XR – eXtended Reality – has been around for decades. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) allow for much more three-dimensional and realistic interaction with computing systems. As with most technologies, they have not been designed for accessibility from the start. But can they be used to enable interaction with people of all abilities?
Why should XR be accessible?
The better question is: why shouldn’t XR be accessible? Accessibility is a human right. It is also the law in many countries, including the United States, with laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Telecommunications Act.
XR, including AR and VR, came out of varying needs for 2D and 3D spatial computing over the years. Simulation, training, operations, and maintenance are a few of the common uses of XR. Gaming is also a common use of VR in the consumer space, dating back to systems like Nintendo Virtual Boy in the 1990s and made more mainstream by the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in the 2010s.
AR started with the Virtual Fixtures system for the US Air Force, and earlier “heads up displays” (HUDs) are also predecessors to the modern AR headset. AR has evolved into both 2D and 3D with HUDs such as Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens, and Magic Leap One. Phones and tablets can also run AR using cameras to detect and overlay imagery over the world.
Evaluating this holistically, XR is a perfect fit for making the world more accessible to everyone. Uses such as communication, training, navigation, remote access, and content creation can provide enhanced and alternative ways for anyone to participate.
We also need to make sure XR experiences are accessible for everyone. VR games should be accessible. AR navigation apps should be accessible. MR remote 3D design platforms should be accessible. It should not be an afterthought.
The XR Access Symposium
In July 2019, I attended the XR Access Symposium in New York City. This group of about 100 people across academia, industry, and government got together at the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island for a day of presentations, demos, and breakout groups.
The plenary sessions got everyone thinking and the ten breakout groups allowed us to brainstorm the initial set of goals that the XR Access initiative would consider. There were demonstrations of current XR tech which was new to a lot of the audience. The mix of content, devices, and people enabled unique conversations that led to the next steps for XR Access.
How we make XR accessible
The goal for XR Access is to engage with the community, create guidelines, and influence policy for accessibility in XR. The focus is to support software, hardware, and content so that this technology is built from the ground up for all, not application by application.
To achieve this goal, we have organized the XR Access initiative into six working groups:
- Guidelines & Policies
- Awareness
- Education
- Hardware Devices
- Content & Authoring
We have about 150 participants across the groups and an executive team of about a dozen leaders. I am the Lead for the Hardware Devices working group and excited to engage with our community partners on this effort. I am also looking forward to working across all the groups to meet the initiative’s goals.
There are some efforts in progress, including W3C’s XAUR and WebXR, along with Open XR and the XR Association that will feed into our work. We are not starting from scratch but acknowledge that a more coordinate and public effort needs to be made.
Our next symposium is slated for sometime this summer. Please visit www.xraccess.org and join a working group or attend a community gathering to get involved.
