Accessibility Resources and Tools for XR Projects
I was recently asked – are there any tools or resources available for artists and creative technologists who are developing XR experiences? As I typed back a “quick response” I quickly realised there was a lot more information available than what I could summarise in a few pithy bullet points. So here is my full response which turned into a full blog article!
What is Digital Accessibility?
Digital accessibility is a broad and deep field and I am by no means an expert. But having worked on digital projects across mobile and web for over 15 years I have come across a number of approaches and tools.
For those who are new to this area – it simply means considering all types of users and their range of abilities when designing digital content, tools, and technologies. This includes websites, apps and immersive experiences like VR, AR and mixed reality.
We try to ensure that content within these experiences is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for users with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive differences. Digital accessibility is important because it ensures equal access to information, services, and participation in digital life. It’s not just a legal or ethical responsibility - it’s also essential for creating inclusive experiences that benefit all users, regardless of ability or device.
Although XR is quite distinct from other digital experiences, we can start with general design principles based on accessibility for mobile and desktop devices. Elements that are still very much applicable to XR include text, audio, feedback and approaches to physical accessibility.
W3C and WCAG
The most comprehensive framework for digital accessibility has been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) an international public-interest non-profit organisation. They have developed Web standards (which are implemented in browsers, blogs, search engines, and other software that power our experience on the web) and specifically the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines known as WCAG 2.2
They describe their approach as how to “make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. Although these guidelines cover a wide range of issues, they are not able to address the needs of people with all types, degrees, and combinations of disability.” Interestingly they also point out that these guidelines also make web content more usable by older individuals with changing abilities due to aging and as a result often improve usability for users in general.
WCAG organises its success criteria into three levels of conformance: A (minimum), AA (recommended), and AAA (maximum). These levels represent the degree of accessibility a digital product provides.
They also have a customisable Quick Reference for WCAG requirements and techniques which you can filter for development, interaction design, content creation and visual design: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
Differences between XR and other digital experiences
The main difference between XR projects and traditional screen-based experiences is that the later is based on a 2D format where users typically navigate via standard inputs such as mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen.
XR projects on the other hand are a form of spatial computing where the user is
- Moving within a physical environment
- Interacting with virtual/digital elements and
- May use a variety of inputs including voice, eye gaze, head tracking, controllers, hand tracking or body tracking.
Video Games
We can learn a lot about designing and developing accessible experiences for XR by taking a look at how video games. Compared to websites and simple apps, games often feature a much more diverse and complex range of interactions, user inputs, navigation and perspectives.
A great resource is the Games Accessibility Guidelines which is a “collaborative effort between a group of studios, specialists and academics, to produce a straightforward developer friendly reference for ways to avoid unnecessarily excluding players, and ensure that games are just as fun for as wide a range of people as possible.”
https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com
They even provide a handy excel checklist available for download
https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/excel-checklist-download/
Are there XR specific accessibility tools and features?
Yes! Although there is no one singular document or checklist that you can refer to - many organisations, institutions and companies are working towards developing frameworks, tools and techniques to assist in creating more accessible XR experiences.
Community & Organisational Resources
XR Access
The XR Access Initiative is a Research Consortium at Cornell Tech. The Initiative is dedicated to promoting a safe and inclusive community for its participants.
They also have a GitHub repository of open-source tools aimed at enhancing XR accessibility, including captioning systems and toolkits.
https://github.com/XR-Access-Initiative
XRAccessibility Project
The XRAccessibility Project is an open-source initiative driven by the XR Association and XR Access to provide a central place for developers to find solutions for creating accessible code across various XR platforms. This amazing website is a great source of practical resources contains a wealth of links to toolkits, plugins, organisations and learning material.
https://xraccessibility.github.io
XR Association (XRA)
The XRA created a Developer’s Guide which includes a chapter on accessibility. Although it’s dated 2020 and doesn’t appear to have been updated since - it does include a lot of XR specific guidelines offering a set of industry-backed best practices for developing accessible platforms that enhance experiences for all users, not just those with disabilities.
https://xra.org/research/xra-developers-guide-accessibility-and-inclusive-design/
Hardware Specific Resources
Many companies include accessibility information within their developer documentation. So its worth checking out if the platform or hardware you’re developing for have any related resources. I’ve included a few below.
Meta Quest 3
A list of features currently available:
Apple Vision Pro
Although the accessibility specific information for the Apple Vision Pro is quite limited
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/apple-vision-pro/tan426c48bdc/visionos
Apple does have significant documentation on general accessibility across its range of digital offerings (iPhone, iPad, iWatch, AirPods, Macbooks) as well as assistive access on its accessibility website – which may be applicable for mobile and WebXR based experiences.
https://www.apple.com/au/accessibility/
Android
Relevant for mobile and WebXR based experiences.
https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/6006564?hl=en
Microsoft
Although slightly dated (established in 2017 this site was updated until 2022) there are some useful resources and papers on accessibility for XR projects.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/accessible-mixed-realityanast/
Developer Resources
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/accessibility/developer-resources
Some resources on general web accessibility
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility
Research & Academic Insights
UC Berkeley
Have a great website resource on Universal Design for Learning. The site “covers some of the potential barriers to using XR faced by people with disabilities or, better put, diverse users across a truly representative range of visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive capacities” and showcases some of the research and emerging best practices for overcoming these barriers.
https://udl.berkeley.edu/accessibility/xr-accessibility
Takeaways on Developing Accessible Experiences in Practice
It can be overwhelming when you start looking at accessibility for any project, but my advice is to start early and small while being open to learning along the way.
Learn about accessibility as you work through your project. As you make choices on things like text or audio, do a quick search on for those features.
As with all useful playtesting and QA testing, it’s advisable to have a diverse group of testers where possible to gain feedback on the usability and accessibility of your XR experience.
Develop your own reference or check lists as you progress so you can continue to keep an eye on relevant aspects of your project.
Depending on the experience you’re developing, your personal skill level and size of your team, you may have to aim for basic or A level accessibility before moving upwards as the project develops.
If your budget allows, it may be worth engaging an accessibility advisor who can help guide or focus your efforts.
Its also worth looking into Forums, Slack or Discord channels where you might be able to post questions or look for solution to common problems.
There are many local organisations and people interested in digital accessibility and some of them organise regular meetups or workshops. For example in my city of Perth, there is the Perth Accessibility Meetup Group who also host an annual Web Accessibility Camp.