| Design for Inclusion: Creating
a New Marketplace--Industry White Paper
National
Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2004 Voice
202-272-2074 TTY
202-272-2022 Fax
Lex Frieden, Chairperson
October 28, 2004
This report is also available in alternative formats
and on NCD’s award-winning Web site (http://www.ncd.gov/).
The views contained in the report do not necessarily
represent those of the administration, as this and all NCD reports
are not subject to the A-19 executive branch review process.
National Council on Disability
Members and Staff
Members
Lex Frieden, Chairperson, Texas
Patricia Pound, First Vice Chairperson, Texas
Glenn Anderson, Ph.D., Second Vice Chairperson, Arkansas
Milton Aponte, J.D., Florida
Robert R. Davila, Ph.D., New York
Barbara Gillcrist, New Mexico
Graham Hill, Virginia
Joel I. Kahn, Ph.D., Ohio
Young Woo Kang, Ph.D., Indiana
Kathleen Martinez, California
Carol Novak, Florida
Anne M. Rader, New York
Marco Rodriguez, California
David Wenzel, Pennsylvania
Linda Wetters, Ohio
Staff
Ethel D. Briggs, Executive Director
Jeffrey T. Rosen, General Counsel and Director of Policy
Mark S. Quigley, Director of Communications
Allan W. Holland, Chief Financial Officer
Julie Carroll, Attorney Advisor
Joan M. Durocher, Attorney Advisor
Martin Gould, Ed.D., Senior Research Specialist
Geraldine Drake Hawkins, Ph.D., Program Analyst
Pamela O’Leary, Interpreter
Brenda Bratton, Executive Assistant
Stacey S. Brown, Staff Assistant
Carla Nelson, Office Automation Clerk
Acknowledgments
The National Council on Disability (NCD) wishes to
express its appreciation to W. Bradley Fain of Georgia Tech Research
Institute (GTRI), who was the principal investigator for this project.
Researchers in GTRI’s Electronic Systems Laboratory performed
the work documented in this report. NCD acknowledges the contributions
of Steve Jacobs of the Ideal Group, who performed the market definition
and research for this report. NCD also acknowledges the participation
of the industry partners that supported the industry study portion
of this research. The industry partners provided invaluable insight
into the impact of Section 508 on business and the barriers and
facilitators relating to the adoption of universal design principles.
NCD also acknowledges the donation of equipment and services utilized
during the user study portion of the research. The following companies
provided products and services, at no cost to the project, for user
testing: HP, Nokia, and SENCORE Electronic Test Equipment.
NCD would also like to acknowledge the efforts of
Gerry Field, WGBH Boston, for providing a closed caption test stream
used in user testing.
Contents
National Council on Disability Members
and Staff
Acknowledgments
I. Executive Summary
Important Findings and Recommendations
II. Market Definition and Research
Definition of the Market Environment
Customer Analysis
Analysis of the International Market
Analysis of Market Trends
III. Industry Study
Analysis of Facilitators and Barriers
to Accessible Design
Industry Study Data Collection
Methodology
Analysis of Industry Data: Factors
Influencing Adoption of UD Practices
Analysis of the Industry Study Findings
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Bibliography
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: China's Information Technology
Market
Table 2: China's Telecommunication
Equipment Market
Table 3: China's Packaged Software
Import and Export Market
Table 4: Other Promising Telecommunication
Equipment Sub-Sectors
Table 5: Total Combined Market for
Telecommunications Equipment in India
Table 6: Computers and Peripherals
in India
Table 7: Information Technology in
India
Table 8: Russia's Telecommunications
Equipment Market
Table 9: Computers, Peripherals,
and Software in Russia
Table 10: Electronic Components
Imported from the U.S. in 2002 (US$ millions)
Table 11: Electronic Components
Imported from the U.S. to Mexico in 2002
Table 12: Mexican Internet and E-Commerce
Revenues
Table 13: Mexican Computers
Table 14: Market Size Estimate for
the Turkish Telecommunications Services Sector
Table 15: Market Size Estimate for
the Turkish Telecommunications Equipment Sector
Table 16: Turkey's Information Technology
Market
Executive
Summary
Designing with access in mind can significantly increase
the size of targeted markets for electronic and information technology
(E&IT). Good business practice dictates that designers and engineers
avoid unintentionally excluding large populations of consumers from
accessing and using the E&IT they develop and manufacture. People
with disabilities are at the highest risk of exclusion. Other consumer
groups are also at risk. They are—
• Individuals 65+ years old
• Consumers living in low-bandwidth
information infrastructures
• People who never learned to read
• Users of English as a Second Language
(ESL)
• Tourists and people living in multilingual
societies
• Consumers living in high-density
populations
Designing with access in mind can be accomplished
through universal design (UD). Universal design is a process to
ensure that E&IT is inclusive, accessible, and usable by everyone,
including people with disabilities. Accessible design is a step
forward when developing E&IT products, but it tends to lead
to technologies that will be used separately, or in addition to,
the main E&IT product, which diminishes the effectiveness of
designing for all. Incorporating UD processes when developing E&IT
is one solution to accommodating people with disabilities that also
improves the usability of the products for the rest of the population.
The National Council on Disability (NCD) undertook
this research to understand the market for universally designed
mainstream consumer products and services, document successful UD
development processes, understand consumer needs, understand UD
facilitators and barriers, and identify and address current issues
in universal design. This research comes at a time when understanding
and incorporating UD into the development process are most crucial.
We are in the window of opportunity for implementing section 508.
If progress is not made quickly in improving the skills of government
and industry employees on accessibility issues, the window will
soon shut with little having been accomplished. If industry does
not see that federal agencies are serious about implementing section
508 in a consistent manner, companies will shift the monetary and
human resources needed for improving accessibility to product development
opportunities that offer a higher return on investment. Progress
must be made now, and the purpose of this report is to present the
information and recommendations that will guide this progress.
Through this research, NCD aims to educate designers
and manufacturers about how electronic and information technology
intersects with the needs of individuals with disabilities. In addition
to providing knowledge about disabilities, we see the importance
here and now of educating individuals on universal design. Currently,
many business people have never heard of UD, and many of those who
have do not understand that it is more than just a design for disability.
This research aims to provide businesses with the knowledge of UD
methods they need to clearly see how their complex products can
be made accessible in a cost-effective way.
As part of this research, six product lines were
analyzed from the telecommunications, software, consumer electronics,
and digital services industries for both accessibility and usability.
We estimated how useful these products are to people with disabilities
and whether the products conformed to section 508 standards and
section 255 guidelines. We were able to present recommendations
for improving such products. At a time when the incorporation of
universal design is crucial, NCD hopes that the information provided
in this report will motivate and drive the development of more universally,
accessibly designed E&IT.
Important Findings and
Recommendations
User Study. The purpose
of the user study was to document and understand user experiences
with the six product lines under study. The experiences and thoughts
of the consumer with a disability provided important insight into
the future design of accessible products and can potentially influence
the universal design process. The key findings of the user study
are as follows:
• Users with disabilities are often
asked to pay high prices for phones with feature sets that are
not useful to them.
• Rapid changes in technology often
cause decreases in accessibility.
• Users are reluctant to adopt technologies
that have proven frustrating in the past.
• Users have difficulty finding devices
that match their functional capabilities because of the lack of
familiarity sales associates have with accessibility features.
• Users are reluctant to invest in
technologies that have an unproven accessibility record.
• Accessibility solutions must consider
the needs of the individual with disabilities.
Substantial increases in accessibility will be required
before increased sales to members of the disability community are
realized.
Product Analysis. A detailed
product line analysis was conducted for each of the product lines
selected for study. The purpose of this research was to document
accessibility issues that prevent people with disabilities from
fully accessing the selected products and to document accessibility
features that either are currently offered or could be offered by
manufacturers. The end result of this product analysis was the assignment
of an accessibility grade to each product line for each disability
group. These grades may be useful to designers and manufacturers
to identify the target populations that should be consulted during
the design process so that more accessible design features are incorporated
into new products.
