Artificial Intelligence and Accessibility: An Inclusion Experience for Blind Programmers in Development Environments
Abstract
This article explores the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to enhance accessibility and productivity in teaching programming to blind students. Using environments such as VS Code and Repl.it, the intervention assessed challenges and successes through questionnaires and interviews with blind programmers, comparing problem-solving with and without Artificial Intelligence. The results identified barriers, such as navigation difficulties and limitations in screen readers, alongside suggestions for improvements. This report provides insights for educators to replicate or adapt the intervention, encouraging the use of AI for more inclusive programming education.References
Albusays, K., Ludi, S., and Huenerfauth, M. (2017). Interviews and observation of blind software developers at work to understand code navigation challenges. In Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pages 91–100.
Alizadehsani, Z., Gomez, E. G., Ghaemi, H., González, S. R., Jordan, J., Fernández, A., and Pérez-Lancho, B. (2022). Modern integrated development environment (ides). In Corchado, J. M. and Trabelsi, S., editors, Sustainable Smart Cities and Territories, pages 274–288, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Amin, N., Saeed, A., Khalid, A., Usman, M., and Akram, F. (2024). Comparative study between jaws® and nvda® in academic performance of students with visual impairment. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 0(0):02646196241255889.
Chemnad, K. and Othman, A. (2024). Digital accessibility in the era of artificial intelligence—bibliometric analysis and systematic review. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 7.
dos Santos Soares, M., Furukawa, C. A., Cagnin, M. I., and Paiva, D. M. B. (2024). Accessibility barriers for blind students in teaching-learning systems. J. Univers. Comput. Sci., 30:1342–1370.
Inhelder, B. and Piaget, J. (1976). Da lógica da criança à lógica do adolescente: ensaios sobre a construção das estruturas operatórias formais.
Khasawneh, M. (2023). Digital inclusion: Analyzing social media accessibility features for students with visual impairments. Studies in Media and Communication, 12(1):71.
Mountapmbeme, A., Okafor, O., and Ludi, S. (2022). Addressing accessibility barriers in programming for people with visual impairments: A literature review. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 15(1):1–26.
Pandey, M. (2023). Accessibility of Collaborative Programming for Blind and Visually Impaired Developers. Master’s thesis, University of Michigan.
Pandey, M., Kameswaran, V., Rao, H. V., O’Modhrain, S., and Oney, S. (2021). Understanding accessibility and collaboration in programming for people with visual impairments. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW1):1–30.
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books, Inc., USA.
Petrausch, V. and Loitsch, C. (2017). Accessibility analysis of the eclipse ide for users with visual impairment. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 242:922–929.
Potluri, V., Vaithilingam, P., Iyengar, S., Vidya, Y., Swaminathan, M., and Srinivasa, G. (2018). Codetalk: Improving programming environment accessibility for visually impaired developers. In Proceedings of the 2018 chi conference on human factors in computing systems, pages 1–11.
Seo, J. and Rogge, M. (2023). Coding non-visually in visual studio code: Collaboration towards accessible development environment for blind programmers. In Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Sribunruangrit, N., Marque, C., Lenay, C., and Gapenne, O. (2004). Graphic-user-interface system for people with severely impaired vision in mathematics class. In The 26th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, volume 2, pages 5145–5148.
Veiderma Holmberg, R. L. (2021). The impact of ai-based tools on software development work. H2 - master’s degree (two years), Department of Computer Science, Lund University, Sweden. EDAM05 20211.
Wermelinger, M. (2023). Using github copilot to solve simple programming problems. SIGCSE 2023, page 172–178, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Alizadehsani, Z., Gomez, E. G., Ghaemi, H., González, S. R., Jordan, J., Fernández, A., and Pérez-Lancho, B. (2022). Modern integrated development environment (ides). In Corchado, J. M. and Trabelsi, S., editors, Sustainable Smart Cities and Territories, pages 274–288, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Amin, N., Saeed, A., Khalid, A., Usman, M., and Akram, F. (2024). Comparative study between jaws® and nvda® in academic performance of students with visual impairment. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 0(0):02646196241255889.
Chemnad, K. and Othman, A. (2024). Digital accessibility in the era of artificial intelligence—bibliometric analysis and systematic review. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 7.
dos Santos Soares, M., Furukawa, C. A., Cagnin, M. I., and Paiva, D. M. B. (2024). Accessibility barriers for blind students in teaching-learning systems. J. Univers. Comput. Sci., 30:1342–1370.
Inhelder, B. and Piaget, J. (1976). Da lógica da criança à lógica do adolescente: ensaios sobre a construção das estruturas operatórias formais.
Khasawneh, M. (2023). Digital inclusion: Analyzing social media accessibility features for students with visual impairments. Studies in Media and Communication, 12(1):71.
Mountapmbeme, A., Okafor, O., and Ludi, S. (2022). Addressing accessibility barriers in programming for people with visual impairments: A literature review. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 15(1):1–26.
Pandey, M. (2023). Accessibility of Collaborative Programming for Blind and Visually Impaired Developers. Master’s thesis, University of Michigan.
Pandey, M., Kameswaran, V., Rao, H. V., O’Modhrain, S., and Oney, S. (2021). Understanding accessibility and collaboration in programming for people with visual impairments. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW1):1–30.
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books, Inc., USA.
Petrausch, V. and Loitsch, C. (2017). Accessibility analysis of the eclipse ide for users with visual impairment. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 242:922–929.
Potluri, V., Vaithilingam, P., Iyengar, S., Vidya, Y., Swaminathan, M., and Srinivasa, G. (2018). Codetalk: Improving programming environment accessibility for visually impaired developers. In Proceedings of the 2018 chi conference on human factors in computing systems, pages 1–11.
Seo, J. and Rogge, M. (2023). Coding non-visually in visual studio code: Collaboration towards accessible development environment for blind programmers. In Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Sribunruangrit, N., Marque, C., Lenay, C., and Gapenne, O. (2004). Graphic-user-interface system for people with severely impaired vision in mathematics class. In The 26th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, volume 2, pages 5145–5148.
Veiderma Holmberg, R. L. (2021). The impact of ai-based tools on software development work. H2 - master’s degree (two years), Department of Computer Science, Lund University, Sweden. EDAM05 20211.
Wermelinger, M. (2023). Using github copilot to solve simple programming problems. SIGCSE 2023, page 172–178, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Published
2025-04-07
How to Cite
SANTOS, Naiara Silva dos; SANTANA, Danyele de Oliveira; PEREIRA, Claudia Pinto.
Artificial Intelligence and Accessibility: An Inclusion Experience for Blind Programmers in Development Environments. In: BRAZILIAN SYMPOSIUM ON COMPUTING EDUCATION (EDUCOMP), 5. , 2025, Juiz de Fora/MG.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 502-515.
ISSN 3086-0733.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp.2025.5385.
