Accessible Technology

With the baby boomer generation now well into their fifth decade, America is comprised of millions of people whom are experiencing declining health, resulting in an inability to interact with technology in the way that the vast majority of younger generations can. According to the US Labor Department, those fifty-five and older traverse thirteen percent of the US workforce, and this number is expected to continue rising. However, because of their declining health, how are older generations expected to maintain the level of work expected of them if they no longer have the ability to read what is on their computer screen at fifty, much less several years down the road (1)? Many working-age adults have various visual, dexterity, and hearing impairments which undoubtedly impact their ability to interact with modern technology.

Working-age adults (18-64 years old) were the focus of a recent study done for Microsoft by Forrester Research, Inc., finding that twenty-seven percent have a visual impairment, twenty-six percent have a dexterity impairment, and twenty-one percent have a hearing impairment (2). An estimated fifty-four million Americans have one or more disabilities (6). Recognizing these impairments, many technology-based companies are striving to meet the demand of the emerging market of accessible technology, spanning both hardware and software (2).

Companies, such as IBM, have been taking steps to make their products easily modified for physical impairments. IBM’s Mouse Smoothing Software, for example, helps people prone to tremors able to use a mouse more effectively. Home Page Reader will read web content aloud in a multitude of languages so the blind can overcome computing obstacles. Easy Web Browsing allows color, contrast, and font size to be altered while surfing the web. Web Adaptation Technology allows users to customize the way computer content is displayed as well as changing the way information is entered on a standard keyboard (3). All of these are just a few of the efforts made by IBM to innovate the computing experience for those whom live with disabilities, however, IBM is not the only company to recognize the emerging need for accessible computing.

Microsoft and Apple are following suit by providing more customizable and adaptive features to their operating systems. Both provide simple screen readers along with their OS’s out of the box. Furthermore, Madelyn Bryant McIntire, director of Microsoft’s Accessible Technology Group claims the next version of Windows will monitor the use of the operating system to automatically notice users with disabilities and attempt to compensate for them.

In addition to Microsoft’s in OS features for the impaired, a slew of other applications have been developed by third party programmers to meet the demand of the emerging market of accessible computing needs. Also, computing service-oriented companies are pitching in on these efforts. For example, Touchtown, Inc., located in Pittsburgh, Pa, is an internet service provider that caters to the needs of impaired users by offering a user interface that has large fonts and a very simple system of checking email and getting news (1).

Those whom program and design graphical user interfaces are also keeping the disabled in mind. In fact, Fitt’s Law, a law of interface design, states the obvious in that the larger and closer an on screen mouse is relative to an on-screen object, the easier it is to click on. GUI designers also seek to make window management easier by creating quick and clear ways to move from one window to the next without confusion. In GUI design the intent is to make every decision made by the interface itself in order to simplify the process of working with technology (5).

Even the Federal Government is addressing the rising concern of accessible computing by enforcing laws under the 1998 Rehabilitation Act, section 508, which requires that all federal government agencies to format and distribute electronic public information that is released in a form that is accessible to people struggling with disabilities (4).

Accessible technology is not simply being looked at out of a special needs basis, however as the field grows and the populations continues to age indefinitely, we find that making computing more accessible doesn’t only benefit the disabled – it benefits everyone.