Industry Study. The purpose
of the industry study was to document UD practices within industries
represented by the six product lines selected for study. Five categories
of facilitators and barriers to accessible design were examined:
design, organizational, informational, financial, and legal. A discussion
of these barriers and facilitators as experienced by the six companies
is included in this section.
In addition, 11 business concerns were identified
as having an influence on UD practices within an organization. Each
business concern had a different level of influence, depending on
the strength of the other factors. The factors influencing the adoption
of UD practices included the business case, strategy and policy,
demand and legislation, marketing and sales, research, design, testing,
resource allocation and funding, organization and staff, training,
and the customer and consideration of people with disabilities.
All the companies that participated in the industry
study have made strategic decisions to address the accessibility
of their products and services. A few of the companies had long-standing
accessibility programs that were reinvigorated by the technical
requirements of section 508. Other companies initiated their accessibility
activities while planning for their response to section 508. In
both cases, section 508 clearly has had an impact on the way accessibility
and UD are being addressed by industry. The industry study found
that the most common approaches to addressing accessibility issues
are—
• Increasing awareness of employees
• Integrating accessibility requirements
into the design process
• Performing accessibility verification
testing
• Establishing an accessibility program
office
Discussion. Through this
research, we have come to better understand the market for universally
designed mainstream consumer products and services, documented successful
universal design development processes, achieved a better understanding
of consumer needs, analyzed UD facilitators and barriers, and identified
and addressed current issues in universal design. This research
program has found that—
• A market for universally designed
products and services exists.
• UD principles can be easily incorporated
into current design practices.
• Products designed to be accessible
sometimes do not meet the needs of users.
• Legislation is currently both a facilitator
and a barrier to UD.
• Many barriers to UD remain and must
be addressed before significant progress can be made.
Several important recommendations can be made from
this research for designers, developers, federal agencies, and companies
striving to incorporate universal design into their development
process:
Strategies for Government and Industry to Promote
Universal Design
Recommendation #1. Use standards
(government or industry) to prohibit nonessential features that
pose accessibility problems unless an alternative interface that
solves the problem is provided.
Recommendation #2. Use standards
(government or industry) to eliminate interoperability problems
that create accessibility problems.
Recommendation #3. Use market
forces to regulate features that pose intermediate levels of accessibility
problems. Require labeling and other information to be provided,
and allow recourse through tort (warranty) as well as through general
demand, as reflected in consumer purchases.
Recommendation #4. Develop
training materials and educational articles documenting the market
potential for UD products and services.
Strengthening the Impact of Section 508
Section 508 was developed to govern the purchase
of accessible electronic and information technology purchased by
the Federal government. Despite having been in place for nearly
three years, section 508 has yet to reach its potential. One of
the greatest shortfalls of Section 508 is the lack of understanding
of and attention to the functional performance requirements.
Recommendation #5. Institute
procedures designed to ensure that due diligence is given to section
508 procurement requirements. Perform an internal analysis of the
impact of section 508 on the procurement of actual products. Publish
the results of the analysis as a way of convincing industry that
the Federal Government is committed to section 508.
Recommendation #6. Consider
requesting supporting evidence for claims made on voluntary product
accessibility templates (VPATs) from all vendors responding to bid
proposals.
Recommendation #7. Develop
a quick accessibility checklist for specific product lines likely
to be procured by the Federal Government. The quick accessibility
checklist would assist procurement officials in market research
by providing them with a list of items that they can inspect themselves
when procuring products. The checklist would be tailored to specific
product lines and would not require detailed expertise to evaluate.
Recommendation #8. Develop
guidance for reporting conformance with functional performance criteria
guidelines.
Recommendation #9. Support
the coordination of state and local government adoption of section
508 technical requirements. Provide state and local governments
with documents and training programs designed to ensure unification
of technical requirements.
Recommendation #10. Study
and document the nontechnical aspects of accessibility, including
social, psychological, and organizational accessibility. Promote
UD solutions that consider all aspects of accessibility.
Promoting the Inclusion of Universal Design in Industry
Practices
Companies are not aware of the design process modifications
needed to incorporate universal design principles. The Federal Government
should support the refinement of specific design process interventions
that can easily be incorporated.
Recommendation #11. Develop,
test, and disseminate methodologies for integrating UD into existing
design practices.
Recommendation #12. Support
the development of university-level training materials that could
be incorporated into the curriculums of existing design-oriented
degree programs. The training materials should include awareness-expanding
videos and other teaching resources that illustrate the potential
impact of key design process interventions on the lives of people
with disabilities and other beneficiaries of UD.
Recommendation #13. Develop,
test, and disseminate design reference users to illustrate the range
of functional capabilities and limitations typical among people
with disabilities. Design reference users (popular in specifying
the target population in Department of Defense acquisitions) is
a set of descriptions of prototypical users who, taken together,
express the range of functional capabilities and limitations of
the population that must be accommodated by the design project.
The use of design reference users would greatly simplify the need
for designers to research and integrate information pertaining to
the functional limitations and capabilities of people with disabilities.
Recommendation #14. Develop
a standard methodology for testing accessibility and comparing the
accessibility of similar products.
Recommendation #15. Coordinate
with industry to promote the integration of accessibility concepts,
principles, and guidelines into the development tools used by designers
to develop products.
Creating a New Marketplace
Consumers with disabilities find many E&IT products
to be inaccessible. A sizeable un-tapped market for universal design
products and services exists. However, few companies appreciate
the size of the market or know how to tap its potential.
Recommendation #16. Develop
an information clearinghouse where users can obtain information
about accessibility issues and the features designed to address
the issues for specific product lines. Educate consumers on how
to shop for UD products and services. List vendor resources where
consumers can obtain more information about UD products.
Recommendation #17. Develop
marketing strategies and approaches that will facilitate a connection
with people with disabilities.
Recommendation #18. Train
people with disabilities to become subject-matter experts for the
purpose of participating in design focus groups and accessibility
evaluations.
Recommendation #19. Create
job-related outcomes for bulk purchasers for the successful procurement
of products and services with UD features.
Conclusions
People with disabilities want to use the same products
that everyone else uses. They do not want to be limited to specialized
products that are more costly. Implementation of UD is the best
way to satisfy this desire of people with disabilities, while also
providing more cost-effective products for all users. While it is
impossible to satisfy the needs of all users, products and services
that come closer to accommodating a variety of physical and cognitive
differences will benefit both users and companies.
A full version of this report, including methodology,
can be found online at www.ncd.gov.
II. Market
Definition and Research
Electronic and information technology is driving
the creation of new communities that are forever changing the way
people live, learn, work, and play. Companies are increasingly expanding
their presence in emerging markets. Businesses are serving populations
they have never served before. Every consumer is different. No two
people have the same set of characteristics, learning styles, abilities,
experiences, or educational backgrounds. Developing products that
accommodate the wants, needs, and preferences of as many individual
consumers as is technically possible and economically feasible can
greatly enhance a company’s competitive advantage.
Designing with access in mind can significantly increase
the size of E&IT markets on a global basis. Good business practices
dictate that designers and engineers avoid excluding large groups
of consumers from accessing and using E&IT. Groups at the highest
risk of unintentional exclusion are
• People with disabilities
• Individuals 65+ years old
• Consumers living within low-bandwidth
information infrastructures
• Users of English as a Second Language
(ESL)
• Tourists traveling to nonnative language
destinations
• Consumers living in high-density
populations
This market analysis examined many aspects of manufacturing
“more accessibly designed” E&IT. This analysis was
intended to help answer questions like the following:
• Is there a market for more accessibly
designed products?
• Does the capacity exist to develop
more accessibly designed products in each of the presented product
lines?
• What factors influence the market
for more accessibly designed products for each of the product
lines presented?
