Accessibility Awareness:
It all Started with a Simple Email.....

Mark E. Novak

Project Engineer, Trace R&D Center
info@trace.wisc.edu
http://trace.wisc.edu/
(608) 262-6966, (608) 263-5408 (tdd)

Michael G. Paciello

Executive Director, Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation
paciello@yuri.org
http://www.webable.com/
(603) 598-9544


Introduction

While reading the Nov./Dec. 1996 issue of the "The X Journal", we came across the following statement regarding GUIs and Computing, "GUIs are the Model T Fords of our industry: they've made computers accessible to everyone." While understanding the comparison, we felt it necessary to caution people that GUIs, in fact, have not made computers more accessible to individuals with visual impairments, especially those who are blind. After sending an email to The X Journal editor, Charles Bowman regarding our concern, Charles asked if we'd like to develop an article to examine the issues in more detail.

With that short introduction, in the remainder of this article will discuss the term "disability" and introduce you to some computer accessibility related terminology. In later articles, we hope to cover specific examples of accessible software and hardware designs on various computer platforms, as well as guidelines for making products more accessible.


Why the Need for Disability Awareness?

It has been estimated that over 30 million people in the United States have disabilities or functional limitations (of which a major cause is aging) [KS89]. In addition, as the post World War II Baby Boom generation ages, the trend towards an aging consumer population with age- related functional limitations is increasing. While estimates do vary, individuals who are disabled or have functional limitations as a result of injury, illness or aging, ranges from 12 to 20% of the population. However, when dealing with age alone, for those surviving to age 65, the number who will have functional limitations rises to 45% of the population according to U.S. statistics [Van90].

The seriousness implied by these significant percentages should not go unnoticed on the employer and consumer mass markets. The 1990 paper "Thirty-Something Million: Should They Be Exceptions?" summarizes statistics regarding the disabled/aging population, looks at situations where simple changes in design with the disabled in mind successfully benefit everyone for little or no cost, and also addresses the much larger economic cost of not providing accessible designs [Van90].


What is a disability

When you think of someone you know who has a disability, you may think of someone who is deaf, possibly in a wheelchair, or even someone who is blind. However, the specific causes and types of disability vary widely. To gain a basic understanding of the different kinds of disability, for the remainder of this article, we'll categorize all types of disabilities into four groups or areas of impairment:

It should be noted that this sort of "categorization" doesn't begin to cover the specific causes and/or range of problems associated within the impairment groups. It should also be noted that while trying to provide a brief description of the major causes of disabilities, some persons with certain disabilities may cross multiple categories. For example, someone with a head injury and stroke may have paralysis and memory problems, placing them in both the physical and cognitive impairment areas. One final yet important notation is that not all types of disabilities are necessarily easy to identify. For example, someone with a seizure disorder may not appear to have a disability, yet a seizure could be triggered by the blinking computer cursor we all tend to ignore.


Physical Impairments

People with physical impairments probably represent the largest range of specific disability types. Individuals with a physical impairment may have difficulty with musculoskeletal control, weakness, and fatigue, or they may have neurosensory musculoskeletal dysfunction (e.g., walking, talking, sensing, grasping, reaching) and/or combinations of these activities which require multiple simultaneous actions, such as turning and pushing (e.g., opening of a door using a door knob).

Some major causes of physical impairments include:


Visual Impairments

The visual impairment group would represent people with limited or low vision as well as people who are legally blind. There are an estimated 8.6 million people with visual impairments in the United States of which approximately 580,000 are legally blind. A large percentage of the visually impaired population is elderly.

Visual displays and other visual output cause the most trouble for people with visual impairments. The recent popularity of computer operating systems that employ a graphic or graphical user interface (e.g., GUIs) are particularly troubling to individuals who are blind, since GUIs require the use of eye-to-hand coordination to operate the mouse. Also, things many of us take for granted, such as operating instructions, on-line help manuals, and printed documentation may be difficult to read or unusable at best for someone with a visual impairment.

Many people with visual impairments still have some visual capability and can read with the assistance of magnifiers, brighter lighting, larger lettering using sans-serif typefaces, and high contrast coloring.


Hearing Impairments

The hearing impairment group would represent people who are hard of hearing, as well as people who are deaf. Approximately 22 million people in the United States have a hearing impairment, making it one of the most prevalent disabilities. As with visual impairments, hearing impairments can be found in all age groups, but loss of hearing acuity is part of the natural aging process.

Individuals with a hearing impairment have difficulty using products which provide auditory information (e.g., movie sound track). The presentation of auditory information redundantly in visual or alternative format (e.g., closed captions) or the use of audio amplification devices can sometimes help compensate for the loss of hearing.


Cognitive/Language Impairments

Perhaps the least understood of the four major areas of disabilities are the cognitive/language impairments. Cognitive typically includes such areas as memory, perception, problem-solving, and conceptualizing disabilities. Someone with a cognitive impairment may be unable to remember or to organize their thoughts (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, dementia), or they may have severe retardation.

Language impairments can cause difficulty in comprehension and/or expression of written and/or spoken language. Terms such as expressive or receptive aphasia and dyslexia are often associated with language impairments.


Providing access to computers for individuals with disabilities

Accessibility refers to the ability of people to use the products and environments within their daily lives. For nearly as long as the concept of a "personal" computer has been around, there has also been a need to provide accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Indeed, an entire industry has grown parallel to the personal computer industry, attempting to provide access solutions, using terms like "adaptive or assistive technology" (AT).

Using AT, an individual with a visual impairment may need to use screen magnification software, which can enlarge the character fonts and graphics on the screen for easier viewing. Perhaps that same individual is completely blind and relies on screen reading software, which provides audible output of the visual events on the screen, or perhaps they use a Braille device to both send input to and receive information from the computer. An individual with a physical impairment might utilize AT by wearing a headband which contains an ultrasonic transducer, allowing them to manipulate the mouse cursor and thus replacing the mouse puck which their paralyzed arms cannot operate. Another individual may instruct their favorite multimedia application to include text output or "captions", as they attempt to listen to the melody, despite their reduced hearing capability.

Not all uses of technology or AT should be equated with providing access only for individuals with disabilities. For example, how many of us have used a library computer and listened to audio output by plugging a pair of headphones into the audio output jack? That same audio output jack can provide audio output for a blind individual. As another example, the addition of decoder chips in TVs to provide closed captioning for the hearing impaired has also found its way into the classroom to assist in teaching language skills.

These are just a few examples of the uses of AT. In future articles, we hope to provide you with more detail in several areas. If you design or develop computer software or hardware, we challenge you to consider some of this information and ask yourself whether or not your product is as accessible as it could be. Meanwhile, several sites that can provide you with more information regarding disability, accessibility, AT, and universal design are listed below.


Where can you get more information on the different types of disabilities and issues surrounding access systems


References

[KS89] L. E. Kraus, S. Stoddard, "Chartbook on disability in the United States: An InfoUse report." Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, 1989.

[Van90] G.C. Vanderheiden. "Thirty-Something Million: Should They Be Exceptions?" Human Factors, 32(4), pp. 383-396, 1990.


Acknowledgments

This article is funded in part by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education, under grant #H133E30012.


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