Personalizing the user interface for people with disabilities

Abstract

Computer applications provide people with disabilities with unique opportunities for interpersonal communication, social interaction and active participation. However, rigid user interfaces often present accessibility barriers to people with physical, sensory or cognitive impairments. User interface personalization is crucial to overcome these barriers, enabling computer access to a considerable section of the population with disabilities. Adapting the user interface to people with disabilities requires taking into consideration their physical, sensory or cognitive abilities and restrictions and hence providing alternative access procedures according to their capacities. In the chapter 15, "Personalizing the User Interface for People with Disabilities" [1], we present methods and techniques that are being applied to research and practice on user interface personalization for people with disabilities. In addition, we discuss possible approaches for diverse application fields where personalization is required: accessibility to the web using transcoding, web mining for eGovernment, and human-robot interaction for people with severe motor restrictions.