All of the product lines reviewed in this report
are manufactured by members of the E&IT industry. Naturally,
in order for these products to be manufactured, the E&IT industry
must exist. In order to exist, it must be profitable. A question
often asked by the disability community is, “How can we ensure
that the E&IT products and services being manufactured are accessible
to people with disabilities?” E&IT manufacturers often
pose this same question using different words. They ask, “How
can we ensure that the E&IT products and services we manufacture
are accessible and usable by as many people as is technically possible
and economically feasible without the need for customization?”
The questions are different. The motivations are different. The
market drivers are different. The solutions can be remarkably similar.
Definition of the Market
Environment
Historically, the primary forces driving the manufacture
of more accessible E&IT products and services have been legal,
moral, social, and ethical. The assumption was that if legal, moral,
social, and ethical issues no longer existed, then the motivation
to manufacture more accessible E&IT would all but disappear.
The next two sections discuss the reasons why nothing could be further
from the truth.
In contrast to the historical notion of the primary
forces driving the manufacture of accessible E&IT, in actuality,
a majority of the forces driving demand for more accessibly designed
E&IT fall into the following five categories:
Market Forces
Market forces consistently drive the demand for more
accessibly designed E&IT. Market forces include the need to
respond to consumer behavior, the work of federal agencies, legislation
mandating developments in the accessibility of E&IT, changing
marketing philosophies (from mass marketing to a one-on-one marketing
philosophy), competition within the market, emerging technology
trends, and economic expansion. These market forces are discussed
below in terms of how they drive the markets for more accessibly
designed E&IT products.
Consumer Behavior
E&IT is prevalent in schools, libraries, individuals’
homes, work environments, places of recreation, banks, and even
supermarkets. It is because of this widespread presence that consumers
are more technically literate than they were five years ago. Devices
such as cell phones, PDAs, voice recognition systems, and the wireless
Web enable us to carry our offices with us when we travel. We are
more mobile now than ever before. Consumers have become accustomed
to getting the information they need when they need it and where
they want it. This has created an expectation of immediacy. When
consumers don’t get what they want quickly, they become impatient.
E&IT designers need to respond to consumer behavior by providing
products and services that not only meet, but exceed the high expectations
of a technically literate, mobile, consumer base. Increasing the
accessibility of information services and mobile technologies increases
access to the information demanded by consumers with high expectations.
Federal Government
The Federal Government serves as a catalyst for more
accessibly designed E&IT products through its buying power,
the development of legislation, and the support of assistive technology
(AT) accommodation labs. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act amendments
of 1998 mandates the purchase of accessibly designed E&IT. As
a result, all federal agencies appointed Section 508 coordinators
(Section 508, 2003). Those coordinators are responsible for organizing
and supporting the implementation of Section 508 within their respective
departments and agencies, and they serve as the central point of
contact for information concerning accessibility issues and solutions.
In addition to Section 508, other legislation provides guidelines
for designing more accessible E&IT. The Access Board developed
the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG),
and the Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines (Section
255) mandate the design of more accessible E&IT products and
services. Presidential initiatives also drive the design of more
accessible E&IT. These initiatives include the President’s
New Freedom Initiative (White House, 2001), the No Child Left Behind
Initiative (U.S. House of Representatives, 2002), and the disabilityinfo.gov
Web site (DisabilityInfo.gov, 2003).
In addition to these acts and initiatives, many federal
agencies have created AT accommodation labs. These labs serve as
focal points for information regarding accommodations, disabilities,
and AT.
Clearly, the Federal Government is an important market
force for driving accessibility requirements.
Marketing Philosophies
Marketing philosophies have changed radically over
the past 35 years. The marketing philosophy of the 1960s was mass
marketing (Mass Marketing Definition, 2003), in which the seller
views the market as a homogeneous whole and, therefore, has only
one marketing program (the same product, the same price, the same
promotion, and the same distribution system) for everyone in the
population. This type of marketing is also referred to as unsegmented
or undifferentiated marketing.
Marketing philosophies of the 1970s included product
line extension (Product Line Stretching Definition, 2003) and market
segmentation (Market Segmentation Definition, 2003). Product line
extension adds depth to an existing product line by introducing
new products in the same product category. Market segmentation is
the division of a totally heterogeneous market into groups or sectors
with relatively homogeneous needs and wants.
In the 1980s, the marketing philosophy shifted to
one of niche marketing (Niche Marketing Definition, 2003). Niche
marketing or concentrated marketing is a marketing segmentation
strategy in which the firm concentrates all of its efforts and resources
on serving one segment of the market.
In the 1990s, value-added marketing became popular.
Value-added marketing is a strategy in which a company buys products,
customizes them for a particular application, and then resells them.
There was also a shift toward marketing to individual customers
rather than the larger mass. Don Peppers and Martha Rogers invented
the phrase “one-to-one” marketing (Peppers and Rogers,
1997) to illustrate the revolutionary concept of treating different
customers differently. One-to-one marketing supports the establishment
of permanent relationships with your customers. One-to-one subscribes
to providing products and services to customers according to their
individual wants, needs, and preferences. “Share of customer”
replaces market share. The marketing focus shifts from institutions
to individual consumers.
Once a company acquires the knowledge and experience
required to manufacture more accessibly designed E&IT, it can
take an asset marketing approach (Asset-Based Marketing Definition,
2003) to providing their E&IT products globally. Asset marketing
uses the knowledge and skills a company has already developed as
the basis for growth. For example, a company that is skilled in
developing kiosks that are accessible to people who are blind can
market kiosks designed in a similar manner to countries that have
high populations of people who never learned to read. This global
marketing (Global Marketing Definition, 2003) philosophy enables
companies to sell the same, or very similar, products to world markets
with essentially the same promotion. This marketing approach is
also commonly referred to as international marketing.
Competition
Competition in the E&IT industry is fierce. The
industry is constantly looking for ways to increase efficiency,
competitive advantage, sales, market shares, and profitability.
It is also looking to cut costs. Businesses are constantly developing
new and innovative products and services with the hope of achieving
these objectives, and adding functionality that enhances the accessibility
and usability of a product can be very beneficial. In extremely
competitive markets, several companies have correctly identified
UD as a potential market discriminator. When highly similar product
lines are all competing for the same customer, a product designed
with access in mind may have the needed advantage required to outbid
the competitors.
Technology Trends
A variety of rising mainstream technology trends
fuels the need for more accessibly designed E&IT. The functionalites
of multiple individual devices are now being integrated into a single
device, including pagers, cell phones, PDAs, palmtop computers,
smart phones, and MP3 players. This is creating a dependence on
one device to accomplish multiple functions. Thus, if not more accessibly
designed, this multiple functionality precludes the use of such
devices by certain segments of the population, e.g., people 65+
years of age. Developing and manufacturing an accessible interface
for a device that provides multiple functions is less expensive
than developing and manufacturing an accessible interface for multiple,
single-function devices.
Decreasing costs are making E&IT devices more
affordable. Emerging markets have the greatest concentration of
low-income individuals, as well as a greater concentration of people
who are unable to read and write.
Increasing processing power, disk storage, memory
capacity, and battery life are enabling developers to integrate
advanced access technologies (speech recognition, text-to-speech
synthesis, projected displays, etc.) into devices where it has not
previously been technically possible to do so. In addition, the
Internet and the World Wide Web are now being utilized as a primary
infrastructure for education, government services, news, and business.
Customers’ technical knowledge and expectations are constantly
increasing, along with the use of wireless Internet appliances and
an increasing use of wireless infrastructures. Legal mandates to
manufacture more accessibly designed E&IT in support of people
with disabilities are also a major technological trend. In addition,
E&IT needs to be marketed to emerging markets in order for E&IT
manufacturers to increase sales and gain competitive price advantage
through economies of scale.
Economic Expansion
The strength of our global economy is, to a great
extent, the result of the investment in and application of new technologies
by governments, businesses, and individuals. Technology is the foundation
upon which developing countries can build thriving, financially
independent, self-sufficient economies. The technologies that build
this foundation include computers, networks, ATMs, wired and wireless
information infrastructures, wireless handheld Internet appliances,
and cellular telephones, to name a few. Applications include online
banking, distance learning, e-government, and e-commerce (World
Information Technology and Services Alliance, 2003).
