Technology and Disability: 50 Years of Trace R&D Center Contributions and Lessons Learned (Synthesis Lectures on Technology and Health)

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 6 Acknowledgments 12 Persons Key to the Early Survival of the Student Group That Became Trace 13 Partner Organizations 14 Key External Contributors to the Trace Center’s Work 15 Key Contributors to the Trace Center 16 Funding Acknowledgments 18 Contents 20 About the Authors 24 1 Trace Center Origin and Evolution 28 1.1 Tricked! 28 1.2 The Challenge Grows 31 1.3 The Group and Scope Expand 32 1.4 The Student Group Evolves 33 1.5 The Improbable Path and Support that Allowed the Trace Center to Come Into Existence 35 1.6 Evolution of the Center Over the Decades 36 2 Augmentative Communication (1971–) 41 2.1 The AutoCom 41 2.2 Creating Its Own Production Design and Product Run 43 2.3 First Commercial Transfer 46 2.4 Special Versions 47 2.5 BlissApple and BlissCom 47 2.6 Other Augmentative Communication and Interaction Aids 48 2.7 Toy Modification 50 2.8 Interface Interaction Standards—The First Standards Work of the Trace Center 50 2.9 Origin of the Term “Augmentative Communication” 51 2.10 The Communication Aids and Systems Clinic and the Communication Access Program 53 2.11 Other Early Contributions to Augmentative and Alternative Communication 53 3 Pre-internet/Pre-web Summative Information (1970s–1990s) 55 3.1 The Trace Center as an Information Resource 55 3.2 1974 CEC Conference 56 3.3 National Workshop Series 56 3.4 Nonvocal Communication Techniques and Aids for the Severely Physically Handicapped 57 3.5 ResourceBooks 58 3.6 Hyper-ABLEDATA and Co-Net 59 3.7 Moving to the Web 60 3.8 Tools 62 4 Computer Access (1980–) 63 4.1 Transparent Access Software 64 4.2 Keyboard and Mouse Emulating Interfaces 66 4.3 Supporting Standards Development 66 4.4 Software-Based Emulating Interfaces 67 4.5 Building Access Directly into Mainstream Computers 68 4.5.1 White House Meetings on Computer Accessibility 68 4.5.2 Trace Developed Modifications for DOS, Windows, and Mac Operating Systems 70 4.5.3 Progress Within the Computer Companies 71 4.5.4 AccessDOS 79 4.5.5 Work With Other Computer Companies 79 4.5.6 Spreading the Word 81 4.6 Computer Accessibility Guidelines 83 4.7 Standards Work 84 4.8 Shifting Computer Accessibility Efforts in Response to Maturing of the Field 86 4.8.1 Digital Affinity 87 4.8.2 Importance of Flexibility and Pivoting to Meet Emerging Needs 87 5 Electronic Consumer Products and General Accessibility (1990–) 88 5.1 Consumer Product Guidelines 88 5.2 Principles of Universal Design 88 5.3 User Needs Summary 90 5.4 The Experience Lab 91 5.5 The Trace Usability Screening Kit (TUSK) 91 5.6 Contributions of ICT Accessibility Information to Other Summative Studies 93 6 Web Access (1990–) 96 6.1 First Web Accessibility Guidelines, 1995 96 6.2 The W3C and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) 97 6.3 Tools to Support and Enable WCAG Provisions 99 6.3.1 Color Contrast Analysis Tool 100 6.3.2 The Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT) 101 6.4 Universal Adoption of the Web Guidelines 104 6.5 Basic Contributions to WCAG Architecture and Design 104 6.6 Tapping the Web to Extend Accessibility in New Ways 105 6.7 Recent and Ongoing Work on Web Accessibility 105 7 Telecommunication Access (1990–) 107 7.1 Caption Correction 108 7.2 Trace Online Hand-Raising Utility (TOHRU) 109 7.3 Combining 255 and 508: Impact of WCAG Being Technology Agnostic 110 7.4 Real-Time Text 111 8 Kiosks and Information-Transaction Machine Access (1999–) 112 8.1 EZ Access 112 8.2 Cross-Disability Voting Prototypes 117 8.3 Secure USB 119 9 Accessibility Infrastructure (2010–) 121 9.1 The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) 121 9.2 Unified Listing 123 9.3 DeveloperSpace 125 9.4 Morphic 126 9.4.1 New Definition of Accessibility 127 10 Move to University of Maryland (2016) 128 10.1 Passing of the Gavel 129 11 Elements that Have Defined the Trace Center 130 11.1 Forecasting the Future: Skating to Where the Puck Will Be 130 11.2 Identifying and Filling Gaps 133 11.3 Addressing Needs of Consumers, Clinicians, Developers, and Industry 134 11.3.1 Work on Standards 134 11.3.2 Work with Policy Creating Agencies 136 11.4 Supporting Others in the Field 137 11.4.1 Helping Fund the Efforts of Others 137 11.5 Moving Ideas into the Hands of People with Disabilities and Practitioners 138 11.5.1 Types of Technology Transferred 140 11.6 Perseverance 141 11.7 Impact 142 12 Some Lessons Learned from Trace’s First 50 Years 143 12.1 Success 143 12.2 Choosing Which Projects to Tackle 144 12.3 Working with Industry 144 12.4 Partners and Colleagues 146 12.5 Working on Standards 147 12.6 The Importance of Tools 148 12.7 From Our Experience in Designing Accessible Public Kiosks/ITMs 148 12.8 People and Teams 149 13 Trace’s Focus for the Next Decade(s) (2021–) 150 13.1 Mission 150 13.2 Current Focus Areas 151 13.2.1 Dementia 151 13.2.2 Cognitive, Language, and Learning Disabilities 151 13.2.3 Low Digital Affinity 152 13.2.4 Inclusive AI 153 13.2.5 Teachable Interfaces 154 13.2.6 AI and Privacy 154 13.2.7 Easier Conformance—Easier Accessibility 155 13.2.8 Better Accessibility Standards, Policy, and Law 155 13.2.9 Re-imagining Society’s Entire Approach to Accessibility Policy and Practice 156 Appendix A: Resources for Learning About Assistive Technologies Available Pre-Internet 158 Appendix B: Reference Design in Comments to FCC July 1999 160 Appendix C: Trace’s 10 Laws of Technology Transfer 165 Appendix D: Partial List of Products of Trace Center 167 Appendix E: Bibliography of Early History of Aug Com and Assistive Technology from 1st Trace ResourceBook (1978) 170