Mediating Access: How Visually Impaired Users Leverage Collaborative Learning to Keep Up With Mobile Phone Innovations

Abstract

We illustrate learning strategies used by visually impaired mobile phone users to support device information gathering and troubleshooting. Observing experiences of adult mobile users in Bangalore, India, we find that functional access and device familiarity is acquired through a range of digital and interpersonal consultations. We find that generic smartphones are increasingly becoming primary digital assistive devices due to their in-built accessibility features, yet the available information and user guides on these devices is biased towards sighted users. Consequently, device users rely on collaboratively learning from peers for general device familiarity and troubleshooting. We propose that collaborative learning will likely be a central to technology adoption and maintenance as artifacts and interfaces evolve constantly, forcing people for whose needs the devices may not have originally been designed, to learn and adapt constantly.