Aplicativos de reuniões virtuais on­line e deficiência visual: acessibilidade e possibilidades de uso

Abstract

This research delves into the universe of advances and needs that have arisen during the Covid ­19 pandemic, when there was a huge increase in the use of online virtual meeting applications. Thus, the guiding question is: what are the challenges and limits in relation to the use of online virtual meeting applications, especially when it comes to accessibility for visually impaired users? and the objective: to compare the forms of accessibility between online meeting applications, highlighting the appropriate support tools for visually impaired users. In this way, it is possible to identify accessibility issues for this disability group, who interact with these programmes via keyboard and screen reader. The methodology used was an analysis of the application tools Skype, Discord, Microsoft Teams Zoom and Google Meet, for online virtual meetings. The concept of accessibility is considered an important factor in our research, given the stages involved in creating the software development cycle. In the context of the advancing digital age (Ballantyne et al. 2018), this research is justified by the current need for accessibility for visually impaired users in virtual meeting applications. Due to total or partial loss of vision, visually impaired people feel limited in their daily work in online virtual meeting applications. The results of this research are that software has endeavored to comply with the WCAG guidelines, but there are still many challenges to be faced in order to effectively include users. In conclusion, visually impaired users encounter a number of obstacles that hinder their interaction with the system, and as a result, they face different difficulties.