Technology and Disability: 50 Years of Trace R&D Center Contributions and Lessons Learned

Description

This book outlines the development of the Trace R&D Center as an institution for furthering accessible and assistive technologies. The book walks readers through the Center’s nascent attempts to solve individual challenges with augmentative communication devices through contemporary efforts to establish global frameworks and infrastructures for accessibility. This book is premised on the Center’s mission to maximize the potential of people with disabilities by harnessing evolving technologies while at the same time dismantling the barriers created by those same technological advancements. Readers will learn how this has been done in the past and why this practice should be a fundamental and integrated feature in new technology planning and implementation. The book touches on pre-internet technologies before exploring the huge implications of, first, the personal computer and, second, the Internet. In parallel with the massive growth in scale rendered by the launch of the Web, the book traces the expansion of the Center’s focus from  the individual to the universal, particularly in working to establish accessibility standards and infrastructures. Learning from the successes and failures of the Center, the book outlines many past challenges and future directions for the development of technologies for people with disabilities from the research and industry perspectives. Forewords Acknowledgments Persons Key to the Early Survival of the Student Group That Became Trace Partner Organizations Key External Contributors to the Trace Center’s Work Key Contributors to the Trace Center Funding Acknowledgments Contents About the Authors 1 Trace Center Origin and Evolution 1.1 Tricked! 1.2 The Challenge Grows 1.3 The Group and Scope Expand 1.4 The Student Group Evolves 1.5 The Improbable Path and Support that Allowed the Trace Center to Come Into Existence 1.6 Evolution of the Center Over the Decades 2 Augmentative Communication (1971–) 2.1 The AutoCom 2.2 Creating Its Own Production Design and Product Run 2.3 First Commercial Transfer 2.4 Special Versions 2.5 BlissApple and BlissCom 2.6 Other Augmentative Communication and Interaction Aids 2.7 Toy Modification 2.8 Interface Interaction Standards—The First Standards Work of the Trace Center 2.9 Origin of the Term “Augmentative Communication” 2.10 The Communication Aids and Systems Clinic and the Communication Access Program 2.11 Other Early Contributions to Augmentative and Alternative Communication 3 Pre-internet/Pre-web Summative Information (1970s–1990s) 3.1 The Trace Center as an Information Resource 3.2 1974 CEC Conference 3.3 National Workshop Series 3.4 Nonvocal Communication Techniques and Aids for the Severely Physically Handicapped 3.5 ResourceBooks 3.6 Hyper-ABLEDATA and Co-Net 3.7 Moving to the Web 3.8 Tools 4 Computer Access (1980–) 4.1 Transparent Access Software 4.2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulating Interfaces 4.3 Supporting Standards Development 4.4 Software-Based Emulating Interfaces 4.5 Building Access Directly into Mainstream Computers 4.5.1 White House Meetings on Computer Accessibility 4.5.2 Trace Developed Modifications for DOS, Windows, and Mac Operating Systems 4.5.3 Progress Within the Computer Companies 4.5.4 AccessDOS 4.5.5 Work With Other Computer Companies 4.5.6 Spreading the Word 4.6 Computer Accessibility Guidelines 4.7 Standards Work 4.8 Shifting Computer Accessibility Efforts in Response to Maturing of the Field 4.8.1 Digital Affinity 4.8.2 Importance of Flexibility and Pivoting to Meet Emerging Needs 5 Electronic Consumer Products and General Accessibility (1990–) 5.1 Consumer Product Guidelines 5.2 Principles of Universal Design 5.3 User Needs Summary 5.4 The Experience Lab 5.5 The Trace Usability Screening Kit (TUSK) 5.6 Contributions of ICT Accessibility Information to Other Summative Studies 6 Web Access (1990–) 6.1 First Web Accessibility Guidelines, 1995 6.2 The W3C and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) 6.3 Tools to Support and Enable WCAG Provisions 6.3.1 Color Contrast Analysis Tool 6.3.2 The Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT) 6.4 Universal Adoption of the Web Guidelines 6.5 Basic Contributions to WCAG Architecture and Design 6.6 Tapping the Web to Extend Accessibility in New Ways 6.7 Recent and Ongoing Work on Web Accessibility 7 Telecommunication Access (1990–) 7.1 Caption Correction 7.2 Trace Online Hand-Raising Utility (TOHRU) 7.3 Combining 255 and 508: Impact of WCAG Being Technology Agnostic 7.4 Real-Time Text 8 Kiosks and Information-Transaction Machine Access (1999–) 8.1 EZ Access 8.2 Cross-Disability Voting Prototypes 8.3 Secure USB 9 Accessibility Infrastructure (2010–) 9.1 The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) 9.2 Unified Listing 9.3 DeveloperSpace 9.4 Morphic 9.4.1 New Definition of Accessibility 10 Move to University of Maryland (2016) 10.1 Passing of the Gavel 11 Elements that Have Defined the Trace Center 11.1 Forecasting the Future: Skating to Where the Puck Will Be 11.2 Identifying and Filling Gaps 11.3 Addressing Needs of Consumers, Clinicians, Developers, and Industry 11.3.1 Work on Standards 11.3.2 Work with Policy Creating Agencies 11.4 Supporting Others in the Field 11.4.1 Helping Fund the Efforts of Others 11.5 Moving Ideas into the Hands of People with Disabilities and Practitioners 11.5.1 Types of Technology Transferred 11.6 Perseverance 11.7 Impact 12 Some Lessons Learned from Trace’s First 50 Years 12.1 Success 12.2 Choosing Which Projects to Tackle 12.3 Working with Industry 12.4 Partners and Colleagues 12.5 Working on Standards 12.6 The Importance of Tools 12.7 From Our Experience in Designing Accessible Public Kiosks/ITMs 12.8 People and Teams 13 Trace’s Focus for the Next Decade(s) (2021–) 13.1 Mission 13.2 Current Focus Areas 13.2.1 Dementia 13.2.2 Cognitive, Language, and Learning Disabilities 13.2.3 Low Digital Affinity 13.2.4 Inclusive AI 13.2.5 Teachable Interfaces 13.2.6 AI and Privacy 13.2.7 Easier Conformance—Easier Accessibility 13.2.8 Better Accessibility Standards, Policy, and Law 13.2.9 Re-imagining Society’s Entire Approach to Accessibility Policy and Practice Appendix A: Resources for Learning About Assistive Technologies Available Pre-Internet Appendix B: Reference Design in Comments to FCC July 1999 Appendix C: Trace’s 10 Laws of Technology Transfer Appendix D: Partial List of Products of Trace Center Appendix E: Bibliography of Early History of Aug Com and Assistive Technology from 1st Trace ResourceBook (1978)