Understanding Digital Content Creation Needs of Blind and Low Vision People
Lotus Zhang, Simon Sun, Leah Findlater · 2023 · Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023) · doi:10.1145/3597638.3608387
Summary
This mixed-method study investigates the digital content creation needs, interests, and experiences of blind and low vision (BLV) people through a large-scale survey (N=165) and follow-up interviews (N=15). The research addresses a gap in accessibility research, which has traditionally focused on content consumption rather than creation. The survey covered five types of digital content: text-based (formatted documents, blog posts), audio (podcasts, music), static visual (presentation slides, photographs), video (video blogs, films), and interactive (websites, mobile apps). Participants were recruited primarily through the National Federation of the Blind mailing list and BLV-focused social media groups, with ages ranging from 19 to 75 (median 40). About 52% identified as totally blind or having some light perception, and 48% as low vision or legally blind. The study found a striking disparity between what BLV people want to create and what they actually can create — interest levels were high across all content types (57-90%), but actual creation experience dropped sharply for visually heavy content. While 88% of blind respondents had created text-based content and 77% audio content, only 51% had created static visual content, 51% video, and just 37% interactive content. The interviews probed deeper into the visual-heavy creative tasks, uncovering intertwined technical and societal barriers.
Key findings
The study revealed that BLV creators face two major categories of barriers: inaccessible creation tools and societal bias. Static visual content (72.7% difficulty rating among blind creators) and video content (65.9%) were the most challenging to create. Key technical barriers included screen reader incompatibility with creative tools, inability to evaluate visual appeal of created content, difficulty with multi-layer menus and complex editing interfaces, and lack of non-visual feedback for visual components like colors, fonts, alignment, and layout. Participants described needing sighted help for "a final check" on visual content, which undermined their independence. Societal barriers were equally significant: participants reported that the myth blind people "don't care how things look" leads to their exclusion as target users for creative software, and that visual-focused professional and educational standards create additional pressure. Multiple participants described workplace discrimination — being told in job interviews "how are you gonna do this task" upon discovering they were blind. Despite these barriers, BLV people showed strong interest in visual creative expression, including artistic photography, personally styled visual formatting, drawing, and video editing. Participants proposed solutions including AI-powered "visual layout checkers" analogous to grammar checkers, non-visual feedback for visual components (colors, fonts, alignment), physical control support for audio/video editing, and tools that make created content accessible by default.
Relevance
This research fundamentally challenges the assumption that BLV people are primarily content consumers. The finding that interest in content creation is high across all modalities — including visual content — should push creative tool developers to consider BLV users as a core audience. For accessibility practitioners, the study offers several actionable insights. First, creative tools need to provide non-visual feedback about visual properties (color, layout, alignment, aesthetic quality) rather than simply making basic functions screen-reader compatible. Second, AI could play a significant role through automated visual layout checking and content adjustment, but must preserve user control and creative agency. Third, the social dimension cannot be ignored — technology alone cannot solve the problem when societal biases exclude BLV people from creative professions and educational opportunities. The call for tools that produce accessible content by default, rather than requiring creators to retrofit accessibility, has broad implications for all content creation platforms. The study also highlights the need for alternative, non-visual information-sharing methods and visual presentation guidelines specific to creative contexts.
Tags: blind and low vision · content creation · creativity · digital accessibility · screen readers · visual content · ableism · social media