CSUN

1
CSUN

• California State University, Northridge Center on
  Disabilities' 21st Annual International
  Technology and Persons with Disabilities
  Conference
• March 20-25, 2006 Los Angeles, CA
• 500 vendors
• 100 sessions
• 2 Hotels completely filled
• Anybody and everybody that is involved in AT was
  at this conference!

2
Mozilla

• Mozilla Firefox was recently awarded its VPAT
  indicating it was an accessible technology
  endorsed by the government.
• Completely compatible with Windows-Eyes 5.5 and
  JAWS 7.
• The DOM that Firefox grants to these
  technologies outperforms the usability of other
  browsers.

3
Tack-Tiles

• Started in 1980 when the founder, Kevin
  Murphy, struggled to learn Braille which his
  son used to read.

• Available in music, math or literacy (English,
  German, French, Spanish, Italian)
• Intended to be used to perk young students
  interest in both reading and writing.
• Easy to manipulate, reconfigure
• Just released an IntelliKeys keypad
• Cost is 595-695 per set.

4
Talking Tactile Tablet 2

• Overlay on IntelliKeys-style tablet
• Allows custom overlays/sounds to be mapped to the
  hardware
• Comes with free authoring tool/toolkit

659 with TTT World Map, Match Game, and
Authoring SDK
5
Erica System

• 15 Second calibration
• Works with glasses
• Dedicated communication version boasts a number
  of packages designed to provide assistive support
  
• Custom mapped keys
• Keyboard with prediction
• Custom virtual screen overlays
• TTS build in
• Etc.
• Head must remain still
• 7,300-7,900

6
Turning Point Keyguards

• Allow users with tremors to retain the ability to
  use a computer keyboard.
• 100-200

7
Nuance ZOOMS/TALKS

• Screen magnifier/reader for mobile technologies
• Designed to give low vision users access to these
  devices
• Up to 16x enlargement
• 200

8
HeadMouse Extreme

• No new software is needed, computer recognizes
  this as a USB HID device
• OS Cross-compatible
• Uses a reflective dot on the forehead (or body)
  to track movements
• Click events are registered when no movement is
  sensed.
• Comes with some keyboard and mouse software to
  aid in input and dwell events (click, double
  click, right click, etc)
• 999-1249 (300 for the head puff switch)

9
Swifty

• USB Switch interface
• Moust, Joystick, Keyboard emulation
• Wireless (Ir, RF) input
• Accepts mono or stereo plugs
• OS Cross compatible as a HID device
• 79

10
Magnifying America Patriot Voice

• Reading system that utilizes OCR technology to do
  TTS on printed material
• Comes with background classical music
  functionality
• Will also output to a TV to highlight text as it
  read
• 3299

11
Key to Access

• Will give the user access to 8 tools that are
  necessary to make any (Windows) computer
  accessible
• Universal Reader A TTS engine
• E-Text Reader Used to highlight, bookmark,
  search, and extract text from any document
• Talking Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Word Processor that is talking and includes
  powerful and adaptive word prediction and grammar
  checking
• Scan and Read Pro will use OCR to read scanned
  material to the user
• PDF Magic will convert PDF files to accessible
  formats (doc, html, etc)
• TTA (Text to Audio) allows digital documents to
  be converted to TTS and stored for later use.
• Talking Calculator
• 395.95

12
Accessible Web Publishing Wizard

• University of Illinois solution to combat
  standards issues with web developers
• Quickly converts Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
  documents to conform with W3C CSS, HTML, and
  Accessibility Standards, as well as 508
  conformance.
• 39.95 with discounts for bulk licensing

13
DT (Discrete Trial) Trainer

• Designed for Children with Autism or other
  moderate to severe learning disabilities
• Targeted for matching, identification, phonics,
  counting, sequencing, spatial relations, math,
  time, money, word analysis, and word recognition.
• Adjustable, dynamic content.
• Progressive and adaptive
• Reinforcement in place to capture students
  attention
• No negative reinforcement, the correct example is
  reviled with no punishment!
• Designed for independent use
• Cumulative reports with progress tracking
• 99.00 for single student, 299 for institutional
  license

14
ClickGo Interactive Maps

• Tactile maps designed for permanent outdoor or
  instructive use
• Magnesium or swell paper maps are available
• This company also sells a suite of software to
  develop interactive computer maps (sounds,
  orientation, zooming, etcetera) for low vision
  users

15
lomak

• A head- or hand-pointer system
• No calibration overhead for the user aside from
  driver installation
• Light (laser) operated mouse and keyboard
• Intelligent key strokes
• Interchangeable overlays for differing user needs
• 1299

16
VoiceEye
Barcode to text technology 400/1200
17
KGS America

• Essentially a large scale refreshable Braille
  display to allow users to feel graphics and text
  on the screen. Can be used as an array for
  Braille display
• 600

18
Windows Vista Accessibility

• Vista was reported as having greater AT support
  including
• More human-like, SAPI 5.1, voices (Narrator)
• Better TTS engines
• Close development with GW Micros Window-Eyes,
  Freedom Scientifics JAWS to ensure a smooth
  transition into the new operating system.

19
Windows Vista

• UI Automation is to ensure that the
  aforementioned screen readers are given a object
  model of the screen, similar to the AT-SPI
  (assistive technologies, service provider
  interface) as seen in GNOME/GTK. These system
  changes are likely to break backward
  compatibility of antiquated technologies.

20
Windows Vista Speech Recognition

• MS asked users what they wanted out of speech
  recognition
• Completely hands free
• Starting and stopping with voice command
• Seamless diction and command modes
• Predictable response to requests
• Quick learning curve and calibration time

21
Windows Vista Speech Recognition

• Tutorial also serves as calibration
• 10 minute exercise, teaches both user and
  computer
• Still not able to install an OS image hands-free

22
Windows Vista Speech Recognition

• Given the new UI architecture, MS was able to
  solve the problem of navigating menus. A show
  numbers request will overlay numbers to each
  menu, widget, or toolbar object. Thus, users can
  simply choose their option in the form of a
  number.

23
Windows Vista Speech Recognition

• Text entry and correction is improved.
• With the same numbering heuristic, new speech
  recognition presents the user with much more
  fluid and intuitive input and correction.
• 90-99 of all proper names are still a problem
  however
• Windows Vista was typed windows based a
  due to lack of inclusion in the dictionary

24
Windows Vista Mouse Grid

• The coolest (non-original) feature was the
  ability to use the mouse with MS Speech
  Recognition.

25
New Project Ideas!

• System-wide Contrast/Font family software
• Drop down boxes with samples