Developing an Accessibility Assessment System for Mobile Devices

Through the rapid evolution of the technology, more and more mobile devices have been used in a learning environment. The intuitional operational layout and less physical efforts in operating touchscreen, most people find it is easier for use compared to traditional input devices, such as keyboards and mice. However, persons with physical disabilities may encounter difficulties in accessing or operating those mobile devices due to poor control of movements and dexterities. The purpose of this study is to develop an application to help the research team to build, test, maintain, update, and scale the accessibility assessments of mobile phones. The Accessibility Assessment System was designed as a cloud-based application, and its design is task-oriented, including tapping, sliding and dragging. The time of completion of all tasks, error rate of manipulations, correctness of usage and the size of the finger press area were recorded. In addition, the results of the assessments would be automatically uploaded to the cloud database for further analysis. Through the three functional evaluation tasks of the Accessibility Assessment System, we would be able to understand the proper icon sizes, and the controllable area of touch screen on their mobile devices for the individuals with physical disabilities. For further studies, we will test AAS within different diagnoses of persons with physical disabilities, including cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and muscular dystrophy to look at their operational performance on the mobile devices.