Determining a Taxonomy of Accessible Phrases During Exercise Instruction for People with Visual Impairments for Text Analysis

Physical activity is an important part of quality life, however people with visual impairments (PVIs) are less likely to participate in physical activity than their sighted peers. One barrier is that exercise instructors may not give accessible verbal instructions. There is a potential for text analysis to determine these phrases, and in response provide more accessible instructions. First, a taxonomy of accessible phrases needs to be developed. To address this problem, we conducted user studies with 10 PVIs exercising along with audio and video aerobic workouts. We analyzed video footage of their exercise along with interviews to determine a preliminary set of phrases that are helpful or confusing. We then conducted an iterative qualitative analysis of six other exercise videos and sought expert feedback to derive our taxonomy. We hope these findings inform systems that analyze instructional phrases for accessibility to PVIs.