MBAnerd's Research Paper - Helping The Blind To See

Helping The Blind To See

Helping The Blind To See
by David L Schoen


	...Try to imagine how you would feel if you were suddenly stricken blind today. Picture yourself stumbling and groping at noonday as in the night; your work, your independence, gone. In that dark world wouldn't you be glad if a friend took you by the hand and said, "Come with me and I will teach you how to do some of the things you used to do when you could see"... (1)

This is a portion of the speech Helen Keller presented on June 30, 1925 at the International Lions Club convention in Cedar Point Ohio. This speech, and others, served to raise the awareness of sighted individuals towards individuals whose lives are touched by blindness. The blind are faced with unique problems while undertaking tasks a sighted individual may consider trivial. Recently there have been several articles, and interviews, of a blind person who escaped the World Trade Center tragedy with the assistance of his leader dog. This individual was not a visitor to the World Trade Center but an employee of one of the firms.

This paper will focus on some of the technology that allows an individual that is blind to use a computer and more importantly the Internet. This technology is important because it allows those who are blind to do research and to compete one-on-one with sighted individuals for jobs. This paper will also outline some of the considerations for making web sites accessible to the Blind when designing web sites. It is beyond the scope of this paper to do an in-depth discussion of the Internet and how it works. The following discussion will give the reader a brief overview of how the Internet work for a better understanding of the technology the blind might use.

The Internet is a system of linked networks. It allows the user to access information and connect to other users and services whether they be down the block, across the country, or internationally. (2) To be able to access the Internet, one needs a computer and a connection to the Internet. Today many users connect to the Internet using a 56k modem and their plain old telephone line (POT). This is known as a dial-up connection. Increasing in popularity are digital subscriber lines (DSL), broadband (cable), satellite networks, large area networks (LANs), and wireless access points on LANs (WLAN). With the proper equipment, one can connect to the Internet from any place in the world.

Once connected to the Internet, the user moves from page to page, and site-to-site, by entering an address (url – uniform resource locator) on the address line of their browser and hitting enter on their keyboard. Should the address not be known, one can search for the address utilizing a search engine such as Google. Many sites have related pages that may be accessed by clicking on a link. By clicking on this link, the user is sent to the related page. This new page may be stored on a server, a special computer, that is located at any networked location in the world. This gives the user access to information and research beyond that contained at the local library.

The technology behind the Internet is rapidly changing the way businesses are conducting their every day business, both internally and externally. The trend is to place documents and files behind a firewall on the corporate Intranet. Being able to communicate across distance and time is just one advantage having access to the corporate Intranet and Internet. The Intranet and Internet allows users to distribute and share information, centralize document access and use, and to share resources such as printers and files. This telecommunication technology allows companies to offer telecommuting to their employees. Since little to no travel time is involved in telecommuting, these jobs eliminate the risks a blind person may experience with traveling to and from work.

The National Council on Disability points out that the Internet and related technologies, allow users with disabilities to “be able to shop, learn, travel, receive medical services and work from their homes or other facilities.” (2) The National Council on Disability goes on to list the benefits the Internet gives individuals who have disabilities in the following four areas:


• Drastically increasing the ability of individuals with some types of disabilities to access and use information. • Decreasing the personal isolation that individuals experience because of restrictions in their ability to move about, communicate, or get together with others sharing their interests or situation. • Allowing individuals to interact with others in a way that makes their disability invisible or irrelevant. • Providing the opportunity to participate in distance learning programs or to receive medical services from a remote location when travel is difficult. (2)

One may ask, “Why does this concern me? I am not disabled, blind or have low eyesight.” Rutgers University’s Web site states


… As people grow in age, their bodily functions decrease in quality. Eyesight degeneration of some form affects almost everyone. Over five and one-half million Americans are legally blind, and 95% of those are over the age 65. This means millions of people who presently have access to the World Wide Web (and other parts of the Internet) may be having some difficulty in receiving messages that are intended for them…” (3)

With the large number of individuals having some form of visual impairment, one might think Web sites would be quick to do what they can to attract their business. This has not been the case. In November 1999, the United States National Federation of the Blind and nine individuals sued AOL. The suit claimed AOL’s Internet service did not comply with the American with Disabilities Act since it was not accessible to individuals using software that converted digital information to speech or Braille. (4) The National Federation for the Blind attempted to approach AOL prior to the suit about the problem but was ignored. (5) The problem is not limited to US sites. In 2000, Bruce Maquire, a blind man in Australia, sought damages from Sydney Olympic organizers when their Olympic website could not be deciphered by his software into synthesized speech. (4) Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission agreed and Maquire was awarded $20,000 for damages.