Local Environment
Another force that drives the market for accessibly
designed E&IT is the local environment. Below is a discussion
of two environmental factors, variances in bandwidth and tourism.
Bandwidth
As of May 2004, more than half (51.39 percent) of
home Internet users in the United States relied on dial-up modems
of 56Kbps or less. Of all U.S. home Internet users, 42.53 percent
used 56Kbps modems, 6.52 percent used 28/33.3Kbps modems, and 2.34
percent used 14.4Kbps modems (Nielsen/NetRatings, 2004).
Computers using dial-up connections cannot handle
graphics as quickly and efficiently as computers connected via broadband.
It is for this reason that users surf the Internet with graphics
turned off. They do this to speed up downloads. In addition, low-bandwidth
connections do not lend themselves to a lot of graphic images, video-based
information, or streaming audio. Multimedia content can be problematic
for users with slower connections. Wireless devices communicating
with the Internet at slow connect speeds can also be a source of
accessibility and usability problems.
There are solutions to dealing with these problems.
Some companies have the ability to control the settings on the browsers
used on their employees’ personal computers (PCs). When available
corporate Intranet bandwidth is at a premium, these companies can
simply issue a central command to turn off graphics on all client
PC browsers. This can immediately free up as much as 80 percent
of available bandwidth. Designing Web sites for low-bandwidth access
tends to increase accessibility for users with disabilities. For
example, a graphics- or animation-intensive site often requires
high bandwidth and is inaccessible to those who are blind. In contrast,
a text-based site loads quickly and is accessible to screen readers.
Dial-up environments will continue to drive the development of more
accessible E&IT in the foreseeable future.
Tourism
During the first quarter of 2004, the United States
welcomed 8 million international visitors. This was an increase
of 12 percent compared with the first quarter of 2003.
Visiting tourists often make use of ATMs, self-service
kiosks, ticketing kiosks, and other tourism-related information
technologies. Many tourists only use English as a second language.
Developing content written in simplified English makes it more understandable
to users of ESL. In addition, using simplified English content has
other significant benefits, including the following:
• It reduces the cost of language translation.
• It reduces ambiguity.
• It speeds reading.
• It reduces liability associated with
misunderstandings.
The use of simplified content was originally included
in various accessibility design guidelines in support of people
with cognitive reading disabilities. Using simplified language has
now evolved into a market force driving the design of more accessible
E&IT.
Human Condition
Aside from forces stemming from the market and the
environment, many of the forces driving the accessible design of
E&IT fall under aspects of the human condition. E&IT products
must be designed with people of different disabilities, various
age groups, various levels of literacy, various languages, different
learning styles, and different experience levels with activities
such as using the Internet in mind. These aspects of the human condition
bring with them the demand for accessible E&IT products that
cater to not just one category, but to many different types of users.
Below is a summary of the forces that drive the demand for E&IT
that is accessible to a wide range of users.
Disability
Census 2000 counted 54 million people in the United
States with some type of long-lasting condition or disability (NCD,
2004). These individuals represented 19.3 percent of the 257.2 million
people who were age five and older in the civilian, noninstitutionalized
population. This is nearly one in five people. This includes a wide
range of disabilities, not all of which preclude the use of E&IT.
Within this population, Census 2000 found
• 9.3 million (3.6 percent) with a
sensory disability involving sight or hearing
• 21.2 million (8.2 percent) with a
condition limiting basic physical activities, such as walking,
climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying
• 12.4 million (4.8 percent) with a
physical, mental, or emotional condition causing difficulty in
learning, remembering, or concentrating
• 6.8 million (2.6 percent) with a
physical, mental, or emotional condition causing difficulty in
dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home
• 18.2 million of those age 16 and
older with a condition that made it difficult to go outside the
home to shop or visit a doctor (8.6 percent of the 212.0 million
people this age)
• 21.3 million of those age 16 to 64
with a condition that affected their ability to work at a job
or business (11.9 percent of the 178.7 million people this age)
The design of E&IT products and services that
are accessible to people with disabilities appeals to the wider
population as well. Accessible design can significantly enhance
the sales of a product. For example, all of the following commonly
used products were first developed in support of people with disabilities
and are now used by the wider population:
• Auto-dialers
• Flatbed scanners
• Microphones
• Speech recognition
• Speech synthesis
• Talking ATMs
• Talking caller-ID
• Vibrating pagers
Age
Thirty-six million consumers 65 years of age and
older are living in the United States (Population, 2003). People
65+ years of age are often unable to see, hear, think, or move about
as easily as they did when they were younger. In order to enable
people 65+ years of age to access and use E&IT, these differences
must be accommodated. In addition, 52 percent of people 65+ years
of age have some type of disability. Thirty-three percent of persons
65+ years of age have a severe disability. By 2030, there will be
about 70 million older persons. People 65+ are expected to grow
to 20 percent of the population by 2030 (Administration on Aging,
2002). Furthermore, individuals who are accustomed to operating
IT will demand accessible IT as their functional capabilities diminish.
Language
Language is a driving force in today’s market
for more accessible E&IT. According to Global Reach, 262 million
English-speaking people are online. Non-English-speaking populations
online are 474 million. By the end of 2005, the ratio of English/non-English
speaking users will decrease significantly (Global Reach, 2003).
Sixty-four percent of people who visit the Internet
seek sites in languages other than English (Global Reach, 2003).
In a world where International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted
that Internet spending outside the United States would exceed $914
billion in 2003 (IDC, 2000), effective Web-site globalization is
the next imperative of Internet enterprises. Despite the vast international
opportunities projected, few U.S. companies appear poised to take
advantage of them. More than half (55 percent) of U.S. companies
do nothing to customize their Web sites for foreign visitors; less
than one-quarter even allow a choice of language, according to recent
IDC Internet Executive ePanel research. With such minor globalization
efforts, it is not surprising that 72 percent of U.S. companies
that are online currently draw 10 percent or less of their e-commerce
revenue from outside the United States. To increase their e-commerce
revenue, companies must strive to design Web sites that are accessible
to the non-English-speaking population.
Literacy
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 defines literacy
as “an individual’s ability to read, write, speak in
English, compute, and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary
to function on the job, in the family of the individual, and in
society.”
The International Adult Literacy Survey (Adult Literacy
Survey, 2003) was a 22-country initiative conducted between 1994
and 1998. In every country, nationally representative samples of
adults between the ages of 16 and 65 were interviewed and tested
at home using the same literacy test. The main purpose of the survey
was to find out how well adults use information to function in society.
Another aim was to investigate the factors that influence literacy
proficiency and to compare these factors among countries.
According to the National Institute for Literacy
(n.d.), “Very few adults in the U.S. are truly illiterate.
Rather, there are many adults with low literacy skills who lack
the foundation they need to find and keep decent jobs, support their
children’s education, and participate actively in civic life.”
According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), between
21 and 23 percent of the adult population, or approximately 44 million
people, scored at literacy proficiencies between 0 and 20 percent.
Another 25–28 percent of the adult population, or between
45 and 50 million people, scored at literacy proficiencies between
20 and 40 percent. Literacy experts believe that adults with skills
at these levels lack a sufficient foundation of basic skills to
function successfully in our society.
Many factors help to explain the relatively large
number of adults in the 0–20 percent category. Twenty-five
percent of adults in this category were immigrants who may have
just been learning to speak English. In addition, more than 60 percent
didn’t complete high school; more than 30 percent were over
the age of 65; more than 25 percent had physical or mental conditions
that kept them from fully participating in work, school, housework,
or other activities; and almost 20 percent had vision problems that
affected their ability to read print. A large percentage of the
population in the United States are at literacy proficiency less
than 40 percent. Design for individuals with limited literacy skills
also accommodates individuals who have learning disabilities or
cognitive disabilities that impact reading comprehension.
Learning Style
There are three major types of learning styles (Live
Text, 2000). They are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (tactile).
