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Accessible Texts for Autism: An Eye-Tracking Study

Published: 26 October 2015 Publication History

Abstract

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are known to experience difficulties in reading comprehension, as well as to have unusual attention patterns, which makes the development of user-centred tools for this population a challenging task. This paper presents the first study to use eye-tracking technology with ASD participants in order to evaluate text documents. Its aim is two-fold. First, it evaluates the use of images in texts and provides evidence of a significant difference in the attention patterns of participants with and without autism. Sets of two types of images, photographs and symbols, are compared to establish which ones are more useful to include in simple documents. Second, the study evaluates human-produced easy-read documents, as a gold standard for accessible documents, on 20 adults with autism. The results provide an understanding of the perceived level of difficulty of easy-read documents according to this population, as well as the preferences of autistic individuals in text presentation. The results are synthesized as set of guidelines for creating accessible text for autism.

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  • (2025)Exploring Large Language Models Through a Neurodivergent Lens: Use, Challenges, Community-Driven Workarounds, and ConcernsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/37011949:1(1-28)Online publication date: 10-Jan-2025
  • (2024)Through our eyes: Understanding how autistic children co-author a sense of self and relate to the world. An interpretative, observational thematic analysisHuman Systems: Therapy, Culture and Attachments10.1177/26344041241269294Online publication date: 13-Aug-2024
  • (2024)Adult Autism Research Priorities and Conceptualization in Computing Research: Invitation to Co-lead with Autistic AdultsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/363514831:4(1-47)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
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cover image ACM Conferences
ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility
October 2015
466 pages
ISBN:9781450334006
DOI:10.1145/2700648
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 26 October 2015

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Author Tags

  1. autism
  2. easy-read
  3. eye tracking
  4. readability
  5. reading comprehension
  6. text simplification

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ASSETS '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 30 of 127 submissions, 24%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 436 of 1,556 submissions, 28%

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  • (2025)Exploring Large Language Models Through a Neurodivergent Lens: Use, Challenges, Community-Driven Workarounds, and ConcernsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/37011949:1(1-28)Online publication date: 10-Jan-2025
  • (2024)Through our eyes: Understanding how autistic children co-author a sense of self and relate to the world. An interpretative, observational thematic analysisHuman Systems: Therapy, Culture and Attachments10.1177/26344041241269294Online publication date: 13-Aug-2024
  • (2024)Adult Autism Research Priorities and Conceptualization in Computing Research: Invitation to Co-lead with Autistic AdultsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/363514831:4(1-47)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
  • (2024)Empirical evaluation of Easy Language recommendations: a systematic literature review from journal research in Catalan, English, and SpanishUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-023-00975-223:3(1369-1387)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
  • (2024)Sensory Processing in AutismThe Sensory Accommodation Framework for Technology10.1007/978-3-031-48843-6_3(27-40)Online publication date: 2-Jan-2024
  • (2023)Extended Reality-Based Mobile Application Solutions for the Therapy of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)JMIR Serious Games10.2196/49906Online publication date: 13-Jun-2023
  • (2023)Global Filter: Augmenting Images to Support Seeing the “Big Picture” for People with Local InterferenceACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/357181230:3(1-28)Online publication date: 10-Jun-2023
  • (2023)The Perception of the Utility of Social Media by Caregivers of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders during a Period of Home QuarantineInteracting with Computers10.1093/iwc/iwad00635:5(615-627)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2023
  • (2023)Evaluating user interface of a mobile augmented reality coloring application for children with autismInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103085178:COnline publication date: 1-Oct-2023
  • (2023)How have public healthcare providers in Sweden conformed to the European Union’s Web Accessibility Directive regarding accessibility statements on their websites?Universal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-023-01063-1Online publication date: 15-Nov-2023
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