Not Seeing the Whole Picture: Challenges and Opportunities in Using AI for Co-Making Physical DIY-AT for People with Visual Impairments

TL;DR

This paper explores how large language models can assist people with visual impairments in creating personalized assistive technology through DIY methods, addressing current barriers and design challenges.

Contribution

It presents an exploratory study demonstrating the potential of LLM-based AI to support PVI in tangible DIY-AT co-making, highlighting key challenges and opportunities.

Findings

Need for enhanced spatial and visual support for PVI

Strategies to mitigate AI errors in assistive design

Implications for accessible AI-assisted prototyping

Abstract

Existing assistive technologies (AT) often adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, overlooking the diverse needs of people with visual impairments (PVI). Do-it-yourself AT (DIY-AT) toolkits offer one path toward customization, but most remain limited--targeting co-design with engineers or requiring programming expertise. Non-professionals with disabilities, including PVI, also face barriers such as inaccessible tools, lack of confidence, and insufficient technical knowledge. These gaps highlight the need for prototyping technologies that enable PVI to directly make their own AT. Building on emerging evidence that large language models (LLMs) can serve not only as visual aids but also as co-design partners, we present an exploratory study of how LLM-based AI can support PVI in the tangible DIY-AT co-making process. Our findings surface key challenges and design opportunities: the need for greater spatial and visual support, strategies for mitigating novel AI errors, and implications for designing more accessible AI-assisted prototypes.