Situationally-Induced Impairments and Disabilities

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of situationally-induced impairments and disabilities, or SIIDs, which are caused by situations, contexts, or environments that negatively affect the abilities of people interacting with technology, especially when they are on-the-go. Although the lived experience of SIIDs is, of course, unlike that of health-induced impairments and disabilities, both can be approached from an accessibility point-of-view, as both benefit from improving access and use in view of constraints on ability. This chapter motivates the need for the conception of SIIDs, relates the history of this conception, and places SIIDs within a larger framework of Wobbrock et al.’s ability-based design (ACM Trans Access Comput 3(3), 2011, Commun ACM 61(6):62–71, 2018). Various SIIDs are named, categorized, and linked to prior research that investigates them. They are also illustrated with examples in a space defined by two dimensions, location and duration, which describe the source of the impairing forces and the length of those forces’ persistence, respectively. Results from empirical studies are offered, which show how situational factors affect technology use and to what extent. Finally, specific projects undertaken by this chapter’s author and his collaborators show how some situational factors can be addressed in interactive computing through advanced sensing, modeling, and adapting to users and situations. As interactive computing continues to move beyond the desktop and into the larger dynamic world, SIIDs will continue to affect all users, with implications for human attention, action, autonomy, and safety.