Designing Open Communications: An Insurance Policy for All

By:Doug Wakefield
Clearinghouse On Computer Accommodation, General Services Administration

Introduction.--There are few disabilities that do not moderately or severely limit a person's ability to either obtain or process information. The individual with limited mobility may not have easy access to public libraries, places of business, or retail outlets. Although these facilities may be "accessible" for the wheelchair user, getting to and from such locations often poses a serious challenge. Loss of hearing or sight are also major barriers to information access. This paper will focus on strategies for designing communications systems that can be used by any person regardless of whether or not the individual has what is generally described as a "functionally limiting physical or sensory condition".

This document will address the following topics. What type of disabilities limit a person's ability to use conventional communications systems? How do people with limited vision or other physical limitations access electronic information? What role can electronic information access play in the life of a person with a disability? Can communications systems be designed that can be innovative, intuitive, intelligent, and versatile enough to allow people with different types of disabilities to access and interact with the same systems?

The capacity to communicate with and collect information from almost any point on the globe in the comfort of home has not only been a revolution for the general public but has also tremendously expanded the opportunities of people with disabilities to participate in our information-oriented society more effectively than ever before. Federal policy advancing a National Information Infrastructure (NII) holds great promise of protecting the gains already made in information access by people with disabilities. However, if the design and development of our information infrastructure does not accommodate the technical requirements needed to provide universal access, then information acquisition and utilization by people with a variety of disabilities will be set back to the days before the development of computers.

At present, even without the development of a coordinated infrastructure, people with disabilities are carrying out electronic banking, shopping online, providing information services to others, all from their workplace or home. In the office setting, via electronic document processing, visually impaired and blind employees have access to vital information equal, in most cases, to their sighted colleagues.

For most severely disabled people, specialized software/hardware is needed to interpret electronic information into a form that is usable. Examples include Braille displays, speech synthesizers, software to show sounds, or voice input processors. The social and economic price of developing an information service that does not accommodate, whose very design would have the effect of precluding people with a variety of access methods, will be far greater than the cost of allowing for multiple access capabilities to the system from its inception.

Who are the users?--For this discussion, concern is with people who cannot interact with computer equipment through conventional input/output devices i.e. keyboards, monitors, and audio speakers. The Bureau of the Census' latest figures show that approximately 49 million Americans fall into this category. That figure does not take into account the number of Americans who may find themselves with a temporary disabling condition through accident or disease.

Computer interaction and disabilities.--To better understand the need for an accommodating design, it is necessary to focus some attention on the nature of physical disabilities and how these conditions affect the different ways in which a person may interact with a computer.

Disabilities related to input.--Not too long ago, when people spoke of individuals having problems using a conventional keyboard, they were generally referring to people with rather severe conditions that resulted in some form of paralysis or a dexterity impairment that meant pressing a specific key with any degree of accuracy was not feasible. Today, the largest number of people who have problems inputting information into a computer are those who have developed the painful syndrome referred to as carpel tunnel or repetitive strain injuries (RSI). These people are usually not classified or counted as disabled, but in truth do have problems interacting with a computer and do find accessing electronic information in the "normal" fashion difficult. Others who cannot use normal keyboards include a wide variety of people who have a limiting physical condition that affects one or both hands.

The type of accommodation needed to allow a person with a physical disability to input information depends on the severity of the problem. Alternatively shaped keyboards, trackballs, wrist rests, and negatively-tilting desktops are all examples of methods being tried to moderate the increasing incidence in repetitive stress occurrences. For others, one-handed keyboards, pointing systems, and voice input peripherals are useful options. These accommodations generally do not affect the way a computer communicates with an online system, or how the computer communicates information back to the users.

Disabilities related to output.--Computer users generally obtain output from the system through the video monitor. Recently, sound cards and multimedia presentations have begun to communicate auditory information as well. People with sensory disabilities, limitations of vision or hearing, therefore must find other ways of getting information from the computer.

Developing accommodations that can translate audio information into visual output, or visual information into auditory or tactile output (speech synthesis or braille displays), pose very serious challenges for developers of what is generally referred to as adaptive equipment. These challenges have become more daunting as software producers more frequently utilize graphical user interfaces (GUI). Why the GUI poses such serious problems for adaptive systems is the subject for another discussion. Suffice it to say, when computers run software that switches the screen into graphics rather than text mode, transforming that information into speech or braille output becomes extremely difficult.

System designs that accommodate all.--The two most important considerations in evaluating an on-line system's ability to be accessed by a variety of people with disabilities is first, data structure and second, screen format. Data structure considerations are the most important because if a system transmits its data in a form that cannot be interpreted by a user's system then the screen format becomes irrelevant.

