robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com (Robert Jaquiss) (05/13/91)
Index Number: 15522
This article is reprinted with the permission of Linda Helgerson,
President of CD-ROM ENDuser, Disc Magazine, and CE-ROM End User.
It is intended for the use in the CBFB magazine. Any other
reprinting must be authorized by Ms. Helgerson.
Getting Into The Act
by Joseph J. Lazzaro, Talking Computer Systems
When President George Bush signed the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA) into law, he granted sweeping independence
to millions of Americans who were previously denied equal rights
under the Constitution -- the physically challenged.
Now men, women and children who suffer from all sorts of
disabilities can enjoy equal rights under Federal mandate, as the
ADA will reinforce previous edicts regarding hiring of the
handicapped, as well as the purchase of adaptive equipment. The
ADA will also reinforce the adaptive technology industry, and
become a tremendous financial windfall to companies directly or
indirectly involved with adaptive technology or the provision of
consulting or other services for the special needs community. The
ADA will also force the Federal Government to purchase only
equipment that is adaptable to the disabled, and will deny the
government any and all equipment that does not fit this strict
bill.
Since optical disc technology, specifically CD-ROM, offers
so much potential, it will undoubtedly be a favored player among
the disabled and those serving them, unless, of course, vendors
producing optical discs choose to ignore the new pro-disabled
regulations.
A Brief History
Throughout the annals of civilization, the disabled have
traditionally been relegated to lives of isolation, and have been
denied education and employment. A disabled person born in the
last century often faced a life of total isolation, had no
friends or even the possibility of a meaningful career. If a
family had great wealth, they might pay to make the life of their
disabled child easier, but there would be little in the way of
useful work for that person to do, not without the aid of
technology that would not come until the middle decades of the
20th Century.
Throughout the distant and recent past, the disabled were
often left to die or rot because life was cheap, and parents
could always have another child to replace the "defective" one.
Much of the help given to the disabled came in the form of
charities, who provided menial jobs. These so-called jobs were
often restricted to basket weaving or chair caning, and certainly
very few of these chores would allow a disabled person to fully
fend for him or herself.
The issue of equal money for equal work is of great interest
to the disabled, who often require more ready cash to lead their
lives than do the able bodied, because it is simply more
expensive to live with a disability. There are many "life
support" items to pay for, such as taxi rides to work, the care
and feeding of a guide dog and the expensive adaptive equipment
to make the "playing" field more level. A good job is important
to us all, but it is more important to the disabled because the
job does not merely represent money -- but rather a verification
that the person is worth something to society.
The newly signed Americans With Disabilities Act is designed
to "establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of
discrimination on the basis of disability." The act will also
funnel lots of money and development work into the adaptive
technology arena, which will be a great boon to companies
providing adaptive hardware, software or consulting services. The
act will serve some 43 million individuals who are designated as
disabled in one form or another by the U.S. Congress. These
disabilities include persons who are blind, deaf, motor disabled
or individuals who suffer from diseases such as AIDS. Most often
these disabilities are combined with other problems.
It was not until very recently that the disabled began to
enjoy the chance to lead truly productive lives. This is not
because that the 20th Century has achieved some higher social
order. It is merely because the technology to truly assist the
disabled has come to us in the form of the microcomputer. The PC
has altered the face of the rehabilitation field more than all
the past achievements put together, and the mainstream devices
that connect to these computers, such as CD-ROMs, are often
making unknown contributions to this electronic Bill Of Rights.
How CD-ROM Can Help
CD-ROM can be of great benefit to the disabled in general,
offering much that bulk storage of printed text never could
accomplish. With optical discs the disabled can have access to
standard printed texts, right alongside their non-disabled
counterparts, without having to wait for transcription services,
which can take weeks or months at best.
The blind and visually impaired have always had serious
problems in obtaining timely and accurate information. The dozens
of man-hours it takes to transcribe printed books into braille or
onto audio cassette tape or large print is considerable. The
existence of CD-ROM means that the blind do not have to wait for
the transcribing process to take place. The CD-ROM can be
accessed directly via speech, large print or braille systems,
running on an adapted personal computer. The blind can thus enjoy
immediate access to the printed word, bypassing clumsy braille or
large print books altogether. But the blind are not the only ones
left out in the cold when it comes to printed information.
If an individual is confined to a wheelchair or has limited
hand control or movement, holding a printed textbook might be
absolutely out of the question. The individual might have perfect
vision to read the text, but his or her hands and arms are simply
not strong or coordinated enough to deal with a heavy dictionary
or encyclopedia. So what is the answer? Simply connect a CD-ROM
drive to a personal computer, adapt that PC with specialized
point-and-shoot devices for the disabled and the personal
computer becomes an accessible library of information. These
point-and-shoot devices employ head- or hand-controlled mice to
allow the motor impaired person to use a "virtual keyboard"
instead of the standard one. This virtual keyboard can be
displayed on the screen, and the individual simply clicks on the
desired character or command he or she wants to execute. The
motor disabled can also use voice recognition to control CD-ROM
systems, bypassing the mouse and keyboard altogether. The motor
disabled can thus move around a thick and heavy reference manual,
without having to hold a ten-pound volume. If a CD-ROM drive that
is capable of holding multiple disks is employed, then the user
can access a virtual library of information, without having to
handle even a single sheet of paper.
