Everyone in North America is used to the wheelchair sign
in parking spots or the ramp accessing the main entrance
of official buildings. Maybe not everyone has felt the
six “bumps” on the Bank of Canada’s $20
bill, or has used the Jitterbug, the cell phone with big
keys and no games, or has navigated a website without using
the mouse.
All these – and many more – are outcomes of
the quest for accessibility.
Accessibility counteracts disability, and is generally defined
as the degree to which a product or service can by used by
a population diverse in physical and mental ability.
More recently, it has moved from the realm of philanthropy
to become a business and compliance issue. In a world permeated
by the Internet, mobile telephones and computing, this makes
a huge impact on the Information Technology sector.
Societies face a major challenge in providing access to
technology to all people regardless of their physical or
cognitive
abilities. However, society, governments, and businesses
are neither isolating nor ignoring the segment of population
afflicted
with disability, which represents a significant number of
consumers of services and products, as well as the fastest
growing resource of labour.
The U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act, and the U.K.
Disability Discrimination Act require employers to provide 'reasonable
accommodation' or not put employees at a 'substantial disadvantage'
compared to other employees. In Canada, the first piece of
such legislation, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities
Act, came into effect in 2005.
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Accessibility is particularly important in the developed
world, where an aging population will remain active and continue
to use information technology-based services for years to
come.
Software developers of today, largely young and at their
peak in physical and mental ability, are confronted with
an interesting challenge: the applications they build must
be usable by people with limited physical and cognitive
functions.
How does a 20-something year old with sharp vision and nimble
fingers design or test a web page that must be usable by
someone who is colour blind, or who cannot use a mouse? How
about a person who needs to access the web via a small-screen
mobile device?
Most software development companies now enforce accessibility
standards and guidelines that applications must meet before
they are deployable. There are also many simulation tools
and testing techniques.
Accessibility standards and compliance have become a business
imperative, as liability and loss of customer base can be
serious consequences.
Accessibility is achieved by a combination of compliance
with specific standards and the adoption of assistive technologies.
Screen readers, for example, allow the blind to browse web
pages. Speech recognition, “sip-and-puff” or “eye-gaze” pointing
devices (other commonly used assistive devices) allow people
to operate a computer without the use of their limbs.
For illiteracy and cognitive disabilities, graphical interfaces
are used by people who cannot read or write.
The world is the stage
Accessibility could not possibly escape the pressures of
globalization. Because all countries have their own policies
and regulations in this area - and most software companies
develop their own standards and tools - a harmonized effort
is required to make technology accessible to all.
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
is an effort dedicated to make this happen. Its sponsorship
includes IT “heavy-weights” like
IBM, CA, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and SAP, along with government
agencies and companies like Wells-Fargo Financial.
Scientists and IT practitioners from various countries are
also embracing the field of accessibility as their domain
of expertise. They are joined by members of the various disabled
communities, along with practitioners in education and the
not for profit sector, to advance the ideas, inventions and
solutions that can make technology accessible to all.
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this article? Email
us and let us know what you think.
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