CSUN

California State University, Northridge Center

on Disabilities' 21st Annual International
Technology and Persons with Disabilities
Conference
March 20-25, 2006 ~ Los Angeles, CA
• 500+ vendors
• 100+ sessions
• 2 Hotels completely filled
• Anybody and everybody that is involved in AT
was at this conference!
 Mozilla
Mozilla Firefox was recently awarded it’s VPAT
indicating it was an accessible technology
endorsed by the government.

Completely compatible with Windows-Eyes 5.5

and JAWS 7.

The DOM that Firefox grants to these

technologies outperforms the usability of other
browsers.
 Tack-Tiles
Started in 1980 when
the founder, Kevin
Murphy, struggled to
learn Braille – which
his son used to read.

•Available in music, math or literacy (English,

German, French, Spanish, Italian)
•Intended to be used to perk young student’s
interest in both reading and writing.
•Easy to manipulate, reconfigure
•Just released an IntelliKeys keypad
•Cost is $595-695 per set.
 Talking Tactile Tablet 2
• Overlay on IntelliKeys-style tablet
• Allows custom overlays/sounds to be
mapped to the hardware
• Comes with free authoring tool/toolkit

$659 with TTT World Map,

Match Game, and
Authoring SDK
 Erica System
• 15 Second calibration
• Works with glasses
• Dedicated communication
version boasts a number of
packages designed to provide
assistive support :
– Custom mapped keys
– Keyboard with prediction
– Custom virtual screen
overlays
– TTS build in
– Etc.
• Head must remain still
• $7,300-7,900
 Turning Point Keyguards

• Allow users with tremors to retain the ability to use a

computer keyboard.
• $100-200
Nuance ZOOMS/TALKS
• Screen
magnifier/reader for
mobile technologies
• Designed to give low
vision users access to
these devices
• Up to 16x
enlargement
• $200
 HeadMouse® Extreme

• No new software is needed, computer recognizes this as a USB HID

device
• OS Cross-compatible
• Uses a reflective dot on the forehead (or body) to track movements
• Click events are registered when no movement is sensed.
• Comes with some keyboard and mouse software to aid in input and
dwell events (click, double click, right click, etc)
• $999-1249 ($300 for the head puff switch)
 Swifty™
• USB Switch interface
• Moust, Joystick, Keyboard emulation
• Wireless (Ir, RF) input
• Accepts mono or stereo plugs
• OS Cross compatible as a HID device

• $79
Magnifying America® Patriot Voice
• Reading system that
utilizes OCR technology
to do TTS on printed
material
• Comes with background
classical music
functionality
• Will also output to a TV to
highlight text as it read
• $3299
 Key to Access™
Will give the user access to 8 tools that
are necessary to make any (Windows)
computer accessible:
– Universal Reader: A TTS engine
– E-Text Reader – Used to highlight,
bookmark, search, and extract text
from any document
– Talking Dictionary and Thesaurus
– Word Processor that is talking and
includes powerful and adaptive word
prediction and grammar checking
– Scan and Read Pro will use OCR to
read scanned material to the user
– PDF Magic will convert PDF files to
accessible formats (doc, html, etc…)
– TTA (Text to Audio) allows digital
documents to be converted to TTS and
stored for later use.
– Talking Calculator

$395.95
Accessible Web Publishing Wizard
• University of Illinois
solution to combat
standards issues with
web developers
• Quickly converts Excel,
Word, and PowerPoint
documents to conform
with W3C CSS, HTML,
and Accessibility
Standards, as well as 508
conformance.
• $39.95 with discounts for
bulk licensing
 DT (Discrete Trial) Trainer
• Designed for Children with Autism or other moderate to
severe learning disabilities
• Targeted for matching, identification, phonics, counting,
sequencing, spatial relations, math, time, money, word
analysis, and word recognition.
• Adjustable, dynamic content.
• Progressive and adaptive
• Reinforcement in place to capture students attention
• No negative reinforcement, the correct example is
reviled with no punishment!
• Designed for independent use
• Cumulative reports with progress tracking
• $99.00 for single student, $299 for institutional license
 Click&Go Interactive Maps

• Tactile maps designed for

permanent outdoor or instructive
use

• Magnesium or swell paper maps

are available

• This company also sells a suite

of software to develop interactive
computer maps (sounds,
orientation, zooming, etcetera)
for low vision users
lomak
• A head- or hand-pointer
system
• No calibration overhead
for the user aside from
driver installation
• Light (laser) operated
mouse and keyboard
• Intelligent key strokes
• Interchangeable overlays
for differing user needs
• $1299
VoiceEye

Barcode to text technology

$400/$1200
 KGS America

• Essentially a large scale refreshable Braille

display to allow users to feel graphics and text
on the screen. Can be used as an array for
Braille display
• $600
 Windows Vista Accessibility
• Vista was reported as having greater AT
support including:
– More human-like, SAPI 5.1, voices (Narrator)
– Better TTS engines
– Close development with GW Micro’s Window-
Eyes, Freedom Scientific’s JAWS to ensure a
smooth transition into the new operating
system.
 Windows Vista
• UI Automation is to ensure that the aforementioned screen readers are
given a object model of the screen, similar to the AT-SPI (assistive
technologies, service provider interface) as seen in GNOME/GTK. These
system changes are likely to break backward compatibility of “antiquated
technologies.”
Windows Vista Speech Recognition
MS asked users what they wanted out of
speech recognition
2. Completely hands free
3. Starting and stopping with voice
command
4. Seamless diction and command modes
5. Predictable response to requests
6. Quick learning curve and calibration time
Windows Vista Speech Recognition

• Tutorial also serves as calibration

• 10 minute exercise, teaches both user and
computer
• Still not able to install an OS image hands-free
Windows Vista Speech Recognition
Given the new UI architecture, MS was
able to solve the problem of navigating
menus. A “show numbers” request will
overlay numbers to each menu, widget, or
toolbar object. Thus, users can simply
choose their option in the form of a
number.
Windows Vista Speech Recognition
Text entry and correction is improved.
With the same numbering heuristic, new speech
recognition presents the user with much more
fluid and intuitive input and correction.
90-99% of all proper names are still a problem
however:
“Windows Vista” was typed “windows
based a” due to lack of inclusion in the
dictionary
 Windows Vista Mouse Grid
The coolest (non-original) feature was the ability to
use the mouse with MS Speech Recognition.
 New Project Ideas!
• System-wide Contrast/Font [family]
software
* Drop down boxes with samples