Much has been written about the potential impact of the National
Information Infrastructure (NII) and the public and private information and
transaction systems it will engender.  This impact will be felt in education,
employment, and daily living.  If properly implemented, the goal is for its
impact to extend to all citizens.  Special provisions are being included to
ensure that individuals without financial resources will not find themselves
isolated from this system and thus information-poor.  Attempts are also
being made to create interfaces to these information systems which are
friendly enough to be accessible to everyone, and not just accessible to
people familiar with computers and operating systems.  

As the interfaces are being made more "friendly," however, many of them
are also being made more inaccessible to people with different disabilities.
Although attempts have been made to add access features for one or
another disability, the currently available interfaces are not accessible to
people with a broad range of disabilities.  In addition, a growing number of
commercial on-line services are implementing interfaces which are
increasingly inaccessible as they become increasingly "user-friendly." 

As systems with these interfaces appear as public utilities, kiosks, and
information appliances (such as info-phones and television set-top boxes),
building accessibility directly into the base product becomes essential.
This is especially true with the graphics, multimedia and touchscreen
systems that are appearing in rapidly escalating numbers to provide access
to remote banking, information, purchasing, and a wide variety of
government services, including employment, benefit services, and health
care options.  


BACKGROUND 

Progress toward the establishment of the national information highway has
been advancing rapidly in recent years, both in terms of setting up the
technical backbone and in terms of the infrastructure and services.  With the
current Administration's backing of the information highway, the rate of
progress on developing the backbone has increased.  Competitive forces
among the computer, telephone, cable television and information service
companies is causing rapid developments in the other component areas.  

Those familiar with the area are aware of the tremendous impact that this
information highway is expected to have on every aspect of life, from
education to employment to recreation to daily living activities (e.g., making
a reservation at a restaurant, checking on books available from the library,
checking the lunch menu or homework assignments from school, accessing
electronic documents and information systems on the job, etc.).
In order for these systems to achieve widespread acceptance, however, they
are going to have to have very user-friendly, obvious user interfaces.  A
command line structure or even the graphical interfaces used on current
computer systems are far too complex for many average users.  These
next-generation, very user-friendly/obvious human interfaces are already
under development, and numerous prototypes from a variety of sources
have been shown in public.  An even greater number and variety of systems
is still hidden away in laboratories.  All of the prototypes being previewed,
however, share two characteristics: 

1)   They are very user-friendly.  

2)   They are inaccessible to people with at least some types of disabilities
and a significant portion of the elderly population.  


THE PROBLEM IS NOT JUST INDUSTRIES

Although there is much talk about making next-generation systems
accessible to everyone, including those who are older and those with
disabilities, we do not yet have strategies, standard approaches (or even
consensus on approaches), or the tools needed by industry to make their
next-generation products accessible.  

This process is complicated by the fact that (if not implemented properly)
the same features that can make a system more accessible for some people
with disabilities can make it less accessible for others.  For example, as
systems are made more "user-friendly" (through the use of touch screens,
multimedia and graphics, for instance), they become easier for people with
cognitive and/or language disabilities.  These same features, however, can
make it harder, or impossible, for people with other disabilities (for example,
those who are blind or deaf) to access and use these systems if they are not
carefully implemented.  

Without clear guidelines and consensus from the disability community, even
those industries interested in making their products more accessible are
unable to proceed (or are at least somewhat timid about proceeding) . 

Particular problems in accessibility are arising as a result of the graphics and
touchscreen systems that are appearing in escalating numbers to provide
access to banking, information, purchasing, and a wide variety of
government services (including unemployment, job search, and benefits
services), as well as the introduction of TV-based interactive systems. 

The format that these systems are taking varies greatly (ATMs, kiosks,
info-phones, building directories, set-top boxes, etc.), and the industries
involved also vary widely.  Access approaches or accessible interface
protocols are therefore needed that can work across industries and specific
technological implementations. 

Special access techniques and technologies have been developed to allow
access to personal computers.  These approaches, however, are based on
modifying each individual base hardware/software system to meet the
particular person's needs -- an approach that cannot be used for public
systems.  With public information and transaction systems, the only way to
provide general access is to provide built-in access along with built-in
compatibility with assistive devices.  


COMPLICATING FACTORS

Developing accessible interface protocols is not a simple task:  

a)  There are many disabilities as well as degrees of disability to consider. 
The access strategies for a person with low vision, for example, are different
from the access strategies for someone with very low vision or blindness. 
Unless properly implemented, access features for one disability can
introduce a barrier to another.

b)  People (especially older people) often have more than one disability
simultaneously.  Thus, strategies for different disabilities must not only be
compatible but must work directly with each other.

c)  The problem is immediate.  The companies implementing next-generation
information systems are already working on production prototypes and
designing the next generation in their labs.  In many cases, they are already
taking orders for the systems.  They need the answers today.  The curbs are
being poured and we have not yet defined what the curbcuts should look
like, or how they should operate.  

d)  The problem is not static.  It would be unacceptable to develop strategies
that are tied to today's technologies and interface approaches.
Users would be left behind at the next generation.  Industry cannot be
required to stop with current technologies -- especially in the face of the
global information technologies marketplace.  


Despite these problems and challenges, practical, cost-effective  strategies
can be identified for building accessibility directly into products.  The
Macintosh computer has had disability access features built directly into its
operating system for over five years, and Windows 95 beta has a dozen or
more features in its standard interface which facilitate its use by people with
a wide range of disabilities.  At a recent disability conference, a new
strategy for providing access to touchscreen-based kiosks was demonstrated
which allows them to be used by individuals with low vision, blindness, and
learning disabilities.  

In addition, as more companies are building access features directly into
their products, they are finding that the features have much wider use and
applicability than they first thought.  Like the curbcuts on street corners,
which are used much more frequently by people who do not have disabilities
(for bicycles, carts, wagons, strollers, etc.), these features are proving to be
more universally useful.  For example, the closed captioning capability which
is built into all television sets for people who are deaf is now being used
heavily by people who are trying to learn English, children, and by
legislators' staff members trying to keep an eye on debate on the floor.  One 
enterprising person has developed a mechanism for scanning channels on
the TV and searching for key words of interest.
Television manufacturers have tied the closed captioning feature to the mute
button, and spouses are buying closed caption versions of televisions for
their bedrooms, to avoid arguments when one wants to go to sleep.  

The challenge in making the NII accessible to all will require concerted and
cooperative effort.  Its solution will lie in identifying the different barriers
that it may pose for people with different levels of ability and identifying
practical and effective mechanisms for both maintaining its accessibility and
making it easier to use by all.  

Gregg

Gregg C. Vanderheiden, Ph.D.
Internet gcvander@facstaff.wisc.edu
608/262-6966 fax 608/262-8848