The accessibility issues of Groupware applications prevent visually impaired and other persons with disabilities access to these highly graphical interfaces. To address the accessibility issues persons with disabilities have with Groupware, a recent literature review on Groupware accessibility was performed. This paper reviews recent research to identify the accessibility issues; the input devices and output forms utilized to improve accessibility; and, the proposed solutions for Groupware accessibility. The conclusion is that encapsulating or overlaying the Groupware interface with an accessible auditory interface was a common solution to accessibility. Future research is needed in the following areas: guidelines for accessibility; identifying accessibility issues that users with disabilities may face; promoting awareness of the accessibility issues; evaluating groupware accessibility; design of accessible auditory interfaces; system/software support for persons with disabilities working in isolation; support for alternative input and output devices for persons with disabilities.

Collaborative writing applications are widely utilized in organizations to co-author documen ts and jointly exchange ideas. Unfortunately, for persons who are blind, collaborative writing applications are often difficult to acces s and us e. Therefore, this paper presents the results from several usability studies that examined how vis ually able pe rsons and persons who are blind interact with collaborative writing applications, and the accessibility and usability issues they encounter.

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