Accessibility layers: levelling the field for blind people in mobile social contexts

AbstractEnabling access to a computing device is likely to have a huge impact in the quality of life of a person. Every once in a while, new technologies are devised and impact the way we communicate, work and even, how we have fun. Paradigmatically, it is often the case that a new technology empowers the general able-bodied user and fosters exclusion of people with disabilities. The emergence of touch-based smartphones as the de facto mobile interaction gadget created a gap between those that were able to use the device as it was deployed in the market and those that were not able to do so. The potential usages of these devices exploded and users that were at that time able to use mobile phones with physical keypads similarly to their peers, saw themselves living in the past of mobile interaction, from one day to the other. This was the case of blind people when smartphones started to dominate the market circa 2007.