id":"605373","title":"ismar_mra_workshop_microsoft_final_draft","label_id":"243109","label":0}],"msr_related_uploader":"","msr_attachments":[{"id":605373,"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2019\/08\/ismar_mra_workshop_microsoft_final_draft.pdf"}],"msr-author-ordering":[{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Martez Mott","user_id":37965,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Martez Mott"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Ed Cutrell","user_id":31490,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Ed Cutrell"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Mar Gonzalez Franco","user_id":35480,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Mar Gonzalez Franco"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Christian Holz","user_id":31415,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Christian Holz"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Eyal Ofek","user_id":31772,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Eyal Ofek"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Richard Stoakley","user_id":33397,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Richard Stoakley"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Meredith Ringel Morris","user_id":32884,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Meredith Ringel Morris"}],"msr_impact_theme":[],"msr_research_lab":[199565],"msr_event":[],"msr_group":[283244,371909,379814,396845],"msr_project":[638733],"publication":[],"video":[],"download":[589906],"msr_publication_type":"inproceedings","related_content":{"projects":[{"ID":638733,"post_title":"Accessible Mixed Reality","post_name":"accessible-mixed-realityanast","post_type":"msr-project","post_date":"2020-02-22 17:15:43","post_modified":"2021-07-07 11:23:07","post_status":"publish","permalink":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/accessible-mixed-realityanast\/","post_excerpt":"This project considers how to design emerging Mixed Reality technologies (including AR and VR) so that they are usable by and useful to people of all abilities. 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