1. Introduction: What This Protocol Must Do
1.1 Provide Flexibility for Users (User Interfaces For All)
1.2 Provide IT Accommodation of People with Disabilities
The following is exerpted from an editorial [1] given by Constantine Stephanidis at the 1995 inaugural of the User Interfaces for All (UI4ALL) Working Group in the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM):
"The proliferation of computer-based systems and applications in every walk of life and the anticipated widespread use of emerging telematic services has introduced new dimensions to the issue of human-machine interaction, necessitating the design of high quality user interfaces accessible and usable by a diverse user population with different abilities, requirements and preferences. This user population at large, includes people with different cultural, educational, training and employment background, novice and experienced computer users, the very young and the elderly and people with different types of disabilities. Thus, it has become increasingly important to design human-machine interfaces, which not only support more efficient and effective user interaction, but also address the individual end user needs, requirements, skills and expectations, while exhibiting a wide range of `intelligent' and `cooperative' behaviour.
"One of the domains of tele-informatics research and development, which has recently emerged, concerns the development of methodologies, tools, applications and services which support the socio-economic integration and independent living of people with disabilities. In particular, the potential of the emerging telematic network infrastructure, offers new possibilities for the socio­economic integration of people with disabilities and can be exploited to facilitate direct access to the general purpose telematic terminals, services and applications. Issues related to the human­computer interaction, i.e. rendering the user interface accessible and usable also by users with functional limitations are of considerable importance and relevance.
"Currently, the plethora of existing methodologies and development tools for producing the user interface of such services and applications do not directly address the broad range of issues related to their accessibility by the various categories of disabled people. Therefore, `alternative' solutions for people with special needs have to be provided in order to support accessibility to the same computer­based systems and services and applications. Until now, these solutions were `adaptations', i.e. ad hoc and intuitive modifications targeted to addressing a particular access problem for a particular user (group).
"However, novel architectures and schemes for the design and implementation of development tools, may facilitate the construction of User Interfaces of services and applications, which are `inherently' accessible by all user categories. More recent work is seeking to address such issues through activities based on the principles of `design for all' and `universal accessibility'. Emerging technological advances can be exploited to design systems and tools which refine and extend the current state of the art in interface design, and support the development of user-tailored and (technological) platform-independent interfaces. This implies the development of user interfaces which can utilise the broad range of lexical interaction technologies and benefit from user-adaptability at design time and/or system supported adaptation at run-time (i.e. adaptive behaviour) according to the particular end­user abilities, requirements and preferences."
Additionally, governments, industry and academia have increased their focus on the importance of the human machine interface in the global information economy. More effective, efficient and natural human computer or computer mediated human­human interaction will require automated understanding and generation of multimedia, and will rely upon precise information about the user, discourse, task and context.
The importance of the computer in the everyday life of the individual is growing. It is becoming the vehicle by which a person gets information from the government, orders merchandise, and manages bank accounts. Access to a computer will be mandatory in the foreseeable future just to be able to transact the day-to-day business of life - and the rate of at which we are moving in that direction is accelerating.
To those individuals with limitations on their capacity to use some of their faculties - whether due to age, birth, or accident - this growth is a threat. It potentially isolates them from their communities. If they cannot communicate with the tools upon which others depend, their capacity to participate in society and the economy is diminished.
Alternatives to seeing the computer screen, using the mouse, and typing on the keyboard are emerging. Voice recognition is able to understand continuous speech, eye-trackers can control cursor positioning, and screen readers use synthesized speech to make visual information available to the sightless. Connecting these devices to popular applications is problematic, however.
Project Archimedes [2], a research project based at Stanford University, has established an architecture, the Total Access System (TAS), that provides a mechanism for resolving this "disconnect." The architecture separates the devices that compensate for a disability from the application that provides the application functionality. A compensating device, called a "Personal Accessor," might be a speech-recognition subsystem that can functionally substitute for a keyboard, or it might be a head-tracking device that simulates a mouse. These accessors need to be easily interfaced with different manufacturers' computers; the Project Archimedes team has defined a "smart interface", called a Total Access Port (TAP), that allows a single accessor to be used with a variety of computers and device controllers. The protocol and architecture whose requirements are described in this document generalize the Archimedes Total Access System.
In general, the participants in developing the assistive technology market have not been the major manufacturers of computing equipment, but rather specialists in this technology domain. The process of moving these products to the mainstream will depend on the joining of these smaller companies and the larger IT vendors on a partnering basis.
IT companies must find sustainable reasons to steer technology in a direction that provides access to computing for those with disabilities. Such a motivation could come from market opportunity. The market is expanding with both new users with disability, and new uses for this technology for the current non-disabled users.
According to PCEPD, the 54 million Americans with disabilities have a combined income of 700 billion dollars. Of that figure, 175 billion represents discretionary income. The fact that almost thirty percent of American families have at least one member with a disability means that there will be a significant market for assistive technology and accessible computing. The demographics of age are changing. In 1997, 12 percent of Americans were 65 years of age and older and 50% had some level of disability. By 2030, the number of older Americans with disabilities will almost double, and half the population will be over 65 years of age.
The march of technology makes possible appliances that yesterday were only science-fiction dreams. Development of assistive technology is a catalyst for discovery of new ways to make computing easier for everyone. An alternative use for voice synthesis application using a screen reader - essential for a blind person - might help a technician with busy eyes. Voice recognition is useful for a worker with busy hands, and it is crucial for someone without any hands. An eye-tracking pointing device is useful for many applications and mandatory for some physically challenged individuals. Thus, the size of the market for any assistive technology is not confined to those with disabilities: It includes others that have special needs due to new applications of computing in the workplace and the home.
The "new users" enabled by accessible Information Technology, when added to these new uses, comprise the yet-to-be-tapped market of accessible technology. And there will be ripples of new business opportunity on top of this technology. The continuing cost erosion in the industry allows for affordable solutions for people with disabilities. One implication of Moore's law is that in 18 months, the cost of computing functionality will be half of what it is today. Applying this thinking to assistive technology suggests that it is time to focus on the marketplace for individuals with disabilities. Free enterprise will reward the stockholders of companies that address this market. At the same time, IT can deliver on its promise that it has held out to the world - namely to make life richer for even larger numbers of users.
To gain creative solutions and not freeze the technology at a single point in time, it will be important that regulators and legislators allow the marketplace to drive the necessary solutions. Providing an environment that can allow the marketplace to move toward resolution of the tension between explosive development and cost reduction in Information Technology and the need for solutions for disabled users to endure this rapid change is the goal of this architecture effort. An architecture which couples assistive technology to the computers of today and to tomorrow's ubiquitous computers is necessary to let the assistive technology and the PC and embedded computer technologies evolve independently without compromising their connectability.
The final piece of this puzzle involves partners. Finding, developing, and joining business with companies that are ready to move these technologies into the market will mean that regulators and legislators, as well as the marketplace, will see rapid progress toward accommodation for more customers. An architecture that allows partners to join their technologies will mean a more cost-effective approach to joining their ventures.