The disabled need policies to ensure accessibility

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

If information technology can serve as an enabler, why then is it often difficult for people with disabilities to access information?

Luckily, as we explored last week, there are features in Windows that can be activated, adjusted or amplified to enable those with hearing, visual and other physical disabilities to use the computer and be productive members of the community.

Outside the operating systems -- Windows and Mac OS, there are a slew of other hardware and software products that can help make it easier for them to read text, look at diagrams and interact with the computer.

Talking about interacting with the computer, research centers and universities around the world have been working on projects that will enable people with speech impediments and paralysis to directly control the computer and communicate through it.

One of the most progressive is perhaps the electrode brain implant that sends brain waves directly to the computer. It has been developed by neuroscientists at Emory University led by Philip R. Kennedy, M.D., who founded and now leads Neural Signals, Inc. (www.neuralsignals.com).

BrailleNote is a family of Braille note takers with PDA functionality.

Made by Pulse Data (www.braillenote.com), the BrailleNote devices run on Windows CE, have a built-in modem and 8 MB of memory and come with a Type II PCMCIA slot that can accommodate IBM MicroDrive for extra storage. They feature Word- compatibility, schedule and database management applications, calculator and other tools standard in a PDA.

A BrailleNote can also be attached to the computer and function as a reading device.

Pulse Data also makes other technical aids such as video magnifiers and voice synthesizers. We can download a demonstration version of the company's KeyNote Gold from its Website.

VideoEye Corporation (www.videoeyecorp.com) provides a simple solution for people who suffer from visual impairment due to macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and other types of retina damage.

IBM is another technology provider that has offered solutions for the disabled. In October last year, it released Version 3.0 of its Home Page Reader, a browser with JavaScript support that will read aloud text, tables, graphics description, data input fields, forms and image maps. With this product, even the blind will be able to shop online.

For more comprehensive information on adaptive technology and technology aids and products, Abledata (www.abledata.com) is a great source.

In this Internet era, however, all the technology aids will not be of much help if the Web pages are not designed with the needs of the disabled in mind. Therefore, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is the governing authority of the WWW, has for many years been working on guidelines as to how people should author their Web documents.

Called the Web Accessibility Initiative, this program focuses on ways Web contents can be made friendlier to people with disabilities. It may surprise us, but according to a census the U.S. has 54 million people with disabilities. It makes accessibility very important.

And it is not surprising that a survey on the U.S. State and Federal E-government, which was conducted by Darell M. West of Brown University, also included an evaluation of accessibility of the Websites. The Websites are built with federal funds and therefore they should also comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Article 508 of the Rehabilitations Act.

West's survey found out that 27 percent of the government Websites already incorporated some level of accessibility features, such as Text Telephone or Telephonic Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) phone numbers and other types of compliance with standards set by W3C.

In the U.S., failure to accommodate the needs of the disabled can in fact lead to a legal tangle. In November last year, for instance, America Online was brought to court by advocates of the blind for failing to include accessibility features in its software.

What about here in Indonesia? We still need to create the awareness. It is certainly a better cause for the public to rally behind rather than the political infighting that seems to be on the rise again in the country.