Prototyping and Designing New Assistive Technologies for People with Disabilities
AHRQ's 2012 Annual Conference Slide Presentation
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Slide 1
Prototyping and Designing New Assistive Technologies for People with Disabilities
Shaun Kane
Human-Centered Computing @ UMBC
http://umbc.edu/people/skane @shaunkan
Images: The UMBC logo and photographs of people using assistive technologies are shown.
Slide 2
Today
- An overview of accessible prototyping and design at UMBC.
- Two projects:
- Accessible touch screens for blind people.
- Smarter communication tools for people with aphasia.
Slide 3
Prototyping and Design at UMBC
Image: A photograph shows five people seated at a table working with tools on electronic devices.
Slide 4
What we've made
- Touch screens for blind people.
- Communication technologies.
- Braille entry for smartphones.
- Tactile graphics.
Images: Photographs show the assistive technologies listed above.
Slide 5
Our research partners
- National Federation of the Blind.
- Snyder Center for Aphasia Life Enhancement.
- Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
- Charlestown Senior Living.
Images: The logos or locations of the partners listed above are shown.
Slide 6
Design approach
- Participatory design: work for extended periods with population who will benefit from technology.
- Ability-based design: Measure users abilities to interact with technology; develop new ways of interacting with technology that leverages these abilities.
Slide 7
Two projects
- Access Overlays: Accessible touch screens for blind people.
- TalkAbout: Communication tools for people with aphasia.
Images: Photographs show the assistive technology projects described above.
Slide 8
Two projects
- Access Overlays: Accessible touch screens for blind people.
- TalkAbout: Communication tools for people with aphasia.
Images: Photographs show the assistive technology projects described above.
Slide 9
Challenge: How to make a touch screen accessible to a blind person?
Images: Photographs show various types of touchscreens in everyday use.
Slide 10
Inaccessible touch screens
"Yeah. I was at the social security office enquiring about getting a new Social Security card. You have to get a number at the office, and the security guard was on a smoke break, and it was a touch screen, and I couldn't use it and it was a big hassle. Some sighted guy came in and helped me but it drew way too much attention to me. I think it's kind of weird that an agency that's supposed to assist the disabled doesn't have accessibility things, that's kind of stupid."
Slide 11
"Flat screens without a grid—a real tangible grid—are difficult for blind people ... I think that flat screens are not really accessible." (Kane et al., 2008)
Image: A handheld device is shown, shut off.
Slide 12
But—touch is often how blind people interact with books, maps, and their physical environment.
Image: A photograph shows a pair of hands reading a map of the United States in Braille.
Slide 13
Exploring touch screens
- Important applications: maps, diagrams, documents, games.
- Location and spatial layout important.
- How to find objects on screen?
- How to understand spatial relations?
Images: Photographs show persons using touchscreen devices.
Slide 14
Formative research
- Interviewed 8 blind office workers (4m,4f).
- Discussed organization and search strategies.
- Where they put things; how they found them.
Images: Photographs show desks, tables, and paper racks with items carefully laid out.
Slide 15
How to do it
- Appropriate output:
- Speech and audio.
- Appropriate input:
- How do users touch the device?
- Screen layout.
- Usable, reliable gestures.
Image: A handheld device is shown.
Slide 16
Examples
- Mobile phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=496IAx6_xys.
- Large touch screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTwWRcUlSk.
Slide 17
Two projects
- Access Overlays: Accessible touch screens for blind people.
- TalkAbout: Communication tools for people with aphasia.
Images: Photographs show the assistive technology projects described above.
Slide 18
Aphasia center
- Serves ~40 adults with reading, comprehension, and speech difficulties caused by stroke.
- Many use tablet communication software (but don't like it).
Images: Photographs show staff and patients at work in the Aphasia Center.
Slide 19
TalkAbout
(Kane et al., 2012)
- We created a location-aware communication tool for people with aphasia.
- Make it smarter: use context to determine what the user might want to say (e.g., talk about medicine when the user I at the doctor's office.
Images: Photographs show sample screens from the TalkAbout tool.
Slide 20
Designing TalkAbout
- How to design with people who have difficulty communicating?
- Multiple approaches:
- Created a "design team" of diverse users.
- Worked closely with staff and instructors.
- Used multiple forms of prototyping (diagrams, acting, interactive prototypes), and collecting feedback (paper forms, conversation).
Images: Rough sketches from the design phase of the TalkAbout tool are shown.
Slide 21
Takeaways
- We can redesign existing devices to make them more accessible:
- Software easier to fix than hardware.
- … by involving future users in design:
- Adaptations become device features.
- Sometimes even our design methods must be flexible.
Slide 22
Thanks!
Shaun Kane
skane@umbc.edu
http://umbc.edu/people/skane
http://twitter.com/shaunkane
http://umbcpad.com
Image: A photograph shows people gathering around a table at the UMBC Prototyping and Design Lab.
Slide 23
Who benefits?
- About 25 million people in the US have some visual impairment (National Health Interview Survey 2008).
- As many as 25% of computer users may benefit from visual accessibility tools (Microsoft 2004).
Images: Photographs show the feet of a visually impaired person with a red-tipped cane extended over the curb of a sidewalk, an elderly couple smiling, a young woman walking in a crowd as she consults a handheld device.
Slide 24
Barriers to everyday activities
"Can I ski 60 miles an hour downhill? Yes. Use a flat panel microwave? No."
—Mike May,
Sendero Group (2009).
Image: A photograph shows Mike May and Stevie Wonder standing together at a podium.
Slide 25
Principles of Ability-Based Design
(Wobbrock, Kane et al., 2010)
| Ability | Focus on ability, not dis-ability. Take advantage of all that users can do. |
| Accountability | Respond to poor user performance by changing the system, not the user. |
| Commodity | When possible, utilize low-cost everyday input devices. |
| Performance | Measure, model, monitor, and/or predict user performance. |
| Context | Proactively sense context and anticipate its effects on a user's abilities. |
| Adaptation | Provide adaptable or adaptive user interfaces tailored to a user's abilities. |
| Transparency | Give users the awareness of adaptations and the means to inspect, override, store, retrieve, preview, and test-drive them. |
Slide 26
Image: A photograph shows people gathering around a table at the UMBC Prototyping and Design Lab.
5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857