Visual learners need to see a person’s body language and facial
expression to fully understand the content of what is being said.
They tend to prefer sitting at the front of a classroom, play, or
lecture hall to avoid visual obstructions (e.g., people’s
heads). They may think in pictures and learn best from visual displays,
including diagrams, illustrated textbooks, overhead transparencies,
videos, flipcharts, and handouts. During a lecture or classroom
discussion, visual learners often prefer to take detailed notes
to absorb the information.
Auditory learners learn best through verbal lectures,
discussions, talking things through, and listening to what others
have to say. Auditory learners interpret the underlying meanings
of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed, and
other nuances. Written information may have little meaning until
it is heard. These learners often benefit from reading text aloud
and using a tape recorder.
Tactile/kinesthetic learners learn best through a
hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around
them. They may find it hard to sit still for long periods and may
become distracted by their need for activity and exploration.
Enabling people to acquire information in the manner
most appropriate to their learning style(s) enhances the effectiveness
of E&IT and accommodates users with sensory disabilities.
Experience Level
Many people who are learning to use an application
on the Web for the first time want all the help they can get. There
will come a time, however, when the extra help is no longer needed
or desired. One of the benefits of accessible design practices is
having the ability to customize user interfaces based upon the wants,
needs, and preferences of individual users.
Legal Framework
Below is a summary of key laws, statutes, and standards
that have improved accessibility for individuals with disabilities
in this country. Each law is summarized, followed by a discussion
of who is primarily affected by the law and the approach toward
addressing accessibility issues that has been undertaken through
issuance of each law. These laws and standards are a driving force
in the market for accessibly designed products, as they set the
standards and guidelines for what must be done by the government
and industry to accommodate the needs of individuals with disabilities.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires
that when federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use E&IT,
they must ensure that federal employees with disabilities have access
to and use of information that is comparable to the access and use
by federal employees who do not have disabilities unless an undue
burden (significant expenses or difficulties) is imposed on the
agency. The law also requires that individuals with disabilities
in the general public seeking information or services from a federal
agency have access to information and services comparable to that
provided to individuals without disabilities unless undue burden
is imposed on the agency. When compliance does impose an undue burden,
agencies must still provide disabled individuals with the information
and data by allowing them to use it by an alternative means of access
(e.g., captioning, audio description).
Section 508 covers E&IT such as computer hardware,
software, networks, ancillary equipment, firmware, technology services,
telecommunications products, information kiosks and transaction
machines, World Wide Web sites, multimedia, and office equipment
such as copiers and fax machines. Equipment that contains embedded
information technology used as an integral part of the product—but
the principal function of which is not the acquisition, storage,
manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching,
interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information—is
not included under Section 508 (e.g., HVAC equipment and medical
equipment). As a guideline, E&IT systems can be considered to
be accessible to individuals with disabilities if they can be used
in a variety of ways that do not depend on a single sense or ability.
Section 508 has the potential to greatly improve
accessibility to E&IT for individuals with disabilities. The
Federal Government will likely become a better employer to the many
people with disabilities who work for it, as well as a model employer
for industry. In addition, members of the public with disabilities
will have greater accessibility to government information and services
related to technology.
Those affected directly by Section 508 include federal
departments and agencies and vendors who serve the Federal Government.
The initial impact is at the procurement stage. Section 508 must
be integrated into the procurement process by determining which
technical provisions from Section 508 apply in a given situation,
performing market research to determine the availability of products
and services that meet the applicable technical provisions, deciding
which technical provisions (if any) do not apply due to an exception,
and submitting technical specifications and minimum requirements
to a contracting officer.
Private companies and software developers are also
affected by Section 508. Although Section 508 does not require private
companies to alter their products, full implementation of the law
may provide an incentive for companies that want to do business
with the government to build better accessibility features into
their products. Currently, however, there is a perception by some
in industry that Section 508 conformance is being “rubber
stamped” by procurement officials and that the content of
documents describing Section 508 conformance, such as voluntary
product accessibility templates (VPATs), is not important as long
as it is merely offered. If Section 508 is fully addressed by procurement
officials, accessibility will become a key discriminator for federal
sales. Increased competition will raise the bar for hardware and
software vendors who want to create new and innovative solutions
to addressing accessibility issues. Software developers are impacted
by Section 508 in that they are now trying to integrate the applicable
Section 508 provisions into their entire software development life
cycle. Developers are faced with the challenge of either making
their software compatible with assistive technology or making software
products accessible without the aid of other AT.
In contrast to federal laws that take a push approach
toward improving the accessibility of E&IT by mandating that
new, better technologies are manufactured and adopted, Section 508
does not explicitly require the manufacturers to make their products
more accessible. Rather, Section 508 follows a pull approach, in
which the federal agencies are responsible for seeking better products
to address accessibility problems by procuring products that comply
with the provisions when such products are available in the commercial
marketplace or when such products are developed in response to government
solicitation.
Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act
Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996
requires telecommunications products and services to be accessible
to people with disabilities. This is required to the extent that
access is readily achievable. If manufacturers cannot make their
products more accessible, then they must design products to be compatible
with adaptive equipment used by people with disabilities when it
is readily achievable to do so.
Telecommunications products covered under this Act
include wired and wireless telecommunication devices, such as telephones,
pagers, and fax machines; products that have a telecommunication
service capability, such as computers with modems; and equipment
that carriers use to provide telecommunications services, which
includes the software integral to that equipment. Also included
are basic and special telecommunication services, including regular
telephone calls, call waiting, speed dialing, call forwarding, computer-provided
directory assistance, call monitoring, caller identification, call
tracing, repeat dialing, interactive voice response systems, and
voice mail.
The implementation of Section 255 of the Telecommunications
Act stands to improve access and the number and range of accessible
products in the telecommunications industry. Companies that manufacture
telecommunications products or provide telecommunications services
are expected to shift toward a more universal, inclusive design
process in the development of new products and services. Those affected
by Section 255 include manufacturers of telecommunications equipment
and customer premises equipment, as well as the providers of telecommunications
services. Companies must research ways to make their products more
accessible and provide training for their staff on accessibility.
Manufacturers must modify their design processes to ensure that
accessibility and usability are considered in the earliest design
phases of a product. The law has been beneficial to manufacturers
and service providers in that they have found that in making products
easier to use for people with disabilities, they often make them
easier to use for everyone.
The implementation of Section 255 takes more of a
push approach toward improving accessibility. The Act lays out a
set of guidelines that manufacturers must follow in designing new
products and services in this industry. Companies are advised to
use these guidelines and implement training procedures as specified
by the law. Section 255 is related to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act in that the U.S. Access Board has incorporated the language
of the guidelines specified in Section 255 into the 508 standard.
Using consistent language has enabled companies to develop products
that meet both the design requirements for manufacturers and the
procurement requirements for federal agencies.
Hearing Aid Compatibility Act
The Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) Act of 1988 requires
that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ensure that all
telephones manufactured or imported for use in the United States
after August 1989, as well as all “essential” telephones,
are hearing aid compatible. “Essential” telephones have
been defined as coin-operated telephones, telephones provided for
emergency use, and other telephones frequently needed for use by
persons with hearing aids. This includes telephones in the workplace,
in confined settings like hospitals or nursing homes, and in hotel
or motel rooms.
Telephone manufacturers are directly affected in
that they must ensure that they design phones with volume control
and other features for those users with hearing aids. Owners of
hospitals, hotels, and other places with “essential”
telephones must ensure that they purchase telephones for their buildings
that are hearing aid compatible. Employers must ensure that all
telephones in both common and noncommon areas in their workplace
are hearing aid compatible and that any new telephones they purchase
are hearing aid compatible.
Unlike Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act,
under which companies must ensure that their products are accessible
to hearing aid users only if it is readily achievable for them to
do so, this requirement is absolute under the HAC Act. This law,
like Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, takes a push approach
in mandating that corporations and business owners purchase telephones
that are hearing aid compatible and that the FCC ensures that all
essential telephones and telephones manufactured or imported for
use in the United States are hearing aid compatible.
