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.
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 as guidance for low vision users — nice coincidence!
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.
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.
The new version of the Access Wireless website is fantastic — you can search for phones with the features you need by disability category, manufacturer, even wireless carrier. Although not every manufacturer and model shows up, there is lots of detailed information that will definitely help you make a purchasing decision.
So much for the ‘pre-sale’ experience. What about ‘post-sale’? Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to see all the tips and tricks that disabled users have discovered or invented, for each model in the database? And reviews and comparisons by expert consumers? That’d spark an online co-development dialogue, focused on solutions, that could really drive innovation in accessibility.
A recent Pew Internet survey finds that 2% of US adults have a disability that makes using the Internet harder or impossible; 8% of people with disabilities report this problem. There’s some more detail and an online dialogue about the study. Pew will be releasing more reports soon.
Meanwhile, the UK Ofcom 2009 report on consumer experience finds that 7% of the total population, and about 20% of people with disabilities, have difficulty using a computer (which is not quite the same as the Internet, of course, but pretty close).
There may be many reasons for the disparity, but both studies are moving us closer to what industry and advocates need: a clear picture of how many people are disadvantaged by inaccessible technologies, down to a level of detail that will help designers and consumers.
By the way, another statistical tool that also helps frame the role of design decisions in inclusion is the aptly named Exclusion Calculator from the University of Cambridge Engineering Design Centre.
Update: the Ofcom 2010 Consumer Experience report shows an even disparity between disabled and non-disabled users regarding difficulty using a computer (see Table 206).