There are tens of thousands of individuals with learning
disabilities of all types in the United States. Some persons are
slow learners, visual learners or audio learners. Many of these
people are unable to deal with printed books, even if they have
the vision to read them. They simply cannot understand material
presented in a visual fashion, and require recorded books on
cassette tape to act as a learning tool. There are many
individuals who do not retain or understand classroom lectures,
because they are visual learners, and best benefit from pictures
and graphic images.
The CD-ROM is certainly an equal opportunity medium,
offering text, graphics, speech, music, all presented in parallel
on the same disc. Learning disabled users can feast their eyes
and ears and other senses on full text, graphics, speech and
moving images to make the learning process most beneficial.
The deaf and hard of hearing daily confront the barriers to
communication with the hearing world, because they cannot easily
perceive the spoken word. The deaf thus rely very heavily on
American Sign Language for communication, a dialect based on
complex hand signals. The deaf also lip read for communication,
in order to interact with the hearing world. The deaf have
clearly been denied full access to the printed word, but this is
rapidly changing, thanks to the new teaching methods and the
personal computer. The PC, for the first time, allows the deaf to
interact in a group setting on equal terms. This is accomplished
with a network, where each user can participate with his or her
own window on the video screen. The previous language barriers,
which have forced the deaf into isolation, appear to be melting
away. The tremendous storage density of CD-ROM will add greatly
to this new flood of information, as it could lead to multimedia
texts printed in standard print and Sign Language at the same
time.
Hyper Able Database CD-ROM
If you've ever wanted to locate an adaptive device for a
disabled person, you will find that many companies producing this
technology are small and hard to find, but a special research
project may be changing the face of that forever with an optical-
based database of adaptive equipment. The Trace Center is an
technology research and development project, operating out of the
University of Wisconsin at Madison, WI. The Trace Center provides
consultation on the world of adaptive technology and provides
this information to disabled individuals and professionals as
well. The task of locating and selecting a piece of adaptive
equipment has always been a difficult one. This is mainly because
many companies providing adaptive technology do not have a great
deal of capital devoted towards mass advertising. This results in
disabled persons and those serving them being left unaware of
products and services that could change their lives immeasurably.
The Hyper Able Database is one CD-ROM that is going a long
way towards bridging the gap between information and the
individual. The Hyper Able Database is compatible with the Apple
Macintosh computer system, and is written in the HyperCard
programming language. The database contains references to over
17,000 products for the disabled. These adaptive devices include
speech synthesis boards for blind computer users, voice
recognition devices for the motor disabled, telecommunications
equipment for the deaf and hard of hearing, low technology items
to aid in cooking or daily living, as well as adapted educational
and leisure products. These devices can be as simple as a special
gripper to hold a writing instrument to complete robotic
workstations. The entire database can be searched, choices can be
made and the information can be printed out on any standard
printer.
The Hyper Able Database also has some other interesting
features. In addition to being able to print and display the
contents of its database, the product is able to speak with an
unlimited vocabulary, allowing blind and partially sighted users
full access to the database. The system can also be brought up in
a large print format, allowing those with some remaining vision
to read the screens. The system can also combine the speech and
large print environment, providing for full access to the wealth
of information. The CD-ROM is also compatible with most braille
printers currently on the market. The Trace Center claims that it
will have an MS-DOS version of the database within 12 months, and
they are selling the complete Apple Macintosh version for $50.00
with one update per year.
The Future and the Fear
It is obvious that CD-ROM has already changed the lives of
many disabled individuals, and will undoubtedly make even greater
progress as the technology continues to grow and expand. As more
and more material is published on CD-ROM, the more secure will be
the footing of the disabled. This statement may give the reader
the impression that the future is all sweetness and light. This
could not be further from the truth. The CD-ROM industry, which
is closely tied to the mainstream computer business, is changing
the type of interface being written to many of its products.
The graphical user interface may cause the totally blind
user to lose the access gained over the past 10 years. Graphical
user interfaces currently cannot be used with current voice
synthesizer technology. The bulk of blind users employing
computers also employ speech as their primary access method,
which will effectively shut these users out of the market. They
will either have to cease using personal computers or go back to
using the older style text-based programs, resulting in their
achieving second class status in the job and education market.
The partially sighted do not have as bleak an outlook as do the
totally blind in terms of the graphical user interface. The
current crop of large print processing equipment can interpret
graphics with little problem.
On the other hand, the graphical user interface may be of
keen interest to the deaf user, who has traditionally thrived in
a highly visual environment. The motor disabled user will
undoubtedly find the mouse-driven, graphical user interface a
great time saver and productivity booster, based on the savings
in keystrokes offered by these visually oriented programs. But if
all disabilities are to profit from adaptive and mainstream
technology, then all must be considered in the scheme of things.
One disability group must not be left out in the cold so that
another can leap ahead.
In order to confront many of these potential stumbling
blocks head on, I propose that a standards conference be convened
between the mainstream and adaptive vendors. This could be an
excellent forum for the adaptive and mainstream markets to come
together, and it could be highly profitable for both groups.
Again, the Federal Government is hereby disallowed from
purchasing any equipment that is not adaptable to the disabled.
It is in the direct interest of the mainstream players to see to
it that their products are accessible. I admit that making a
current product accessible to the disabled might be expensive,
but it is far less expensive to build in the adaptive hooks in
the beginning, rather than trying to patch together a half-baked
adaptation after the product has been on the market for months or
years. If this conference were to become a reality, then we might
be able to look forward to equality for all disabled Americans.