Accessibility in chatbots: The state of the art in favor of users with visual impairment

Abstract

Society has been experiencing a great technological advance in the most diverse areas and, clearly, the development of accessibility for software and applications does not seem to follow this speed. In fact, systems sometimes do not embrace people with some kind of disability, and this is a problem that should be on the agenda of every designer and system designer when thinking about user experience. Chatbots are conversational interfaces on which users communicate with a robotic entity through text, either designed with artificial intelligence or not. However, how does a blind user interact with Chatbots? How should this interaction be carried on? What to expect when users’ needs are challenged by physical barriers worse than what affects the common user? This article aims to present a systematic review of the existing literature on Chatbots, conversational interfaces and the inclusion of accessibility in these interfaces.