Data Structure.--For an on-line system to be truly accessible, it must transmit data in a manner that does not require a specific piece of software at the receiver's end to interpret the information. When PC's first became popular in the early to mid 1980's, several large on-line information services flourished. In addition, individuals, special interest groups, and businesses started up free on-line bulletin board services.

The information sent by these systems, whether operated by a large firm or an individual in a home basement, was usable by anyone who could operate a computer off-line. In other words, if a person with a disability had adaptive hardware or software that allowed access to the computer, adding a modem to the system permitted access to all the on-line systems. At that time, the data was transmitted as ASCII generated text.

By the end of the 1980's, new information systems were developed that could not be accessed by people with severe visual disabilities. These systems coded their graphically-oriented information in a manner that required special software to run on the user's computer. Older services that had been text-oriented, soon developed graphical interfaces for their systems. However, fortunately for disabled users, these enhancements did not preclude access with conventional text-based software. In short, providing good access to online services means allowing the user to choice the type of access best suit to his or her needs.

Providing options.--If an on-line service transmits its data in a form that can only be displayed in a graphics mode, then many potential customers will be excluded from accessing the service. On the other hand, if the information from a service can only be displayed in text mode, many users will seek other sources of information with more "intuitive" interfaces. It is very important to point out that the issue of choice is not one of disabled users versus able-bodied users. There are many people with a disability who can benefit from a highly graphical interface. A person who can not comfortably type commands from the keyboard, will find one-step pointing or clicking easier to master. People who have limited language skills will most likely find the more intuitive symbols of the GUI very helpful. On the other hand, the blind or visually impaired user whose access software cannot translate graphical screens into meaningful output, requires a command-driven, text-based interface. Therefore, A truly "accessible" information service stores its data in a "neutral" structure that can be converted by the end user into whatever form is preferred.

A working example.--Fortunately for people with disabilities, the versatility needed for access is being implemented in the burgeoning World Wide Web servers on the Internet. The information stored on these services is coded following the rules of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The data contains all the textual information plus the instructions for how the text should be displayed on a page. Image files are referenced in the text and retrieved when called for by the user.

These servers can be accessed by the popular highly- graphical program Mosaic, which runs under Windows, or they can be accessed by a text-based program called Lynx. The Lynx and Mosaic user both receive the same information and can use the embedded hypertext links to quickly jump to relevant material. The Lynx user does not receive images but merely "tags" that indicate their presence.

The issue of images and how to interpret them for blind users is challenging many experts. In an online service where an image appears, it is not practical to expect the blind user to have total access to that image. However, it is reasonable, and sometimes necessary, to provide a caption for the image. The caption is essential if the image is used as a hypertext link i.e., the point in a document where the user must perform an action to access more text. These captions, although not making images accessible, would make the images meaningful enough to be useful.

Screen Formats.-

-While the type of data structure used by a service can determine whether or not it is accessible to everyone, the type of screen format used can determine a service's "friendliness" to the user. The issues surrounding screen formats are:

Cursor Tracking-

-DOS generates a writing cursor. This cursor is often used by applications. However, many software packages including online services, produce their own pointers to replace the system's cursor. When this occurs, the program must get the DOS cursor out of the way. The system cursor is often parked off the screen in some fictitious location such as line 51 position 0. Most adaptive software programs for people with disabilities try to follow the DOS cursor. Adjusting to systems that generate separate cursors generally results in extreme frustration for all but the most experienced user.

Fancy Screens-

-Pulldown menus, menu bars, multicolored displays, and extended ASCII characters used for decorative purposes make screens fancy and visually easier to use. These same features often make screens very difficult for people using adaptive equipment. Again, most of these screen attributes can be accessed and interpreted using today's adaptive packages. However, sometimes the access is accomplished only after many hours of tedious setup. Often, allowing the user to select monochrome mode may alleviate some of these difficulties.

Consistent Placement of Prompts-

-When the service is reporting an error condition or prompting for a user response, prompts are often placed in a visually-prominent location such as the center of the screen. Because many adaptive programs can't display the entire screen at one time, having the prompts appear at a predictable location simplifies use and expedites learning of the system.

Conclusion

--Designing and implementing a system that can accommodate the widest possible customer base means designing customer choice into the service. The form of data structure will determine how accommodating the system will be to a variety of access modes. Allowing users to select the type of screen format that works best, gives the system a greater chance of delivering its information promptly and accurately to all.