Understanding Wheelchair Users' Preferences for On-Body, In-Air, and On-Wheelchair Gestures

We present empirical results from a gesture elicitation study conducted with eleven wheelchair users that proposed on-body, in-air, and on-wheelchair gestures to effect twenty-one referents representing common actions, types of digital content, and navigation commands for interactive systems. We report a large preference for on-body (47.6%) and in-air (40.7%) compared to on-wheelchair (11.7%) gestures, mostly represented by touch input on different parts of the body and hand poses performed in mid-air with one hand. Following an agreement analysis that revealed low consensus (≤ 5.5%) between users, although high perceived gesture ease, goodness, and social acceptability within users, we examine our participants’ gesture characteristics in relation to their self-reported motor impairments, e.g., low strength, rapid fatigue, etc. We highlight the need for personalized gesture sets, tailored to and reflective of both users’ preferences and specific motor abilities, an implication that we examine through the lenses of ability-based design.