FYI - For those interested in Accessibility

For all I know, this fellow may already have presented at CHI. At any  
length, you may find this clip of interest. I have 2 comments on this  
- from my experience in usability and as a disabled user:

1. In my experience, it is more reliable to engage the disabled  
directly in the design process at the point of research (profiling,  
task analysis, and testing) rather than having engineers pretend to be  
disabled (however great the emulation is). I remain unconvinced that  
you can ever emulate sufficiently well the experience of some physical  
disabilities let alone mental disabilities. The endurance, for  
example, required in banging on something vs. the fine motor control  
required for mouse and keyboard movements would be very hard to  
emulate in the example cited in the film clip here. Where that  
Parkinson's sufferer may have been able to pound that gadget at first  
for 5 or 10 min., they might not have been able to do it beyond 10  
min. and may have become too exhausted to do it again for quite  
awhile. I'm not clear as to how that type of experience could be  
emulated.

2. Brightman states that there is no reason a disabled person cannot  
now do any job an able bodied person can (or something to that  
effect). I think he has no idea about how the ADA works and employment  
law works. Not to mention, the cost of these tools far exceeds the  
cost of your average keyboard and mouse, etc. and employers are only  
willing to take on those costs for upper level employees OR once the  
employee has been hired (since the ADA does not protect the disabled  
until AFTER they are hired - hence, disclosure of a disability PRIOR  
to hiring only occurs in cases where the disability is obvious - i.e.,  
applicant is in wheelchair).


Again - putting out the call to all those here who are working in the  
area of usability and accessibility in preparing to go to Washington  
this summer as a delegate to the National Council on Disabilities  
annual meeting (where I'll be serving on the technology committee/ 
group/team or however they describe those who work on issues regarding  
technology).

Best,
Lisa Rose



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> http://www.smartplanet.com/people/video/yahoo-makes-web-surfing-easier-for-the-disabled/393089/?tag=col2;video-roto
>





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