Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
lost function, but permits alternative approaches to achieving goals. For
example, a motorized wheelchair does not allow someone to walk, but pro-
vides an alternative to walking for someone desiring to go from one location
to another. A video phone does not restore hearing, but instead allows a deaf
person to talk at a distance to another person in sign language.
In the social model, the term “accessible technology” seems to fit bet-
ter than “assistive technology” because it focuses on alternative approaches
to achieving goals rather than the paternalistic notion of needing assistance.
Given the prevalence of the medical and rehabilitation models one should not
expect a sudden change in language use. The term “assistive technology” will
continue to be used for many years to come. However, for those of us working
in accessible computing research - which is not currently dominated by the
medical and rehabilitation point of view - the term “accessible technology”
is very attractive. The term leans towards the legal and social models, and
away from the paternalistic medical and rehabilitation models. The term “as-
sistive technology” has come to mean special purpose devices, but given that
computers are general purpose devices that can provide multiple accessibility
solutions the term “accessible technology” might be more appropriate.
3.4 Concepts from Human-Computer Interaction
Human-computer interaction (HCI) is one research area where there is sig-
nificant interest in accessible technology. At the premier HCI conference, the
International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI),
32/277 (12%) papers mentioned the term “disability” in 2009. The ACM
SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) started
in 1994 and focuses exclusively on accessible technology. The interest among
HCI researchers in accessibility solutions for people with disabilities is rooted
in the researchers' innate desire to solve interesting problems that are related
to computers and human beings. Some of the most interesting problems come
from the space where the humans have some disability.
One concept from HCI is
usability
, meaning how easy it is to learn, config-
ure, and use an interface. It is possible for an interface to be accessible but not
especially usable. Examples are early audio CAPTCHAs
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that permit blind
users to prove that they are human by listening to a distorted message and
then entering the message into a text box. These audio CAPTCHAs allowed
blind users to access sites that only permit human access, but they are ex-
tremely dicult to use. Another important concept in HCI is
human centered
design
, which means involving users in each iterative design cycle from con-
cept to prototype to final design. Human centered design generally leads to
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A CAPTCHA is a challenge response test often used by web site servers to determine
whether the entity trying to access the site is a human or another computer. The most
commonly used CAPTCHAs are images of distorted characters.
