Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
or not, can add value to the service by adding new features, such as multiple
languages. The development of open source software for accessibility fits the
social model of disability.
The third is the ASL-STEM Forum, which enables people to upload def-
initions and their signs for topics in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) [
3
]. Because deaf students are so thinly spread at hun-
dreds of colleges and universities it is very dicult to develop a uniform
vocabulary of signs in technical fields. The forum will enable students, their
sign language interpreters, and deaf professionals to share vocabulary and
discuss among themselves what signs they would like to use. The forum is a
form of community empowerment whereby deaf students can solve their own
accessibility problems collectively.
Finally, I will mention the MobileAccessibility Project [
5
], which is a
relatively new project at the University of Washington and University of
Rochester. Modern smart phones have multiple sensors (camera, microphone,
GPS, compass, accelerometer), network capability (WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular
data network, cellular voice network), alternative input (keyboard, touchpad,
buttons, speech), and output (screen, sound, speech, vibration). With appro-
priate programming these devices could solve multiple accessibility problems,
that is, smart phones can become multi-function accessibility devices. As an
example, smart phones (KNFB Reader Mobile, TestScout) can already do
optical character recognition (OCR) so that blind people can take pictures
of pages of text, convert them to digital text, and then listen to them using
text-to-speech technology. My vision for the future is that a blind person can
buy a standard smart phone and data plan, and then download any needed
accessibility applications. Blind designers and computer programmers will be
part of the development community that builds these new applications.
3.6 Conclusion
People with disabilities, including those who become disabled as a result of
aging, are all part of the rich fabric of human life. Modern medicine's ability
to save lives creates even more people with disabilities before old age sets in.
Typically, people with long-term disabilities are not looking for cures or lead-
ing lives of desperation. People who are newly disabled go through a number
of stages of grief that eventually turn into some form of acceptance of their
disabilities. In either case, people with disabilities are simply social human
beings who want to work, play, and associate with friends. Technology en-
ables these people to have more access to what they want and need in life.
Designing technology for user empowerment fits this social model of disabil-
ity. “Accessible technology” is a better term than “assistive technology” for
technology targeted to people with disabilities who view themselves in the
social model of disability.