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990
recognizes and protects the civil rights of people with disabilities.
It provides protection from discrimination of individuals on the
basis of disability. Covered under ADA are a wide range of disabilities,
and a person with a disability is defined as anyone with a physical
or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major
life activities. These include physical conditions that affect mobility,
stamina, sight, hearing, and speech, as well as emotional illnesses
and learning disorders. ADA addresses access of individuals with
disabilities to the workplace (Title 1), state and local government
services (Title 2), and places of public accommodation and commercial
facilities (Title 3). In addition, phone companies are required
under ADA to provide telecommunications services for people who
have hearing or speech impairments (Title 4).
Title 1, which deals with employment of individuals
with disabilities, requires that employers do not discriminate against
qualified individuals with disabilities and that employers reasonably
accommodate the disabilities of qualified applicants and employees
by modifying work stations and equipment unless undue burden should
result in doing so. Title 2, which deals with public services, requires
that state and local governments do not discriminate based on disability
and that they ensure that their buildings are accessible, that new
and altered streets and pedestrian walkways contain curb cuts at
intersections, and that each service or program is operated so that
it is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.
In addition, this title requires that transit facilities, buses
and rail vehicles, key stations in rail systems, Amtrak stations,
and vehicles for demand response systems be made accessible unless
certain exceptions are met. Title 3, which deals with public accommodations,
requires that restaurants, hotels, theaters, shopping malls, retail
stores, museums, libraries, parks, private schools, and day care
centers, among other places of public accommodation, do not discriminate
based on disability. Any alterations to existing places of public
accommodation are required to be done in an accessible manner. In
addition, new busses for specified public transportation must be
accessible, and elevators must meet certain conditions. Title 4,
which covers telecommunications, states that telephone companies
must provide telecommunications relay services for hearing-impaired
and speech-impaired individuals 24 hours per day.
ADA has had a significant impact on American society,
allowing individuals with disabilities to pursue opportunities that
were not available to them in the past. One of the largest groups
affected by ADA are the employers of individuals with disabilities.
If an employer fails to comply with ADA, the employee can sue, forcing
the company to comply or pay damages. Thus, employers face the pressure
of ensuring that their workplaces are accessible and that they do
not discriminate against any qualified applicants on the basis of
disabilities. In addition, state and local government bodies, educational
institutions, and virtually all places of public accommodation or
employment are directly affected by ADA and must comply with the
regulations. The Annenberg Washington Program, a nonprofit institution
in communication studies, met in 1994 and expanded upon a previously
published White Paper in which it stated in its initial findings
that the average cost of most ADA accommodations is approximately
$36, a much lower amount than many anticipated. It found that the
impact of ADA on American businesses did not create onerous legal
burdens, as many believed would be the case, but rather has provided
a framework for employers and employees for dispute avoidance and
resolution. Overall, ADA has had a positive impact on society.
ADA has also taken a push approach toward addressing
issues of accessibility. The push is for the businesses and organizations
themselves to devise solutions based on the requirements set forth
in ADA.
Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) Standards:
EIA-608 and EIA-708
The EIA-608 standard specifies the use of closed
captions in analog TV signals. EIA-608 arose to address the lack
of standards for Line 21 closed captioning, to ensure that new decoders
would all work the same way and that captioners could create captions
that would appear in a consistent and predictable manner on every
TV set. The Television Data Systems Committee of the EIA enhanced
the Line 21 system by adding new characters and assigning codes
that would allow the center of the screen to be used for captioning.
It also allowed roll-up captions, for the first time enabling real-time
captions to be placed somewhere other than the bottom of the screen.
This work became known as the EIA-608 standard, with which all captioning
software and all TV receivers built from July 1993 forward were
required to meet and comply.
When digital television (DTV) was developed, a new
need arose for the ability to change the size of the caption display—to
make the captions either larger and more readable or smaller and
less obtrusive. The conversion of closed captions for service with
digital was necessary. This need could not be accommodated in the
EIA-608 standard, and thus the EIA-708 standard was introduced.
The current version, EIA-708B, covers two areas. It defines how
captioned data is to be encoded and transmitted, known as the transmission
protocol or transmission layer. It also defines where in a DTV signal
the caption data are to be placed, the bandwidth allocated, and
the format of the data. The second area addressed is the display
protocol, which determines how captions are displayed on the screen
of a DTV. The 708 captioning format was designed to allow for the
use of the entire unicode set, which includes every character in
the alphabet in any language plus the complete range of symbols.
Almost any program can thus be captioned.
Many groups are affected by the introduction of the
EIA-708 standard. The Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 stated that
“[d]igital television receivers and tuners must be capable
of decoding closed captioning information that is delivered pursuant
to the industry standard EIA-708-B.” This Act required the
FCC to update its rules for decoders as new technologies like DTV
developed. Television broadcasters are also largely affected by
the new 708 captioning format because the pressure is building to
produce new programming with digital closed captions based on this
standard. Broadcasters and producers must begin devising plans to
make this move and invest in the equipment they will need to do
so. Also very largely affected are the viewers with auditory impairments
who will benefit from much greater flexibility and a higher quality
of captioning with the EIA-708 standard.
A push approach toward the development of a new standard
was taken in the movement from EIA-608 to EIA-708 captioning. After
developing the new standard, the EIA has put the responsibility
on the broadcasters and producers to comply with these standards
in their captioning. This push to move from EIA-608 (analog) to
EIA-708 (digital) has brought many improvements to closed captioning.
Television viewers can now control the size of the caption text.
In addition, EIA-708 offers more letters and symbols, support for
multiple fonts and text and background colors, and allows for the
viewer to replace the traditional black box background with a colored
box or do away with it entirely. Also, EIA-708 increases the data
rate by 16 times over that allowed by EIA-608, permitting DTV captions
to contain much more information. However, most DTV content currently
still relies on the EIA-608 standard captions that have been converted
to the EIA-708 format because the consumer base of DTV receivers
is not high enough to justify the added expense of native EIA-708
encoding.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
was first enacted in 1975. The Act was passed to ensure that students
with disabilities receive free, appropriate public education and
the related services and support they need to achieve in the least-restricted
environment appropriate for their individual needs. IDEA was created
to help states and school districts meet requirements for educating
children with disabilities and to pay part of the expenses of doing
so. IDEA consists of three parts: Part B provides grants to states
for services for preschool and school-age children, Part C funds
early intervention services for infants and toddlers, and Part D
supports national activities to improve the education of children
with disabilities, including research and professional development
programs.
IDEA covers children with disabilities until they
graduate from high school or until they are 22 years of age if graduation
is delayed. Students who may fall under the Act are evaluated once
the possibility of a disability is raised. If it is determined that
the student does have a disability covered by IDEA, the school is
required to annually develop an individualized education program
(IEP) for the student, followed by placement in a regular classroom
setting when possible. Since its initiation, a set of amendments
made in 1997 has shifted the focus of IDEA from merely providing
children with disabilities access to an education to improving results
for all children in the education system.
The primary group affected and benefiting from IDEA
is children with disabilities. As a result of IDEA, students with
disabilities now learn among their peers. U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords
reports that since the initiation of IDEA, dropout rates for students
with disabilities have significantly gone down and graduation rates
have gone up. The percentage of college freshmen with disabilities
has tripled as a result of the improved education children with
disabilities have available to prepare them for college. Teachers
and parents of children with disabilities are also largely affected
by IDEA. These two groups play a large role in the development of
a child’s IEP. Teachers have also had to adjust to having
children with and without disabilities in the same classroom, learning
together. Others involved in the public education system, including
both state and local educators, are certainly affected as well.
The enactment of IDEA has followed a push approach
in requiring that public schools make a free education available
to students with disabilities that adheres to the provisions set
forth in the Act. The legislation places the responsibility upon
the schools and provides them with the requirements they must meet,
while providing some of the monetary means to do so.
