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Friday, February 13, 2004
HUNTINGTON -- Technology
advances that give independence to the blind and visually impaired are
being tested at an American Foundation for the Blind facility in West
Virginia.
The New York nonprofit that Helen Keller devoted her life to opened the
technology and employment center in Huntington last year after earlier
receiving a $3 million trust bequeathed by deceased Huntington-area postal
worker James Tubert to aid the blind in Cabell and Wayne counties.
Since then, the center has drawn national attention to problems with cell
phones, voting machines, diabetes equipment and computer software. People
who are blind or visually impaired have limited access to the same technology
that sighted people buy off the shelf, said Darren Burton, a researcher
for the nonprofit organization who lost his vision 11 years ago.
"The technology I do have access to -- like talking computers --
has affected my life so greatly," Burton said. "The basics of
reading and writing were given back to me, as well as the ability to be
employed."
Inside the association's lab, researchers conduct a battery of tests to
determine whether products meet the needs of blind or visually impaired
consumers.
Their goal is to increase awareness and influence companies to think about
accessibility during initial design stages, said Mark Uslan, director
of operations and technology.
The first test a cell phone receives is what Burton jokingly calls the
sanity check -- can he feel the buttons? "I can feel the 5,"
Burton said in the lab as he picked up a Toshiba model.
"There's a little nib there, although it could be more substantial."
Other phones don't pass the initial test.
"These are probably the worst buttons I've seen," Burton said,
rubbing his fingers across the face of a Samsung VI 660. "They're
flat, totally flush with the panel."
Although special products are available for individuals with visual impairment,
they are often expensive and bulky. A blood glucose monitor at a local
drug store costs around $25, Uslan said. A device that's added onto the
monitor to make it useable by the visually impaired costs around $500.
"There is a need for some special products; I don't mean to underplay
that, but in many cases, you're much better off designing products to
be useable by everyone," Uslan said. "If you can make it useable
by a blind person, it's going to be more useable for everyone."
As baby boomers age, more people will require products designed with visual
impairment in mind. The leading cause of vision impairment and blindness
is age-related eye disease, according to "Vision Problems in the
U.S.," a publication of Prevent Blindness America and the National
Eye Institute. Accessibility could be an important issue for West Virginia,
which has one of the nation's highest median ages. "We're outliving
our eyes," Burton said.
The ever-evolving characteristic of technology also poses challenges for
the visually impaired. Information is difficult to access because devices
increasingly rely on graphic icons, touch screens, scrolling menus or
complex visual displays.
"Although there have been improvements, it seems like we're going
backward in other areas," Burton said. "Ovens coming out now
all have flat touch screens, instead of knobs. I don't even know where
to touch. If they put some type of a tactile nature of where I could feel
1, 2, 3, 4, that would be nice."
The center is working with the Marshall University School of Medicine
to gain credibility to publish its research in well-known medical journals
such as Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, Uslan said.
Researchers have proposed product changes, and companies including Adobe
Systems Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. are starting to listen.
A voting system that the center influenced should be on the market by
June, said Yung Nguyen, president and CEO of IVS LLC., a voting services
company in Louisville, Ky. The company has designed a system with voice
output and a special keypad that resembles buttons on a telephone.
Researchers hope to expand their work to other products such as stereos
DVD players, ovens -- the potential is limitless, Burton said. Product
changes take time, but by using careful research and raising public awareness,
the center should increase its opportunities to consult with manufacturers,
Uslan said.
"You have faith and you keep cranking away at these things,"
he said. "You never know when somebody's going to call."
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