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On July 6, the Disability Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. will receive some long overdue attention when the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History exhibits four showcases of historic memorabilia, spanning nearly 50 years of activities.
The exhibit in Washington, D.C., opens at the height of the summer tourist season to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Smithsonian plans to expand the exhibit over the years, as more material comes in from people involved in the movement. Eventually, the show will travel to other museums in the country. And as of July 6, a Web site about the exhibit will be available at americanhistory.si.edu/disabilityrights.
I was given an advance viewing of the show, which will include one of the first ultralight wheelchairs, a telecaptioner, a Braille & Speak computer with speech, disability-rights buttons, and the pen used by President George Bush to sign the ADA into law. A big part of the exhibit deals with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating against the disabled. It was the first civil-rights legislation passed on behalf of the disabled.
THREE EZ BUTTONS.
Looking at some of the items brought back vivid memories of the 504 sit-ins and the takeover of Gallaudet University in Washington by deaf students who protested to get a deaf president elected at the school. Included are photographs and news articles about the demonstrations and half a handcuff cut off a disabled woman who chained herself to a building fixture during a protest.
A major attraction is expected to be two Web-site-based prototype kiosks that operate with a touch-screen interface. The smaller kiosk is for wheelchair users, children, or short individuals. The other is for taller people. They strengthen the exhibition by using visual and audio descriptions, graphic images, and captioned video clips. Accessible design ensures that visitors with or without disabilities can use both kiosks. The synthetic voice reading the material is clear and can be made to speak faster or slower. The kiosks accommodate people who are either visually impaired or blind, use a wheelchair, are hearing-impaired, or have other disabilities. They were designed and built by isSound, which develops software to help the disabled use the Web, and NCR Corp.
The kiosk is operated by using three "EZ" buttons: a large green button with Braille next to it and two smaller yellow buttons for up and down movement. The two arrow keys allow the person to "look around" the displays. All controls and text are read to the person and shown in large print. To activate any item, the user presses the green button. The EZ Access Method was pioneered at the Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, under the direction of Gregg Vanderheiden. Learning to use the EZ Access method is so simple that first-time users can easily master it.
THINGS TO COME.
The buttons are also useful for individuals with limited reach or strength. They can even be operated with a head-stick or mouth-stick. And since even people who can see sometimes have difficulty reading (due to low literacy, learning disabilities, or English as a second language), the kiosk offers all of the text on-screen, and the names of all controls on the device are read to you and highlighted.
EZ Access is a simple set of interface enhancements, which could be applied to many electronic devices, such as handheld Internet appliances, public kiosks at shopping centers or community events, and cellular telephones. They can be used by people with disabilities or anyone who experiences difficulty operating a computer in the standard mode. Perhaps the day will come when these kiosks for the disabled are commonplace at museums, malls, and other public places. For now, they stand as a fine example of the exhibit's theme -- the great progress made by the disabled and assistive technology over the last half century.
What do you think about the Smithsonian's exhibition and the promising assistive technology on display? Let us know at BW Online's Assistive Tech Forum. Or drop John a line at JMMAW@aol.com
EDITED BY BETH BELTON
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