Awards
2025 SIGACCESS ASSETS Paper Impact Award Winner
Freedom to Roam: A Study of Mobile Device Adoption and Accessibility for People with Visual and Motor Disabilities Authors: Shaun Kane, Chandrika Jayant, Jacob Wobbrock, and Richard Ladner Paper year: 2009 Description: This paper was among the first to examine how people with disabilities incorporated mobile devices into their everyday lives, not merely as assistive technologies but as tools for independence, communication, and participation in society. Through interviews and diary studies, the authors documented the …
SIGACCESS Best Student Paper Award Winner 2025
NeuroBridge: Using Generative AI to Bridge Cross-neurotype Communication Differences through Neurotypical Perspective-taking Authors: Rukhshan Haroon, Kyle Wigdor, Zihan Yang, Nicole Toumanios, Eileen T. Crehan, and Fahad Dogar Description: The paper represents an emerging direction in accessibility research that explores how generative AI can foster mutual understanding across different communication styles. NeuroBridge uses large language models to simulate interactions with an autistic communication style and provides feedback to help neurotypical users better understand how language may …
SIGACCESS Best Paper Award Winner 2025
As Someone Who is Disabled, I am so thankful for Sex Work: Alternative Approaches to Access Among Disabled Sex-Workers Authors: Jay Rodolitz, Megan Hofmann, Ada Lerner, Madiha Tabassum, Vaughn Hamilton, and Butterfly Hope Description: Based on interviews with disabled sex workers, the paper expands traditional notions of accessibility by examining how people create systems of access in social environments that may be stigmatizing, exclusionary, or actively harmful. Rather than focusing solely on technological accommodations, the …
Jacob O. Wobbrock: Outstanding Contribution Recipient 2026
Jacob O. Wobbrock is a Professor of Information and, by courtesy, of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington (UW). He directs the ACE Lab and is an Associate Director and former founding Co-Director of the UW Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE). Since 2001, his research has pursued accessible interaction techniques, adaptive user interfaces, mobile accessibility, and human-centered artificial intelligence. Wobbrock received the 2017 SIGCHI Social Impact …
SIGACCESS Best Paper Award 2024
Engaging with Children’s Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability Families Author(s): • Arnavi Chheda-Kothary, University of Washington • Jacob O. Wobbrock, University of Washington • Jon E. Froehlich, University of Washington Abstract We present two studies exploring how blind or low-vision (BLV) family members engage with their sighted children’s artwork, strategies to support understanding and interpretation, and the potential role of technology, such as AI, therein. Our first study involved 14 BLV individuals, and …
SIGACCESS Best Student Paper Award 2024
WheelPoser: Sparse-IMU Based Body Pose Estimation for Wheelchair Users Author(s): • Yunzhi Li, Carnegie Mellon University • Vimal Mollyn, Carnegie Mellon University • Kuang Yuan, Carnegie Mellon University • Patrick Carrington, Carnegie Mellon University Abstract Despite researchers having extensively studied various ways to track body pose on-the-go, most prior work does not take into account wheelchair users, leading to poor tracking performance. Wheelchair users could greatly benefit from this pose information …
Chieko Asakawa: Outstanding Contribution 2024
Dr. Chieko Asakawa is an IBM Fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, the Chief Executive Director of The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Japan, and an IBM Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Her remarkable career has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards and honors. Among these, becoming an IBM Fellow in 2009, receiving the “Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon” from the Emperor of Japan in 2013, …
2023 SIGACCESS ASSETS Paper Impact Award Winner
Empowering individuals with do-it-yourself assistive technology Author(s): Amy Hurst and Jasmine Tobias Description: The SIGACCESS community prides itself on directing the technology community’s understanding of disabled people and the role technology serves in their lives. Over the past decade, this community has diversified its view of assistive technologies and considered various ways that technology can serve individuals’ unique experiences of disability rather than generalizing across broad groups. Designing for the N of 1 is a unique …
SIGACCESS Best Student Paper Award 2023
Watch Your Language: Using Smartwatches to Support Communication Author(s) Humphrey Curtis, King’s College London Timothy Neate, King’s College London Abstract With an ageing population and increased prevalence of people living with complex communication needs there is a growing need to design scalable high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) apps to support agency and social participation. For end-users it is currently difficult to regulate the prominence of most mainstream high-tech AAC devices and tablet-based apps – …
SIGACCESS Best Paper Award 2023
VisPhoto: Photography for People with Visual Impairments via Post-Production of Omnidirectional Camera Imaging Author(s) Naoki Hirabayashi (Osaka Prefecture University), Masakazu Iwamura (Osaka Metropolitan University), Zheng Cheng (Osaka Prefecture University), Kazunori Minatani (National Center for University Entrance Examinations), and Koichi Kise (Osaka Metropolitan University) Abstract Many people with visual impairments would like to take photographs. However, they often have difficulty pointing the camera at the target. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a …