Universal Design and Assistive Technology

1
Universal Design and Assistive Technology

• Providing access and assistance to people with
  special needs.

2
Access Versus Assistive

• Access to everyday equipment
• Assistive (prostheses) to alleviate the
  handicapping effect of a disability

3
Access

• Access to GUIs for the blind
• speech
• Braille
• Redundant visual output for the deaf
• Alternate input devices
• sippuff, single switch

4
Prosthetic

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

5
Motivations

• Altruism
• Legal Requirements
• Section 508 1973/1986 Rehabilitation Act
• 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
• Everyone is impaired sometime
• Intriguing interface challenges

6
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_o
verview.htm
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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,
  and virtual reality
•  Will cover
• general terminology
• speech
• non-speech sounds
• handwriting
• considering applications as well as principles

8
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 systemmay 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

9
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

10
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

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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

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Were all disabled

• Environment
• Fatigue
• Injury
• Aging
• Changing role of information technology

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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.adva
nce.htmldesign
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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.adva
nce.htmldesign
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What is a physical disability?
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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

17
Keyboard Modifications

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

18
Software Modifications

• Sticky keys
• Slow keys or disable auto-repeat
• Modify keyboard mappings
• On-screen keyboards

19
Alternative Input Devices

• Speech input
• Dictation versus control
• Switches
• Keyboard has approx 50 switches
• Scanning interfaces

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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

21
Scanning Interfaces
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Acceleration Techniques

• Control macros
• Word prediction
• Abbreviations

23
Mouse alternatives

• Trackball
• Proportional joystick
• Switched joystick or cursor keys
• Head sensor or mouth stick
• Eye-gaze
• Keyboard only

24
Vision

• Low-vision
• Color blindness
• Blindness
• affordances of different media
• interface model
• special purpose doesnt work
• challenge of generality

25
Incidence of visual disability

• The vast majority of visually disabled people
  have some sight

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Myopia and Hypermetropia

• Myopia Hypermetropia
• (short-sighted) (far-sighted)

27
Macular degeneration
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Diabetic retinopathy
29
Cataracts
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Tunnel vision
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Accommodating Partial Sight

• Large monitor, high resolution, glare protection
• Control of color and contrast
• Control of font size everywhere
• Keyboard orientation aids

32
Magnification not always a help
Now is the time,
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Hardware or Software Magnification

• 2 to 16 times
• Virtual screen
• Viewport, control
• Notification of outside events
• CRTs for physical items

34
Accommodating Blind Users

• Screen Readers
• Full-featured
• Cursor-tracking, routing
• Dialogue focus
• View areas
• Auditory or tactile output

35
Screen Reader Output

• Braille
• Only 10?
• Many Braille codes
• Real and virtual displays
• Tactile pads
• Synthesized speech

36
Access to Graphical User Interfaces

• Capture and model graphical interface
• Translate graphical objects
• Support efficient and intuitive interaction

37
Hearing

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

38
Deafness

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

39
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

40
Minicoms and TDDs

• Universal telephone technology
• Text terminal (keyboard, LED display, modem)
• Deaf relay centers
• TypeTalk
• Automation?

41
Most significant new communication device is

• The mobile phone
• with SMS
• Sidekicks, Blackberry, etc. extremely popular

42
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)

43
Speech Conversation

• Conversation is a dialogue in which the one
  taking breath is called the listener
• 150 words/minute
• Predictive interface, stored phrases, iconic
  boards
• Chat

44
Augmentative Communication

• A conversation is a dialogue in which the one
  taking a breath is called the listener
• Attaining 150 words per minute
• High-speed input for people with limited manual
  dexterity

45
Generating Words
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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
• Alzheimers
• Dementia

51
Design Guidelines

• Input / Interface Control
• ex touchpad, prompts and menus
• Presentation Format
• ex blank space to focus attention
• Informational Content and Prompting
• ex match vocabulary level to user

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Learning Impairment

• Infinite patience
• Risk-free environment
• Accommodate cognitive impairment
• Motivate

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Who are older people?

• People who have been alive for longer
• Thats about all they have in common

54
Potential Declining Abilities

• Physical
• Sensory
• Cognition
• Cognitive ageing
• Retrospective memory
• Computing no longer limited to the workplace

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Assistive Uses

• Sensory aids
• Memory aids
• Mobile emergency alerts
• Information access
• ThirdAge (www.thirdage.com)
• Social communication
• SeniorNet (www.seniornet.com)

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Guideline summary
http//www.sun.com/access/developers/updt.HCI.adva
nce.htmldesign
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Direct Brain Interfaces
Melody Moore Computer Information Systems Dept.
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What is a Direct Brain-Computer Interface?
a system that captures signals directly from
the human brain, providing a channel to control
computers and other devices. The GSU
BrainLab Mission is to pioneer real-world
applications research for biometric technologies
to improve the quality of life for people with
severe disabilities, and to explore mainstream
applications.
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Brain Signal Detection Techniques
Invasive implanted electrodes (single neuron)
Noninvasive scalp electrodes (EEG)
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Neural Internet

• Neurally controlled Internet Access
• Specialized web browser and email program
• Uses
• communication
• shopping
• education
• handling of personal finances
• employment

61
Restoring Motion - Neural Prosthetics

• Brain re-learns how to move limbs via an
  artificial
• nervous system
• Simulation
• Virtual reality hand
• Restoring Physical Motion
• Robotic arm

62
The Aware Chair

• Integrated communication and environmental
  control
• Intelligent, neurally controlled wheelchair
• Conversation and environmental control
  prediction
• Learns users habits and context
• Provides emotional expression