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Functional issues in physical disabilities

• Paralysis

• Gross motor coordination

• Fine Motor coordination

• Range of motion

• Tremor/spasticity

• Grip strength

• Pain

• Reduced tactile sensitivity

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Difficulties with EIT usage experienced by those with physical disabilities

• Path-of-travel issues (Room layout, furniture adjustability)

• Difficulty manipulating conventional EIT interfaces (i.e. keyboards, mice)

• Difficulty navigating proprietary EIT interfaces (i.e. touch-screens, joysticks, scroll wheels)

• Significantly reduced speed of navigation and text entry

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Assistive technology solutions designed to accommodate physical disabilities

• Hardware

  • Adaptive furniture

  • Adaptive keyboards

  • Adaptive pointing devices

• Software

  • Voice recognition

  • On-Screen keyboards

  • Word prediction-completion

  • Abbreviation expansion

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Relevance of 508 standards on web-based intranet and internet info and applications (1)

• (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided.

  • An accessible example—
    

  • An inaccessible example—
    www.chilis.com/

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Relevance of 508 standards on web-based intranet and internet info and applications (2)

• (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.

  • An accessible example—
    

  • An inaccessible example—
    www.utexas.edu/maps/flash/

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Relevance of 508 standards on web-based intranet and internet info and applications (3)

• (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form.

  • An accessible example—
    www.fullerton.edu/disabledservices/altformatreq_form.asp

  • An inaccessible example—http://www.csupomona.edu/%7Ehousing/conference/forms/confapp/page2.htm

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Relevance of 508 standards on software applications and operating systems (1)

• (a) When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually.

  • An accessible example—Microsoft Word

  • An inaccessible example—iTunes

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Relevance of 508 standards on software applications and operating systems (2)

• (c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes

  • An accessible example—Microsoft Word

  • An inaccessible example—iTunes

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Relevance of 508 standards on software applications and operating systems (3)

• (d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation, and state of the element shall be available to assistive technology…

  • An accessible example—Microsoft Word

  • An inaccessible example—Multivalent

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Conclusions

• Even if all EIT products were built with universal design elements, the interoperability of these products with AT tools will still be vital

  • Technology will always expand into new markets formats

  • Many persons with disabilities will continue to require individually tailored accommodations—something only AT tools can provide

  • For the foreseeable future, this interoperability will therefore remain the single most important factor in ensuring the accessibilty of EIT-based products/services.

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