[gui-talk] Fwd: Article: Some Technology Leaves The Blind Behind

[Steve Pattison]

From: John Rae thepenguin at rogers.com
To: aebc at blindcanadians.ca

Some Technology Leaves The Blind Behind

By Joshua Brockman
NPR Morning Edition, January 30, 2009

For those who can't rely on vision or hearing to guide their navigation 
of
consumer electronics devices, doing simple tasks can become a huge
challenge. Meanwhile, the price of many of the devices created 
specifically
for the blind or deaf is anything but accessible --
and would give most consumers sticker shock.

 As consumer electronics companies race to create more flat screens,
touch-screens and other sleek innovations to woo mainstream consumers,
there's at least one group of people who are not celebrating this trend: 
the
blind and visually impaired.

 For those who can't rely on vision to guide their navigation of 
consumer
electronics devices, doing simple tasks like changing a thermostat's
settings, navigating a playlist on an MP3 player or using a GPS device 
may
require the assistance of a sighted person.

 "The real detriment today are flat screens, flat panels - flat 
everything,"
 says Mike May, the president and chief executive of Sendero Group, a
California-based company that makes accessible Global Positioning System
products for blind and visually impaired people.
"If you can't feel it, that's not a good thing in terms of buttons. If 
it's
all touch control, that obviously doesn't work for a blind person. You 
feel
around and you set things off, which is what would happen on a
touch-screen."

 Compounding the problem: DVD players and other consumer electronics
typically now have onscreen menus in lieu of knobs. And these menus 
don't
typically offer audible feedback or voice prompts.

 "Hundreds of thousands of people on this planet are blind or with low
vision," says recording superstar Stevie Wonder, who has been blind 
since
infancy. He spoke with NPR at the International consumer Electronics 
Show in
Las Vegas earlier this month.

 "So to me, that's enough to say, 'Let's do something about it.' And 
when
you think about how by making things more accessible for those who are
blind, how it would then make them more independent, then for the 
taxpayer
that means less money. I think it's just time for the manufacturers and 
the
companies that are making millions and millions of dollars to get on top 
of
their game and do what they need to do to make it happen."

 High Cost Of Accessible Products
 An accessible product is one that someone can use independently.
Unfortunately, the
 price of many of the devices or software applications created 
specifically
for the blind or deaf is anything but accessible and would give most 
general
consumers sticker shock. A case in point is the KNFB Mobile Reader, 
software
that enables a cell phone to read printed text aloud to a blind person
through synthesized speech. It sells for close to $1,000 not including 
the
cell phone.

 Advocates for accessible technology say they would like to see more
accessible features in mainstream products. The key for manufacturers to
keep costs down is to get feedback from the blind, deaf and others early 
in
the design process, then integrate features to make
 mainstream products accessible.

 Manufacturers, however, also face another challenge: What works for 
someone
who is deaf - such as a touch-screen menu or a flashing light - may be
completely unusable for a blind user. And the beeps or tones that are
helpful for blind people do nothing for a person who is deaf
 or hard of hearing.

 "There's not very many products in the mainstream arena or even in the
accessibility arena that are perfect," May says. "There's always room 
for
improvement. We're on something like our 10th version of our GPS for the
blind, and it's far from perfect.
 But the important thing is we have a dialogue with the customers."

 The menu screens on some gadgets can be especially frustrating. Wonder 
says
it's important for accessible technology to avoid having menus that just 
go
round and round and round. He suggests a musical solution: "If you're 
going
to do that, then maybe put some tones on there and then make the tones 
be in
a scale that once you get to the end of the various menus, it goes back 
to
the lower tones, so that a person knows where they are in the scheme of 
that
screen. And those things to me are very simple to do."

 Showcasing Vision-Free Technology
 At a booth showcasing "vision free" products at the Las Vegas show,
accessible technology experts gathered to demonstrate a handful of 
products
developed with features that make them accessible for the blind. Wonder 
gave
awards to some of these companies, including NPR , which was honored for
helping to develop four accessible radios, including a captioned radio 
for
deaf users, as well as a radio with Braille, among others.

 Peter Cantisani, a blind technology engineer for RL & Associates Inc., 
a
networking company that also sells products for the blind and visually
impaired, gave this reporter a hands-on tour of the booth. Cantisani
demonstrated some of the products - including a talking
 thermostat made by Talking Thermostats.com and a talking blood pressure
monitor made by Life Source, and an HD Radio made by DICE Electronics 
with
voice prompts and audible cues in addition to supporting a forthcoming 
radio
reading service that will provide spoken text from some magazines and
newspapers. Many of these products were designed using voice chips.

 He also demonstrated how a mainstream product, like the Bose SoundDock 
for
iPods, has features that make it accessible.

 "It wasn't designed for the blind," Cantisani says. "It was just 
designed
by Bose to be a good speaker." But he says the speaker's slightly 
recessed
volume buttons provide good tactile feedback, and when the power cord is
plugged in or taken out, it makes an audible sound.

 But it may not be enough for companies to accidentally arrive at 
features
that are user-friendly for the blind or deaf.

 "I think the government has to get involved and say, 'Listen, if you 
want
to get some of the tax breaks that you want, then you've got to make 
things
accessible for those who are physically challenged,' " Wonder says
 . "You've got to give something to get something. I'm all the way with
that.
 If you want to win, let's all win. Let's do this to make it happen for
everyone."

 Technology At Work
 Accessibility can be particularly problematic in the workplace. 
Employers
often use technology that's incompatible with devices designed to be
accessible to the blind and deaf.

 "It isn't always that our technology doesn't keep up, but the 
developers of
the software that is used in mainstream America do not develop their
software so that it can be accessible with our
 technology," says Marlaina Lieberg, chair of the information access
committee of the American Council of the Blind.

 Lieberg says problems with technology in the workplace contribute to 
the
nearly 70 percent unemployment rate among those who are blind. Deaf and 
hard
of hearing people also say they have disproportionately high rates of
joblessness. ( Listen to what Stevie Wonder has to say about this.)

Anne Taylor, director of access technology for the National Federation 
of
the Blind, says the NFB would like to see more mainstream product
manufacturers and application developers seek feedback from communities 
whom
they serve.

 Taylor says the market potential isn't just about those who are
 presently blind or vision-impaired: "They're missing out on real market
opportunity if they're not prepared to cater to people who may 
experience
vision loss in the future."

http://thin.npr.org/s.php?sId=100029415&rId=1006&x=1

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
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