1. Computers and Disabilities
Team 1

2. History of Disabilities:
throughout history, people with disabilities did not have the same opportunities due to physical or mental inequalities or social implications
first change towards equality in the U.S. :
Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, banning discrimination based on disabilities of federal fund recipients
1988: first Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) introduced ton Congress
1990: ADA signed
1992: employment standards added
shifted accommodations for disabilities from charity → basic civil rights

3. History of Disabilities:
prosthetics can be found in history as far back as:
950 B.C. with the “Cairo Toe”
300 B.C. in Rome: a bronze peg-leg
many advancements were mechanical until 1902: the Acousticon was a hearing aide that used a carbon microphone and battery
led to the transistor hearing aid; the beginning of Computers and Disabilities

4. Current Problems for Society
Motor Skills
Auditory
Visual
Grabbing Objects
Walking / Running
Listening to Music
Car Horns
Reading a Book
Road Signs
On daily life

5. Current Problems for Society
Motor Skills
Auditory
Visual
Keyboard & Mouse
Touch Screen
Game Pad
Notifications
Online Chat
Computer Screen
Reading Text
On using computers

6. Solutions to Current Problems
Develop software solutions to:
Aide motor skill disabilities
Aide auditory disabilities
Aide visual disabilities
Develop computer hardware to alleviate physical disabilities

7. Software Aiding Motor Skills Disabilities
Switch Control - Navigate Mac OS using a switch / joystick
Dictation: speech commands and speech-to-text on Mac OS
On Screen Mouse Keys
Camera Mouse
Control mouse with head movements
Video games with binary-only input by Project Possibility

8. Software Aiding Auditory Disabilities
Screen Flash Notification System
Purple Video Relay Services
Video chat with live sign language translators
Visual alternative to sounds on Windows
Audio Guardian: Live mobile sounds notifier

9. Software Aiding Visual Disabilities
VoiceOver – A Mac OS screen reader
“More than just a text to speech tool”
Communicates screen contents to Braille Displays
Dictation
Narrator on Windows
Text to Speech
Speech Recognition
Magnification Tools
Pictured: Braille Display

10. Devices Aiding Physical Disabilities
Prosthetic Limbs
Take input from brain waves / muscles
Able to perform difficult tasks
Hearing Aids
Programmable (even at home)
Enable deaf persons greater hearing ability

11. Devices Aiding Physical Disabilities
No Hands Mouse
Foot pedals that replace a computer mouse
Aids those without arms or no control of their arms
Jouse2 “sip and puff” system
Aids in computer use for those without any functional limbs
Provides input to computer based on series of puffs and sips on device

12. Devices continued Help to limit effects of disabilities
Improve quality of life
Help at home and in the workplace
Devices exist to assist a variety of disabilities

13. Future Outlook of Problems
Smarter hardware for solving physical disabilities
Internet of things
Smarter software for solving auditory and visual disabilities
Using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Problem for future years:
How to adapt these advancements to help solve problems?
Cost reduction: Many devices are still very expensive

14. Research Sources:
arm-using-model-based-design.html
should-do-it/
for-the-disabled.html