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Cited by 82Virtual Reality Applications and ImpactsDigital Accessibility for DisabilitiesDisability Rights and Representation

“It’s Just Part of Me:” Understanding Avatar Diversity and Self-presentation of People with Disabilities in Social Virtual Reality

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Zhang, Kexin, Deldari, Elmira, Lu, Zhicong, Yao, Yaxing, Zhao, Yuhang·2022·Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
DOI 10.1145/3517428.3544829
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Abstract

In social Virtual Reality (VR), users are embodied in avatars and interact with other users in a face-to-face manner using avatars as the medium. With the advent of social VR, people with disabilities (PWD) have shown an increasing presence on this new social media. With their unique disability identity, it is not clear how PWD perceive their avatars and whether and how they prefer to disclose their disability when presenting themselves in social VR. We fill this gap by exploring PWD’s avatar perception and disability disclosure preferences in social VR. Our study involved two steps. We first conducted a systematic review of fifteen popular social VR applications to evaluate their avatar diversity and accessibility support. We then conducted an in-depth interview study with 19 participants who had different disabilities to understand their avatar experiences. Our research revealed a number of disability disclosure preferences and strategies adopted by PWD (e.g., reflect selective disabilities, present a capable self). We also identified several challenges faced by PWD during their avatar customization process. We discuss the design implications to promote avatar accessibility and diversity for future social VR platforms.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zhang, K., Deldari, E., Lu, Z., Yao, Y., & Zhao, Y.
Affiliations
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore County (US)
  • City University of Hong Kong (HK)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
Publisher
ACM
Published
2022-10-22
Pages
1-16
DOI
10.1145/3517428.3544829
OpenAlex
W4293112386
Cited by
82
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 17
FWCI
12.40
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Background (vor)
Locations
  • International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • Maryland Shared Open Access Repository (USMAI Consortium) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
  • Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (University of Maryland College Park) (cc-by)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
Keywords
social virtual reality, people with disabilities, disability disclosure, avatar customization, accessibility, disability identity

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