Here’s a great little animation about alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) tools: who should be in charge of them, and for what purpose. It may be a little hard for non-experts to decode, but it makes a clear case for AAC as an expressive medium designed for its user, not a clinical medium designed for its professional.
We know that all the assistive technology compatibility and built-in accessibility features don’t mean a thing if the user never learns about them. Retail has often been the Bermuda Triangle of accessibility. The bottom-line fever of the undertrained, commission-driven sales staff makes customized service unlikely. Now Computers Made Easy in Fort Worth offers another model of retail. It caters to people with disabilities and the rest of us who nervously wonder if we can operate the latest gadget or program. The name alone is relaxing! Let’s hope this becomes a chain, and reminds its big box brethren that customers come in all shapes and sizes.
Computer store bridges technology gap for seniors and disabled - Fort Worth Business Press
I watched Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” last night. For those who haven’t seen the movie, Clint plays an aging bigot in a shifting neighborhood who gets caught up in gang violence after his wife’s death. Clint’s crusty persona sprays bitter contempt onto the changing world around him as his own health fails.
There’s a scene with his son and daughter-in-law on his birthday that stayed on my mind. They arrive with presents: a reacher and a big-button phone. Needless to say, Clint does not express his appreciation; his subsonic growl builds as they cautiously suggest moving to an assisted living facility. We don’t get to see Clint’s explosion, but we do see the pair hurriedly leaving in exasperation at their own attempt to reach out to him.
My first reaction, of course, was “Thanks, Eastwood, you dipstick, for thoughtlessly stigmatizing accessibility and usability to score shallow cinematic points! Just what the world needs, another portrayal of comfort and convenience as sissified and demeaning.” I slept the righteous sleep of the professionally self-justified.
I awoke less so. People on the receiving end of our beneficence *do* have reactions of reluctance, resistance, and rejection. Are they all dysfunctional fools, or are they just paying resentful attention to the social markers invisibly embossed on every manufactured object? If an upscale watch means “I’m stylish and rich”, what does a reacher mean? And what does giving someone a reacher mean?
When “practitioners” look at a reacher we see an elegant interaction between the sophisticated, painstaking domains of clinical insight and design excellence, and we’re right. It’s just that someone else looking at it sees a prop for a tragedy, and they’re right, too.
I’m sure we’re all doing as much as we can to trim the stigmatic overtones from highly usable and assistive products, and I wouldn’t want anyone to slack off because those efforts are not always rewarded with elder-glee. But I think we’d better pay more attention to how the recipient views the exchange. Sometimes it’s not the chrome-plated heart of the gadget I can’t do without; it’s the chrome-plated face on the dipstick who gives it to me.
No matter where you stand politically, this campaign ad video shows the real-life, everyday need for more and better accessible technology.
Ubisoft, maker of many popular games, has implemented a policy of captioning all of its internally developed titles. This will add text to all gameplay screens. Is it an option? A default? Will it include sound effects? Stay tuned…
But wait — there’s more! Ubisoft works with Handicap International to support abilitytogether, an online resource on disability, which includes a game called Handigo that simulates disabilities to build awareness.
Gamasutra - Ubisoft Backs Hearing-Disabled Gamers With Subtitles Initiative
San Francisco is considering a law that would require TVs in public locations (lobbies, restaurants, airports, etc.) to display captions at all times. What a great idea, and why not? The capability is already built in, and this would provide a robust channel for communicating with deaf and hard of hearing people about emergencies, at the very least. But don’t fine the scofflaws; make them wear a scarlet ASL instead!