Collaborative Environments: Accessibility and Usability for Users with Special Needs - Community-Built Databases: Research and Development - page 321

[ 27 ], a well-established model for the design and development of interactive systems,
in Sect. 13.5 a specific and new model for collaborative environments is proposed
that includes some of the factors considered in the QUIM model plus other factors
related to the communication process at the base of the produser activity. This model
considers all the aspects relevant to a collaborative environment, including accessi-
bility that we handle as one of the facets of usability. Finally, Sect. 13.6 reports our
conclusion and suggests directions for future works.
13.2 Disabilities and Software for Disability
Several attempts have been made in recent years to give a definition of disability.
Until very recently, this definition has been determined by a medical approach [ 11 ]
largely based on pity and charity toward disabled people that should be “cured” in
order to fit in society. The World Health Organization [ 39 ] has worked to overcome
this definition and to spread a notion of disability based on a social approach that led
to the international classification of functioning (ICF), disability, and health model.
According to this model, disability is viewed as the lack of functionalities encoun-
tered by an individual in executing a task or action.
Assistive technology (AT) [ 17 ] is a generic term that includes assistive, adap-
tive, and rehabilitative devices developed for people with motor and sensorial
impairments that are adopted to overcome the limitations in technologies and the
access to their functionalities. AT promotes greater independence by enabling
these users to perform tasks that they were formerly unable or had great difficulty
to accomplish by providing enhancements to or changed methods for interacting
with the required technology. Thus, technology is not simply employed to realize
physical devices but also to suggest approaches for performing activities that are
based on technological principles and components. ATs can be classified into four
categories reported in Table 13.1 together with an icon used in the paper for their
identification.
In the remainder of the section, we first detail some characteristics of these
disabilities and the main ATs that can be used to overcome the limitations in
accessing computer systems. Then, ATs are classified according to their use for
inserting and accessing information.
ATs for Visual Impairments . Partially sighted , low vision , legally and totally
blind are terms used to describe users with increased levels of visual impairments.
Visual impairments also include issues in color recognition like daltonism or color
blindness. According to the US Census [ 7 ], severe visual impairments occur at the
rate of 0.06 per 1,000 individuals.
Specific ATs that run on off-the-shelf computers can display the text on the screen
or magnify it in different environments (e.g., word processors, Web browsers, e-mail
clients). Screen magnification softwares enlarge text and graphics and they are
mainly used by partially impaired or low vision users. Screen readers with vocal
synthesis read the content of a page and reproduce it (via sound card) through a