Universal Design and Assistive Technology

1. Universal Design and Assistive Technology Providing access and assistance to people with special needs.

2. Part 4 Presentation • 20 minutes each (including questions) • Load slides onto swiki • Motivation • Requirements • learning from users • Design • learning from prototyping • possible demo • Evaluation • Conclusions • Q&A

3. Motivations • Legal Requirements • Section 508 1973/1986 Rehabilitation Act • 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act • 1/5 Americans have a disability, 1/10 have a severe disability* • Everyone is impaired sometimes • Intriguing interface challenges *2000 US Census Brief

4. Universal design principles • equitable use • flexibility in use • simple and intuitive to use • perceptible information • tolerance for error • low physical effort • size and space for approach and use http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/univ_design/princ_overview.htm

5. Multi-Sensory Systems • More than one sensory channel in interaction • e.g. sounds, text, hypertext, animation, video, gestures, vision • Used in a range of applications: • particularly good for users with special needs, andvirtual reality • Will cover • general terminology • speech • non-speech sounds • handwriting • considering applications as well as principles

6. Multi-modal vs. Multi-media • Multi-modal systems • use more than one sense (or mode ) of interaction e.g. visual and aural senses: a text processor may speak the words as well as echoing them to the screen • Multi-media systems • use a number of different media to communicate information e.g. a computer-based teaching system:may use video, animation, text and still images: different media all using the visual mode of interaction; may also use sounds, both speech and non-speech: two more media, now using a different mode

7. Usable Senses The 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) are used by us every day • each is important on its own • together, they provide a fuller interaction with the natural world Computers rarely offer such a rich interaction Can we use all the available senses? • ideally, yes • practically – no We can use • sight • sound • touch (sometimes) We cannot (yet) use • taste • smell

8. Challenge • Very hard to design a product for everyone • What happens when you can’t? • “Design for all” vs. “Design for most” • Assistive technology • Any item, equipment or system, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a person with a disability

9. Access • Access to GUIs for the blind • speech • Braille • Alternate input devices • sip&puff, single switch

10. Prosthetic • Communication for speech impaired • Sign language translators • Educational software for cognitive impairments

11. Users with disabilities • visual impairment • screen readers, SonicFinder • hearing impairment • text communication, gesture, captions • physical impairment • speech I/O, eyegaze, gesture, predictive systems (e.g. Reactive keyboard) • speech impairment • speech synthesis, text communication • dyslexia • speech input, output • autism • communication, education http://enablemart.com/

12. … plus … • age groups • older people e.g. disability aids, memory aids, communication tools to prevent social isolation • children e.g. appropriate input/output devices, involvement in design process • cultural differences • influence of nationality, generation, gender, race, sexuality, class, religion, political persuasion etc. on interpretation of interface features • e.g. interpretation and acceptability of language, cultural symbols, gesture and colour

13. We’re all disabled • Environment • Fatigue • Injury • Aging • Changing role of information technology

14. Example: Sheila the programmer. She was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in her early 20's. This condition, which results in progressive loss of muscular strength, means that she works from her motorized wheelchair, and is unable to sit upright for more than a brief time. As a result, she works in a reclined position, leaning back almost horizontally. Her vision problems limit the amount of time she can focus on the screen, and her muscular weakness prevents her from handling paper manuals. http://www.sun.com/access/developers/updt.HCI.advance.html#design

15. Another example: Carla the secretary. She has no vision in one eye and "tunnel vision" in the other and prepares documents using a standard PC and screen magnification software. Sometimes she is unable to tell the difference between old and new email messages, because her mail application uses color to distinguish old from new. Like many users with low vision, she has problems working with columns, because it is difficult for her to see if text is aligned. http://www.sun.com/access/developers/updt.HCI.advance.html#design

16. What is a physical disability?

17. Range of Physical Impairments • Complete lack of function • absence of a limb • paralysis – usually due to spinal injury, the higher the damage the greater the degree of paralysis • tetraplegia/quadriplegia – all four limbs • paraplegia – lower limbs only • Lack of strength • Tremor/lack of accuracy • Slowness

18. Keyboard Modifications • Keyguards • Alternative layouts • Reduce movement • One-handed keyboards, possible chords • Membrane surfaces (minimize required pressure)

