Fashion-related assistive technologies for visually impaired people: a systematic review

Inclusive fashion has been gaining prominence in Brazil since the creation of the Inclusive Fashion Contest in 2009, which exposed the market potential in the fashion industry involving people with disabilities. This is a business model with great potential, considering that 23.9% of the Brazilian population has some type of disability, with 18.8% having some type of visual impairment, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Thus, the present study aims to identify the state of the art of assistive technologies for people with visual impairments in the field of fashion. As a method, the researchers adapted the Systematic Bibliographic Review Roadmap, identifying 19 relevant articles for analysis and interpretation. As a result of RBS, 30 assistive technology solutions were mapped with a focus on clothing and visual PwD (textile labels in Braille, color codes, smart applications, among others). In addition, the study provides an in-depth look at the barriers, preferences and relationships of the visually impaired with clothing in everyday life, demonstrating that many solutions proposed for this audience do not provide a universal and/or inclusive design.