Action Blocks: Making Mobile Technology Accessible for People with Cognitive Disabilities
Lia Carrari, Rain Michaels, Ajit Narayanan, Lei Shi, Xiang Xiao · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020) · doi:10.1145/3373625.3418043
Summary
This demonstration paper presents Action Blocks, a Google Android application designed to make mobile technology accessible to people with cognitive disabilities. The core problem the paper addresses is that modern smartphones require complex multi-step interactions — finding the right app, typing search queries, navigating menus — that demand cognitive abilities like reading, writing, memorizing, planning, and multitasking. These requirements can be challenging or impossible for the estimated 630 million people worldwide who have cognitive disabilities. Action Blocks solves this by allowing users or their caregivers to create customizable one-tap buttons that appear on the Android home screen. Each button is configured with a Google Assistant command (such as "call Mom on mobile" or "turn on the lights"), associated with a recognizable image (a photo or icon), and given a short label. When tapped, the button executes the assigned command through Google Assistant, collapsing what would otherwise be a multi-step interaction into a single tap. The design was informed by iterative input from caregivers, professionals supporting people with dementia, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Down Syndrome, and informal feedback from individuals with these conditions. The app draws on techniques from Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) research, incorporating symbol images as communication aids and offering customizable vocalization so the device can speak the command aloud — providing multimodal feedback that helps users understand what is happening.
Key findings
After launching in May 2020, Action Blocks received significant real-world feedback through in-app reports and Google Play Store reviews. The app proved beneficial not only for its target audience of people with cognitive disabilities but also for neurotypical users seeking to simplify their digital routines. Caregivers particularly valued the tool, with one noting their grandparents were "always getting lost in their phones when trying to access the same basic things." The guided template system — offering pre-configured actions for common tasks like making calls, playing music, getting directions, and controlling smart home devices — successfully lowered the setup barrier. Key design features included searchable symbol images inspired by AAC practice, customizable button sizes and shapes, and optional vocalization that balances the need for multimodal feedback against privacy concerns. User feedback revealed demand for two enhancements: support for more Action Blocks on the home screen (reflecting the depth-width tradeoff in interaction design), and the ability to chain multiple actions into a single trigger for sequential tasks.
Relevance
Action Blocks represents a practical, shipping product that demonstrates how cognitive accessibility can be designed into mainstream mobile platforms rather than relegated to specialized assistive technology. For accessibility practitioners, it illustrates several transferable design principles: reducing interaction complexity through one-tap shortcuts, leveraging familiar imagery as navigation aids (drawing from AAC research), providing multimodal feedback options, and involving caregivers as co-configurators. The caregiver-mediated setup model is particularly noteworthy — acknowledging that the person configuring the technology may differ from the end user. The paper also highlights the curb-cut effect, where accessibility features benefit a broader population than originally intended. Its limitation is that as a short demonstration paper (4 pages), it lacks formal usability studies or quantitative data on effectiveness with its target population.
Tags: cognitive accessibility · mobile accessibility · assistive technology · aging in place · augmentative and alternative communication · smart home · inclusive design