Instructional Material Accessibility Act
The purpose of the Instructional Material Accessibility
Act (IMMA) of 2003 is to improve access to printed instructional
materials used by persons who are blind and other persons with print
disabilities in elementary and secondary schools. The Act accomplishes
this through the creation of an efficient system for the acquisition
and distribution of instructional materials in the form of electronic
files suitable for conversion into a variety of specialized formats.
The IMAA requires one national file format and a single national
repository for files, which simplifies the process of obtaining
materials for students with disabilities. Having a national file
format will make the conversion process for producing specialized
formats more efficient by reducing the amount of human intervention
necessary. Having one national file format will make it easier for
states, publishers, Braille software developers, and Braille transcribers
to work with files. Braille transcribers will have more time to
use their expertise in formatting and proofing files, leading to
high-quality Braille. Students will directly benefit because the
national file format will eliminate needless steps in scanning and
reformatting files. Teachers will benefit as well by having materials
available in specialized formats for their students who have disabilities
at the same time they are available to their other students. State
and local education agencies that receive federal funding under
the IDEA play a large role under the IMAA. They are responsible
for developing a statewide plan within two years of the enactment
of the IMAA to ensure that printed materials required for instructional
use in the classroom at elementary and secondary schools are available
in specialized formats to individuals with disabilities at the same
time they are made available to students without disabilities.
This Act is a push approach toward improving access
to printed instructional materials for visually impaired students.
The IMAA requires all the states to adopt the national file format.
Video Description Restoration Act
The Video Description Restoration Act (VDRA), currently
pending in Congress, would restore the FCC’s video description
rules, which were overturned in federal court on November 8, 2002.
The Act would guarantee TV access for individuals who are blind
or visually impaired through video description. The FCC would be
expressly granted authority to restore its minimum requirements,
with increased access over time. Those minimum requirements were
that the major networks and cable channels in the top 25 television
markets present at least four hours of described programming per
week, and that video-described programs be made available where
TV stations not in the top 25 markets have the equipment to do so.
The VDRA has been rigorously supported by the American Council for
the Blind, as well as other blind and deaf organizations because
they feel that in many ways video description is for people who
are blind what closed captioning is for individuals who are deaf.
The community of people who are blind or visually
impaired will benefit from the VDRA by once again having video description
available to them, which affords them the same access to information
on television as sighted viewers. Also affected would be the television
program providers and owners, who would be required to offer video
description for a portion of their programming. VDRA permits an
exemption if the provision of video description would be unduly
burdensome to the provider or owner, or if video description is
not necessary to achieve video programming accessibility by persons
who are blind or otherwise visually impaired.
The VDRA would restore the FCC’s rule for the
minimum requirements major networks and cable channels must meet
in terms of the amount of video description they provide. This push
approach taken by the FCC would ensure that at least a portion of
programs would be made available for the visually impaired through
video description. The number of hours of video description mandated
by the FCC may grow larger, leading to increased access to television
programming for the visually impaired over time.
Standards and Guidelines
In addition to the laws and statutes mentioned in
the previous section, additional standards and guidelines are driving
more accessibly designed E&IT. They are discussed below.
ADA Accessibility Guidelines
The Access Board’s guidelines issued under
ADA are to be completely updated and revised. The ADA Accessibility
Guidelines (ADAAG) cover the construction and alteration of facilities
in the private sector (places of public accommodation and commercial
facilities) and the public sector (state and local government facilities).
The accessibility guidelines issued under the Architectural Barriers
Act (ABA) primarily address facilities in the federal sector and
other facilities designed, built, altered, or leased with federal
funds. The guidelines under both laws are being updated together
in one rule that contains three parts: a scoping document for ADA
facilities, a scoping document for ABA facilities, and a common
set of technical criteria that the scoping documents will reference.
As a result, the requirements for both ADA and ABA facilities will
be made more consistent. The rule also includes new scoping and
technical provisions for accessible housing that derive from requirements
for “Type A” dwelling units contained in the 1998 edition
of the ICC/ANSI A117.1 standard, “Accessible and Usable Buildings
and Facilities.” Of specific interest is 4.34.5, Equipment
for Persons with Vision Impairments. Instructions and all information
for use must be made accessible to and independently usable by people
with vision impairments.
Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines
On February 3, 1998, the Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) issued its final guidelines
for the accessibility, usability, and compatibility of telecommunications
equipment and customer premises equipment covered by Section 255
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Telecommunications Act Accessibility
Guidelines, 1998). The Act requires manufacturers of telecommunications
equipment and customer premises equipment to ensure that the equipment
is designed, developed, and fabricated to be accessible to and usable
by individuals with disabilities, if readily achievable. When it
is not readily achievable to make the equipment accessible, the
Act requires manufacturers to ensure that the equipment is compatible
with existing peripheral devices or specialized customer premises
equipment commonly used by individuals with disabilities to achieve
access, if readily achievable.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, 1999,
explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities.
The guidelines are intended for all Web content developers (page
authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools.
The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility.
However, following them will also make Web content more available
to all users, no matter what user agent they are using (e.g., desktop
browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal
computer, etc.) or constraints they may be operating under (e.g.,
noisy surroundings, under- or over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free
environment, etc.). Following these guidelines will also help people
find information on the Web more quickly. These guidelines do not
discourage content developers from using images, video, etc., but
rather explain how to make multimedia content more accessible to
a wide audience.
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0,
2000, provides specifications for Web authoring tool developers.
Its purpose is two-fold: to assist developers in designing authoring
tools that produce accessible Web content and to assist developers
in creating an accessible authoring interface. Authoring tools can
enable, encourage, and assist users (i.e., authors) in the creation
of accessible Web content through prompts, alerts, checking and
repair functions, help files, and automated tools. It is just as
important that all people be able to author content as it is for
all people to have access to it. The tools used to create this information
must therefore be accessible. Adoption of these guidelines will
contribute to the proliferation of Web content that can be read
by a broader range of readers and authoring tools that can be used
by a broader range of authors.
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, 2002, is
for designing user agents and is intended to lower barriers to Web
accessibility for people with disabilities (visual, hearing, physical,
cognitive, and neurological). User agents include hypertext markup
language (HTML) browsers and other types of software that retrieve
and render Web content. A user agent that conforms to these guidelines
will promote accessibility through its own user interface and through
other internal facilities, including its ability to communicate
with other technologies (especially assistive technologies). Furthermore,
all users, not just users with disabilities, should find conforming
user agents to be more usable. In addition to helping developers
of HTML browsers and media players, this document will benefit developers
of assistive technologies because it explains what types of information
and control an AT may expect from a conforming user agent. Technologies
not addressed directly by this document (e.g., technologies for
Braille rendering) will be essential to ensuring Web access for
some users with disabilities.
XML Accessibility Guidelines
The XML Accessibility Guidelines, 2002, from the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides guidelines for designing
extensible markup language (XML) applications that lower barriers
to Web accessibility for people with disabilities (visual, hearing,
physical, cognitive, and neurological). XML, used to design applications
such as XHTML, SMIL, and SVG, provides no intrinsic guarantee of
the accessibility of those applications. This document explains
how to include features in XML applications that promote accessibility.
Customer Analysis
The purpose of this section is to highlight the consumer
markets targeted by the industries being studied. A more detailed
customer analysis can be found in the appendix to the online version
of this report.
People with Disabilities
Estimates vary greatly on the number of persons with
disabilities living within the United States and worldwide. The
latest Census Bureau’s disability statistics report, Characteristics
of the Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population by Age, Disability
Status, and Type of Disability: 2000, estimates that 49.7 million
people with disabilities live in the United States (Age Structure,
2003). Applying the disability percentages presented in this report
to the age structures categorized by the World Factbook (including
populations less than 5 years of age) results in a figure of 54
million. This is often cited as the actual number of people with
disabilities living in the United States, and it is the figure reported
by NCD (2004). Comparing the U.S. disability statistics with those
of other countries indicates that China, India, Russia, Mexico,
and Turkey have greater instances of disabilities for any age category
because they have poorer health care than the United States. The
market for universally designed products and services seems clear
when global disability statistics (498 million people) are analyzed
for these countries, which currently have the top five emerging
markets. A detailed look at these emerging markets can be found
in the appendix to this report online.
