Visual impairments include a range of visual abilities. Many people have low vision, which means they have functional vision but they face visual challenges when performing daily activities. Unlike blind people, low vision people tend to use their vision in their daily lives. Most people with visual impairments have low vision and aren’t blind, but there has been very little research addressing this user group. In my talk, I’ll describe low vision and present an overview of the research my group is conducting in this area. We are working on studying the challenges that low vision people face when completing daily tasks such as shopping, and designing smart glasses applications to address these challenges.
I am an Assistant Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech. I am also an affiliate faculty member in the Computer Science Department at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. My research interests are in accessibility and interaction on new platforms. I conduct this research with a fantastic group of students who are part of the Enhancing Ability Lab, which I direct. Before arriving at Cornell Tech, I was a PhD student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where I was advised by Richard Ladner and Jacob Wobbrock. As a graduate student I received the University of Washington Graduate Student Medal, a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, an AT&T Labs Research Fellowship.