Help is on the way. As of June 21, 2001, all US government sites, and those wishing to do business with the government, must be accessible to users who are blind, deaf, or have other impediments. (6) The United Kingdom released guidelines on September 12, 1999 requiring government Web sites to be accessible to everyone. (7) A Spanish Web site, Sidar, is currently campaigning for Internet accessibility and is collecting names through November 15, 2001 on a petition. (8)

Some companies also see the need for making access as easy as possible for the blind. One such corporation is Microsoft. Built into Microsoft’s Office XP is a feature that informs blind users, through spoken information, the format of their documents. (9) Microsoft Office also offers speech recognition for dictation and for command and control.

Have you ever considered how a blind person reads and sends e-mail? There are a number of programs on the market that assist blind people with this task. Some of the programs are Shoutmail, Evoice, and Telsurf. Each of these programs has a similar service, an audio e-mail, but vary as to additional features and benefits. Audio e-mail allows the user to compose text e-mail, listen to news, weather, sports, commentary, and digitized stock quotes. These programs also allow users that are away from an Internet connection or not computer literate, to call the service. (10)

Just as there are a number of choices for e-mail, there are a number of computer interfaces that assist blind individuals. Home Page Reader 3.0 is a self-contained talking browser that voices the information on Web pages. A nice feature is its ability to switch languages as it encounters them on a page. (10) A browser that will deliver documents as plain ASCII text characters is Lynx. Should Lynx be used to surf the Web, it has its limitations. Sites that are graphic intensive, such as www.hotwired.com, cannot be accessed by Lynx. (11) A popular software program is JAWS. JAWS reads information that is displayed and uses a voice synthesizer to vocalize the page to the user. (12) ZoomText and MAGic are two software packages available for display magnification. For blind users who prefer to read Braille, Duxbury and MegaDots Braille translation softwares are available to translate documents from a word processor to a Braille printer.

Virtual Reality Mouse (13)

In addition to Braille printer and embossers, there are a few unique pieces of hardware for blind users. One such piece is the Virtual Reality Mouse. This mouse replaces the standard mouse to give the user force feedback similar to the joystick on some flight simulator games. The force needed to move the mouse is increased as the mouse encounters an icon, button, or the edge of a menu. This feedback allows the user to feel items on Web sites. (13)

It’s difficult to imagine losing one’s sight. Tourists visiting Carlsbad Caverns get a small glimpse into the world of blindness when they turn the lights out for a few moments. However, tourists do not truly experience the world of blindness because they know the lights will be back on and they will see again. With a few modifications, the Internet opens a whole world of endless opportunities to blind individuals. In addition, it brings the blind individual into a community where they can talk, discuss, and share ideas with other members of society.

References

1. Keller, Helen. Lions Clubs International. June 30, 1925. http://www.lionsclubs.org/English/HKSpch.html

2. National Council on Disability. Access To The Information Superhighway And Emerging Information Technologies By People With Disabilities. September 30, 1996. www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/superhwy.html

3. Rutgers University. Internet Accessibility for the Blind and Visually Handicapped. July 31, 1998. www.scils.rutgers.edu/~rkschmi/access03.htm

4. Webb, Carolyn. Ensuring the Internet revolution reaches the blind. The Age. January 22, 2001. www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?path=/news/2001/01/22/FFX5ORDL7IC.html

5. Stringer, Heather. Surfing Blind: New technology is bittersweet for blind Web users. TechWeek. November 27, 2000. www.techweek.com/articles/11-27-00/blind.asp

6. Perine, Keith. Fed Web sites soon accessible by the blind, deaf. cnn.com. June 13, 2001. http://www6.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/06/13/gov.sites.for.blind.idg/

7. Royal National Institute for the Blind. RNIB Campaign for Good Web Design. July 17, 2001. http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/ukgov.htm#other

8. Sidar, Compana de Recogida de Firmas Internet Accesible. August 20, 2000. http://www.sidar.org/firmas/

9. Anthes, Gary H. Making IT accessible to all is latest challenge. cnn.com. May 31, 2001. http://www6.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/05/31/accessible.it.idg/index.html

10. Shelley, Dan and Hammon, Terry. How Do Blind People Use the Internet. http://home.pacbell.net/thammon/blind/index.html

11. Seltzer, Richard. Maintaining Lynx To The Internet For People With Disabilities: A Call For Action. August 1995. http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/itdv02n3/seltzer.html

12. NanoPac, Inc. http://www.nanopac.com/JAWS.htm

13. Synapse Adaptive. http://www.synapseadaptive.com/controladv/virtual%20reality%20mouse.htm