The specific customer populations of interest for
the purpose of this study are people with the following disabilities
or conditions:
• Low vision
• Blind
• Hard of hearing
• Deaf
• Upper-mobility impaired
• Lower-mobility impaired
• Cognitive
Each of the above conditions is defined in terms
of a loss of functional capability that may be temporary, be permanent,
or develop as a natural part of the aging process. The functional
limitations may be caused by genetics, disease, traumatic injury,
aging, environmental or situational factors or by some combination
of multiple factors. In other words, the analysis is not restricted
to functional limitations resulting from what is traditionally termed
a disability. This approach, espoused by the functional model of
disabilities (Kaplan, n.d.), allows us to consider a wide segment
of the population who could truly benefit from UD.
It is important to understand the functional capabilities
and limitations of the target population in order to properly access
the impact of various accessibility features on mainstream products.
Each of the target populations have different functional capabilities
and limitations and thus experience different issues with the product
lines under study.
Visual Impairments
Approximately 10 million people are blind or visually
impaired in the United States, and about 6 million in the European
Union (EU). Visual impairments include blindness, partially sighted,
low vision, and color blindness. In addition to medical conditions
that impact vision, visual perception may be affected by distraction
from a busy, cluttered visual environment; visual fatigue; colored
or high- or low-lighting conditions; and adverse weather conditions.
Users with visual impairments may encounter great difficulty or
find it impossible to complete the following types of tasks:
• Locating equipment
• Locating commands/devices
• Identifying commands/devices
• Using touchscreens
• Reading text on a screen
• Selecting objects on a screen
• Receiving graphics and video information
• Receiving visual alerts and signals
• Inserting cards/coins/media
• Reading printed material, including
instruction manuals
In general, people with impaired vision may have
difficulty perceiving visual detail, focusing on objects either
close up or at a distance, separating objects that do not have sufficient
contrast, perceiving objects in both central and peripheral vision,
perceiving color and contrast brightness, adapting to different
light levels, tracking moving objects, and judging distances (Story,
Mueller, and Mace, 1998).
Hearing Impairments
More than 24 million people in the United States
and about 22 million people in the EU have a significant loss of
hearing. Hearing impairments include deafness, hard of hearing,
conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, and mixed hearing
loss (both conductive and sensorineural). In addition to medical
conditions that impact hearing, auditory perception may be affected
by attending to multiple sound sources, functioning in loud environments,
and using headphones. Users who are deaf or hard of hearing may
encounter great difficulty or find it impossible to complete the
following tasks:
• Receiving audio information
• Understanding speech information
• Receiving acoustic alerts and signals
• Using speech input
In general, people who are deaf or hard of hearing
may have difficulty localizing the source or direction of sound,
filtering out background sound, perceiving both high- and low-pitched
sounds, and carrying on a conversation (Story, Mueller, and Mace,
1998).
Mobility Impairments
More than 40 million people in the United States
and about 32 million people in the EU have a significant loss of
mobility. Mobility impairments can include the following symptoms:
tremors and spasticity, paralysis and partial paralysis, amputation,
and loss of coordination and strength. In addition to medical conditions
that impact mobility, mobility may be affected by pain, fatigue,
availability of only one hand or arm while the other is occupied
with another task, wearing thick clothing or gloves, small hands,
wet or oily hands, and adverse environmental conditions (e.g., bad
weather or uneven terrain). Users with mobility impairments may
encounter great difficulty or find it impossible to complete the
following tasks:
• Using switches
• Lifting/holding devices and handsets
• Using dials
• Using numeric keypads
• Writing with a keyboard
• Handling a pointing device
• Using a touchscreen
• Inserting cards/coins/media
• Handling printed manuals and books
• Accessing equipment
In general, people with impaired mobility may have
difficulty with tasks requiring range of motion, coordination, strength,
and balance. More specifically, difficulties may be apparent in
the following areas: reaching, pushing, pulling, lifting, lowering,
carrying, grasping, squeezing, rotating, twisting, and pinching
(Story, Mueller, and Mace, 1998).
People with Cognitive Disabilities
More than 12 million people in the United States
and 9 million in the EU have a significant cognitive disability.
Cognitive disabilities can include dyslexia, cerebral palsy, retardation,
and severe learning disabilities. In addition to medical conditions
that impact cognition, cognitive processing may be affected by a
limited vocabulary or grammar, limited literacy, cultural or language
differences, and fatigue or distraction. Users with cognitive disabilities
may encounter great difficulty or find it impossible to complete
the following tasks:
• Writing on a keyboard
• Reading text on a screen
• Reading printed material
• Understanding speech information
• Handling a pointing device, such
as a mouse
• Navigating complex menu structures
• Responding quickly
In general, people with impaired cognition may have
difficulty “…receiving, comprehending, interpreting,
remembering, or acting on information.” More specifically,
difficulties may be apparent in the following areas: beginning a
task without a prompt or reminder, responding within an appropriate
time frame, concentrating, comprehending visual or auditory information,
understanding or expressing language, following procedures or doing
things in order, organizing information, remembering things, making
decisions and solving problems, and learning new things or doing
things a new or different way (Story, Mueller, and Mace, 1998).
Individuals 65+ Years of Age
Approximately 36 million people 65+ years of age
are living in the United States (Population, 2003). In the top five
international emerging markets, this number increases to 174 million
consumers. Aging populations cannot see, hear, think, or move about
as easily as younger generations. Fifty-two percent of people 65+
years of age experience one or more of the following (U.S. Census
Bureau, 1997 and Telecommunications Industry Association, 1996):
• Decreased visual acuity
• Reduced powers of accommodation
• Decreased contrast sensitivity
• Increased sensitivity to glare
• Longer dark-adaptation times
• Decreased color vision and discrimination
• Hearing impairments
Consumers Living in Low-Bandwidth Information Infrastructures
It is not uncommon for people living in the United
States to take the Internet, and the bandwidth that comes with it,
for granted. The United States and Canada have the technical capacity
to provide bandwidth of 1,182 Mbps per capita (Haub, 2003). Developers
of Web-based content targeted for use by U.S. and Canadian consumers
do not necessarily need to concern themselves with limited bandwidth.
In comparison, Asia only has 21 Mbps of bandwidth available per
capita (Light Reading, 2002). Five billion consumers live within
low-bandwidth infrastructures. This provides a significant business
incentive to design Web-based content that is accessible, usable,
and useful from within low-bandwidth infrastructures.
People Who Never Learned To Read
Seven million people who never learned to read live
in the United States. Compare this to the 439 million consumers
who never learned to read living in the five countries with the
highest potential emerging markets. People who are not able to read
cannot use automated teller machines (ATMs), personal digital assistants
(PDAs), or the Web unless they are designed with access in mind.
People who never learned to read can benefit significantly from
voice dialing and talking ATMs (Literacy Demographic Data, 2003).
Users of English as a Second Language
The number of people believed to speak English as
a second language is around 300 million. Users of ESL are individuals
whose mother tongue is not English, but who live in countries where
English has official or joint official status. In these instances,
English is often used to conduct official business. English is the
official or joint official language of more than 70 countries.
Approximately 375 million people speak English as
a first language, and approximately 750 million speakers learned
English as a foreign language (ESL Online Education and Training,
2000). In 2000, 28.4 million foreign-born people resided in the
United States, representing 10.4 percent of the total U.S. population.
ESL programs are the fastest growing component of the state-administered
adult education programs. In 1997–98, 48 percent of enrollments
were in ESL programs, compared with 33 percent in 1993–94.
Of the 1997–98 ESL students in adult education, 32 percent
were in beginning ESL classes, 12 percent in intermediate, and 4
percent in advanced classes (National Institute for Literacy, 2003).
As evidenced by these statistics, the needs | 
