G3: Assessing Assistive Technology Usability and Its Effect on the Digital Divide

G3: Assessing Assistive Technology Usability and Its Effect on the Digital Divide

Ryan S. Overdorf

"Footbridge" by Tim Green, modified and used under CC BY 2.0

Introduction

My typing vs. my use of Dragon NaturallySpeaking

"Assistive Technology program welcome typing skills demonstration" uploaded by roverdo

"Assistive technology program Dragon NaturallySpeaking demonstration" uploaded by roverdo

The Digital Divide in Context

Speech to Text

Text to Speech

Eye Tracking

Speech to Text Generally

“Closed Captioning on YouTube” by Ryan S. Overdorf used under CC BY-NC 2.0

“Cell Phone Voice Commands” by Ryan S. Overdorf used under CC BY-NC 2.0

Closed Captioning

Testing YouTube Captioning From a Transcript Testing the beta version of YouTube's Automatic Audio

Transcription “Testing YouTube Captioning From a Transcript ” uploaded by roverdo

“Testing the beta version of YouTube's Automatic Audio Transcription” uploaded by roverdo

Speech to Text Explained

1952 -- First speech recognition machine1975 -- First application of a Hidden Markov Model

“Hidden Markov Model with Output” by Tdunning used under CC BY 3.0

Equation copied from Wikipedia article “Markov Chain” and used under CC BY-SA 3.0

1997 -- Introduction of Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Microsoft Speech Voicemail Preview demo

“Microsoft Speech Voicemail Preview demo” uploaded by roverdo

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Court Case

Plaintiff worked as a medical transcriptionist but suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT causes electrical signal irregularities in the nervous system). She requested a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking and the hospital refused.

The jury found that she was not a qualified individual under the ADA because her impairment was not substantial. Plaintiff appealed asserting an improper jury instruction; her appeal was denied by the 5th Circuit .

Picard v. St. Tammany Parish Hosp. No. 10-30719 (5th Cir. 2011)

Speech to Text Limitations

MouseGrid demo

“Speedy Mouse” by Jaisey used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Assistive technology program MouseGrid demonstration” uploaded by roverdo

Text to Speech Explained

1939 -- First speech synthesizer

1976 -- First talking calculator

1987 -- Introduction of JAWS screen reader

Perfect Paul in use

“VODER (1939) - Early Speech Synthesizer” uploaded by VintageGC

“Stephen Hawking discusses his stint on 'The Simpsons'” uploaded by shazzatpm's

Kurzweil 3000 Demo

Kurzweil 3000 Basic Features

“built in supports ” uploaded by EDUC 685

The Kindle as a Screen Reader

Amazon Kindle 3 Text to speech

“Amazon Kindle 3 Text to speech ” uploaded by LoneReaction

Screen Readers and PDF

NVDA PDF demo “Assistive technology program NVDA screen reader and untagged PDF demonstration” uploaded by roverdo

“Assistive technology program NVDA screen reader and tagged PDF demonstration” uploaded by roverdo

Screen Reader Web Page Behavior

• Follows keyboard focus order or tab index order• Can skip between headings or lists if structured properly• Responses to images are inconsistent without alt text• Responses to input boxes are inconsistent without labels

Jaws "Hidden Heroes" inaccessible website demo “Assistive technology program JAWS screen reader web accessibility demonstration” uploaded by roverdo

Inaccessible Websites

Compliance with WCAG 2.0

1 (5 pass AChecker plus 15 near misses)

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Solo practitioner Scott LaBarre

• Practices employment and disability law in Denver Colorado • President of the National Association of Blind Lawyers, an affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind.• Appeared on the NFB’s “Straight Talk About Vision Loss” episode 14• On being a blind attorney

“Straight Talk About Vision Loss, Episode 14 ” uploaded by NationsBlind

Law Student Deepa Goraya

• LSAC Settlement Agreement• LSAC YouTube channel• Beneficiaries include Deepa Goraya

• She is now a 2L at the University of Michigan• Co-Vice President NALSWD• NALSWD YouTube channel

Others Benefiting from Screen Readers?

• Example 23 of the EEOC's Reasonable Attorney Accommodations• Beneficiaries include (?)• Blind Lawyers with BigLaw jobs have left those jobs

• Isaac Lidsky• Will Grignon, founder of Descriptions for the Blind

• American Association of Visually Impaired Attorneys (ACB affiliate)• Richard Bernstein Challenges ABA on LSAT

“Attorney Richard Bernstein offers help to people who have been denied Social Security Benefits ” uploaded by SamBernsteinLawFirm

Text to Speech Limitations

• Wikipedia reports the average reading rate to be 250-300 WPM• Wikipedia reports the average listening rate to be 150 WPM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute

Eye Tracking a.k.a. Gaze Tracking

• 1879 -- First measurement of eye movementsSaccades and Fixations

• 1988 -- Introduction of Eyegaze eye tracking system• 2002 – Introduction of Tobii Eye Tracker

Christopher Taylor and his Tobii C12 (ALS)

• 2011 – Tobii demos an eye-tracking laptop prototype made by Lenovo

“Christopher Taylor and his Tobii C12 (ALS)” uploaded by AACTobii

“eye movements ” uploaded by craiggirvan

“Tobii introducing the new eye controlled Lenovo laptop at CeBit ” uploaded by TobiiEyeTracking

The Case of Hippocrate Mertsaris

Fox5 (NY) report on Chicho Mertsaris

“Wheelchair-Bound Lawyer's Sex Assault Case Dismissed” uploaded by MyFoxNY

Challenges and Solutions for the Future

• Each technology needs better mathematical models and more processing power.

• Despite the limitations, current technology is sufficiently advanced to make a real difference in bridging the digital divide.