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Accessible
consumer
technologies
and the cloud
Dr Scott HollierVisAbility Tech Outlook 2014
The accessibility journey begins
• Assistive Technologies (AT) have provided effective access to computers for people who are blind and vision impaired for decades
• However it is the equation of AT + online accessibility that equals independence
• Let’s have a look at how we got here and where we’re going
1980s – dawn of software AT
• Hardware-based text-to-
speech showcased at
1981 International Year of
Disabled persons
• SAM (Software Automatic
Mouth) released in 1982
on various 8-bit systems
such as Commodore 64,
Atari and Apple
1980s – dawn of software AT
• Hardware-based text-to-
speech showcased at
1981 International Year of
Disabled persons
• SAM (Software Automatic
Mouth) released in 1982
on various 8-bit systems
such as Commodore 64,
Atari and Apple
1990s – Wintel and established AT
• As computing industry settled primarily
on Windows and Intel PCs, AT became
more stable and consistent
• JAWS released for MS-DOS in 1989 and
for Windows in 1995
• Zoomtext 1.0 in released in 1991
• However, many consumers unable to
afford software on top of high PC prices
1997 – W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
• While AT grew in popularity, had two fundamental problems: • Poor Application Programming Interface
(API) underpinnings • This new ‘world wide web’ had massive
potential for people with disabilities but AT was struggling with interface
• Solution: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) started to develop guidelines to address these issues
1998 – USA Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508
• Public procurement legislation introduced in the US was designed to get people with disabilities employed in the Federal public sector
• had two important requirements: • All ICT products sold to the government
needed to meet accessibility criteria • Government websites had to be made
accessible to work with AT, implementing draft WAI standard
1999 – W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
• W3C WAI guidelines released
containing 65 checkpoints across
three priority levels: ‘A’, ‘AA’ and
‘AAA’
• Adopted quickly due to early Section
508 lead in many countries…
• …but not ours: ad-hoc approach in
Australia
2000 – Narrator in Windows 2000
• Barely functional screen reader whose inclusion is likely to be due to Section 508
• Even came with warning message that blind users should get something else However, it did mark the start of established AT being included in mainstream OS and improved API support
2005 – VoiceOver and Zoom in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
• While Apple likely included accessibility features for same reason as Microsoft, they took the attitude “if you’re going to do it, let’s do it well”
• Full-screen zoom introduced first, then VoiceOver screen reader designed to be effective for blind users out-of-the-box
2006 – NVDA screen reader
• Screen readers on Windows were
great, but expensive
• Non-Visual Desktop Access created
to provide high quality screen reader
for free
2008 – W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
• Web had changed a lot since 1999 and original WCAG 1.0 became quickly outdated
• New WCAG 2.0 designed to provide 12 key things to make AT work with the web and more tech-neutral in approach
• This time Australia did get on board with NTS
2009 – Apple iPhone 3GS
• First commercially successful mainstream touchscreen device to support people who are blind or vision impaired
• Featured cut-down zoom and VoiceOver from OS X
2012 – Google Android 4.2
• Google Android evolves to include full screen magnifier and better integrated TalkBack screen reader
• Important milestone due to affordability with sub-$100 tablets containing accessibility features now available
2012 – Windows 8
• While radically different, Windows 8 was the first OS to provide effective dual interfaces to accessibility features in equal measure, allowing users to operate via keyboard/mouse or touchscreen
• Even Narrator got an upgrade after 12 years
2014 – Where are we now?
• Great choice in devices
• Bigger screen mobile trend helpful for
people with low vision
• Affordability has never been better
• Web accessibility improving thanks to
WCAG 2.0 and NTS
2015 and beyond - cloud accessibility
• Cloud + access represents huge potential in addressing issues
• Key initiative: Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) • AT preferences stored on the cloud• After identification, device automatically
gets your preferences and configures itself• Same interface layout and AT across all
devices: mobile, desktop, tablet, TV • Voting case study resolved!
Consumer benefits of cloud accessibility
• Device independence
• Real-time customisation
• Consistency in assistive technology
support
• Less training
• Global rollout of updates reduces
local ICT costs
Consumer issues of cloud accessibility
• Security
• Privacy
• Lack of infrastructure such as
broadband
• Localised device accessibility issues
• GPII-style setup, training and support
requires high level of support from
government and industry
The future is now
• Microsoft is the only company storing accessibility preferences in the cloud
• In Windows 8+ if you log into multiple machines with the same account, accessibility preferences automatically synchronised in real time
• Includes themes, preferences on boot and preferences on login
Other MAA projects
Professional Certificate in Web
Accessibility Compliance• Six week training course
• Delivered by UniSA and MAA
• For ICT professionals to integrate web
accessibility into work practices
• www.mediaaccess.org.au/learn
• Additional accessibility info available
on Access iQ www.accessiq.org
Further information
• E-mail:
scott.hollier@mediaaccess.org.au
• Telephone: (08) 9311 8230
• Website: www.mediaaccess.org.au
• Twitter: @mediaaccessaus
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