Inclusive Technologies

Health Care Kiosks Popping Up Everywhere?

Jim Tobias — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:35:17 +0000

HealthSpot is preparing to offer large, enclosed health care kiosks in public locations so people can access their records, their physicians, and other medical services from anywhere. What a great idea! These virtual clinics could be in pharmacies, airports, college campuses, rural libraries, even in developing countries. We’re hoping that enough attention is being paid to usability and accessibility in the design, as this product sits in a market and policy hotspot — there’s lots of attention right now on making both kiosks and health IT as inclusive as possible.

AFB Publishes Another Worthwhile Study of “Consumer Vs. Technology”

Jim Tobias — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:33:49 +0000

The American Foundation for the Blind’s (AFB) AccessWorld has published the results of a new study on barriers encountered by people who are blind or have low vision when they use everyday household and electronic devices. The results include an all-too-familiar list: no speech output, no physical landmarks, and unreadable printed and electronic text. AFB wonders if touchscreens and small displays are actually making these products less accessible, and it’s hard to argue against that.

AFB surveyed 2 groups of people: a random sample of American households, screened for vision loss; and a sample of people who had previous contact with AFB. Read the article to see the interesting ways in which these 2 groups differed in demographics and in technology use.

The Cost of Hearing Loss

Jim Tobias — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:20:01 +0000

Not a rigorous economic analysis, but a powerful consumer statement about hearing loss, technology, and what it takes to keep communication functioning. Another reminder that technology is only part of the picture — it’s those human beings who cause all the trouble!

ESPN Explains Captioning

Jim Tobias — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:32:11 +0000

Here’s an example of how to approach accessibility: with enthusiasm and professionalism. This ESPN video of how they do captioning takes a regulatory requirement and makes it part of the everyday excitement of producing live video content for a huge, … Continue reading →

New Accessibility Videos on YouTube

Jim Tobias — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:17:22 +0000

David Banes, the Deputy Chief Executive of Mada, the Assistive Technology Center in Qatar, has some great videos up on YouTube. Some are entertaining animations of blog posts, some show the Center and its clients, and one, “The Clock is Ticking” is a great advocacy piece about disability in the developing world.

Bravo! We need lots more like this — clean, simple explanations of why disability matters and how accessibility can help.

Consumer Accessibility Experts Are … Experts!

Jim Tobias — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:47:29 +0000

A recent post on the great Fred’s Head blog (from the American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. — APH) points out that many companies and organizations seem to expect accessibility help from blind consumers for free. No doubt! One reason is that accessibility is as much a social movement as it is a field of technological expertise, and our evangelical zeal leads us to offer our advice freely, hoping that our audience will be ‘converted’ and join our movement. But even churches need money to sustain themselves. The technological expertise that some consumers have gained took time and effort on their part, and in order for it to continue and develop, it must be supported somehow. The companies and organizations that benefit from accessibility guidance have learned how to pay for other consulting services, and they should be encouraged to pay for this one.

There’s another side to the equation, though. Here’s what I’ve seen and heard about consumer experts that can undercut their otherwise righteous claim of professionalism:

“I have disability X; I speak for all Xers everywhere.” We know there’s a range of severity of all disabilities, plus lots of individual differences in how people want to achieve access. Learning about this diversity will improve your ability to provide the good advice your clients deserve.
“I have disability X; I speak for people with disability Y and Z.” You client may need advice across all disabilities. Learning about other disabilities and their typical needs and preferences increases your value greatly.
“I won’t be satisfied until accessibility is as important to you as it is to me.” Your client may only be trying to make small accessibility improvements because accessibility is not their mission, which is selling more stuff, getting more members, whatever. They have many other things to be concerned about in the course of their work. The more you respect their mission and the way they go about it, the more valuable your services are.

Why Not Open-Source Orphan Products?

Jim Tobias — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:34:40 +0000

Phillip Torrone of MAKE Magazine argues cogently that companies that are abandoning products should release information about them that would aid follow-on developers and tinkerers. This makes a lot of sense, and there’s an accessibility angle. Many products that are especially useful to people with disabilities abruptly disappear from the market, when hobbyists and even AT companies would be glad to give them a second chance.

Info on Mobile Phone Screen Resolution

Jim Tobias — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:28:42 +0000

From a site about cartooned phone wallpapers, here’s a complete listing of mobile phones and their screen resolution. Their mainstream users need that info so they know which cartoon image will fit their phone; we can use the same info … Continue reading →

Apple Adds Peer Support for All Products

Jim Tobias — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:53:12 +0000

Apple has added a way for its users to ask and answer questions about every Apple product, called Apple Support Communities.You can search by product, even in context, such as ‘iPad in the Enterprise’. This is a great way for companies to empower their users and multiply their support resources. There’s a pretty good accessibility payoff as well: the site is accessible and usable, and it’s easy to find product tips and tricks for users with different disabilities. Expert users with disabilities often know more about the ins and outs of products than the manufacturers’ product managers do — many companies keep a close eye on blogs and listservs for this useful info as well as consumer opinions. Giving those experts a way to share their expertise makes Apple even smarter.

Snarky Gizmodo Post Gets Slammed in Comments

Jim Tobias — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:50:19 +0000

If you’re not familiar with Gizmodo, you should be — it’s one of the few tech trend sites that are always worth a visit. Except perhaps for today, when an off-target post sneered at a perfectly reasonable piece of assistive technology. But check out the comments! It looks as if the idea of easy-to-use gadgets has a few more advocates than the original author might have thought.

Sidenote: has anyone else detected a whiff of vilification in some references to people who use mobility scooters appearing at Tea Party events? Politics aside, unless you know the individuals involved, it may not be fair to characterize them as ‘obese’ or ‘hypocritical’ about Medicare.