19. Software Modifications • Sticky keys • Slow keys or disable auto-repeat • Modify keyboard mappings • On-screen keyboards

20. Alternative Input Devices • Speech input • Dictation versus control • Switches • Keyboard has approx 50 switches • Scanning interfaces

21. Possible Switches • Foot pedal • “Leaf” switch – highly sensitive • Sip and puff • Dual switch (can be used for Morse code) • Joy stick • Muscle switch • Neural implant • Eye gaze http://enablemart.com/productdetail.aspx?store=10&pid=581&dept=15

22. Scanning Interfaces

23. Acceleration Techniques • Control macros • Word prediction • Abbreviations

24. Mouse alternatives • Trackball • Proportional joystick • Switched joystick or cursor keys • Head sensor or mouth stick • Eye-gaze • Keyboard only http://enablemart.com/productDetail.aspx?store=10&pid=998&dept=12

25. Vision • Low-vision • Color blindness • Blindness • affordances of different media • interface model • special purpose doesn’t work • challenge of generality

26. Incidence of visual disability • The vast majority of visually disabled people have some sight

27. Myopia and Hypermetropia • Myopia Hypermetropia • (short-sighted) (far-sighted)

28. Macular degeneration

29. Diabetic retinopathy

30. Cataracts

31. Tunnel vision

32. Accommodating Partial Sight • Large monitor, high resolution, glare protection • Control of color and contrast • Control of font size everywhere • Keyboard orientation aids

33. Magnification not always a help ‘Now is the time,’

34. Hardware or Software Magnification • 2 to 16 times • Virtual screen • Viewport, control • Notification of “outside” events • CRTs for physical items http://www.synapseadaptive.com/aisquared/zoomtext_9/zoomtext_9_home_page.htm

35. Accommodating Blind Users • Screen Readers • Full-featured • Cursor-tracking, routing • Dialogue focus • View areas • Auditory or tactile output http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws.asp http://www.webaim.org/simulations/screenreader

36. Screen Reader Output • Braille • Only 10%? • Many Braille codes • Real and virtual displays • Tactile pads • Synthesized speech http://www.mountbattenbrailler.com/

37. Access to Graphical User Interfaces • Capture and model graphical interface • Translate graphical objects • Support efficient and intuitive interaction

38. Hearing • Redundant output • hardware (flashing title bar) • software (text to speech) • An increasing problem? • Population • Phone interfaces

39. Deafness • Communication aids • Sign language • Speech training • Writing aids • Preventable form of mental retardation • Importance of language development • Seeing Voices (Sacks)

40. Sign Language • Sign languages are true languages • Syntax, semantics, pragmatics • Differ dramatically from oral-based languages • Many different sign languages • American (ASL) close to French Sign Language but different than British (BSL) • Signed Exact English for one-to-one translation

41. Minicoms and TDDs • “Universal” telephone technology • Text terminal (keyboard, LED display, modem) • Deaf relay centers • TypeTalk • Automation?

42. Most significant new communication device is… • The mobile phone • …with SMS • Sidekicks, Blackberry, etc. – extremely popular

43. Computing Assistance • Translators • Speech to sign • Sign to speech • Gesture recognition • Need sign language grammars • Video phones • Word processors (Write This Way) • Speech training (Speech Viewer, IBM)

44. Speech & Conversation • Conversation is “a dialogue in which the one taking breath is called the listener” • 150 words/minute • High-speed input for people with limited manual dexterity • Predictive interface, stored phrases, iconic boards • Chat

45. Generating Words

46. Input Techniques • Word boards • Switch input • Scanning techniques • Predictive input

47. Speech Synthesis • Quality of synthetic speech • Similarity to human speech

48. Cognitive Impairments • Memory • Perception • Problem-solving • Learning impairments • redundant input-output, motivation • Language impairments • dyslexia (spelling corrector) • aphasia (symbolic languages) • Everyday impairments - in-place information • Writing Home

49. Impaired Mental Capabilities • Memory • Short or long term, recall and recognition • Perception • Attention, discriminating sensory input • Problem Solving • Recognizing the problem, implementing solutions and evaluation • Concepts • Generalizing, skill development

50. Common Causes • Learning disability • Head injury or stroke • Alzheimer’s • Dementia