Assistive ICT

Because technology, primarily in the form of personal computers, has become pervasive within the home environment, many services, once easily accessible via a telephone or letter, must now be requested via computer-based communication. This presents another set of challenges to individuals who are either uncomfortable with or unaccustomed to the technology, or who may have physical limitations or disabilities preventing them from making optimum use of a computer as it is typically configured for the consumer. Enabling such users to overcome some of these challenges is a whole range of technologies and/or devices, including:

Alternative input devices, which replace or complement the use of standard keyboards or mouse devices. These types of devices might include any of the following:

• Alternate form keyboards which provide for different configurations, variations on key size, alternative layout, or keyboards which can be used with one hand.
• Alternative pointing devices, replacing the usual mouse with devices that can control cursor/pointer location without the use of one’s hands. Devices which already exist or are emerging include those which make use of ultrasound, infrared beams, etc., and which respond to eye movements, nerve signals, or brain activity. In addition, this class of devices includes joysticks, wands or sticks that can be worn on the body or held in one’s mouth to press keys, or sip-and-puff systems that are activated by inhalation or exhalation.
• Screens themselves can allow direct interaction through touch, and such screens can either be delivered in the monitor, or can be appended to an existing monitor.
• Typing aids known a keyboard filters are built into many software programs, and include word prediction and spelling check options which can be customized to minimize the number of errors as well as keystrokes required.
• On-screen keyboards enable the user to select keys from an image of a keyboard using any of a number of other interfaces (several described above).

Specific devices and/or software programs are available to assist sight- or hearing-impaired users, including:

• Braille embossers which transfer text from the computer into a Braille output printer via a translation program.
• Refreshable Braille displays may be used to read information from the computer screen on a line-by-line basis, refreshing after each new line is read.
• Screen enlargers or magnifiers which can enable the user to see a portion of the screen as if under a magnifying glass. In addition, word processors can be configured to automatically display text in large print to enable reading without use of an enlarger.
• Audio output of screen text via a computer generated voice, and text-to-speech (TTS) or speech synthesizers which enable users to hear as they are typing, getting confirmation of the accuracy of their input.
• Audio input may likewise be accomplished through the use of speech recognition software, enabling the entry of commands or information (for example, text to be typed). Voice recognition programs may be coupled with this to inject a level of security into the interaction.
• Devices that emit an alert via a light signal can be useful for those who cannot hear computer sounds.
• TTY/TDD conversion modems enable users to send messages from a computer to a TTY/TDD telephone or similar device.