By the Apple Computer OpenDoc Human Interface Team and Gary Moulton and Peter Green of the Worldwide Disability Solutions Group
As published in the November 1995 Apple Directions
This FAQ is devoted to the discussion of how OpenDoc's technologies and the potential for third-party disability solution parts relate to users who have "special needs."
Q: How likely is it that someone with a disability might want to use one of the
parts I've developed, and why should I spend extra energy making sure my parts
provide universal access?
A: Worldwide, 550 million individuals have disabilities. These individuals, because of accident, illness, congenital condition, or aging, have reduced visual, hearing, physical, or cognitive/speech abilities. Such disabilities prevent individuals from using standard microcomputers, operating systems, and application software. Also, additional millions of users have RSI (repetitive strain injuries) and can benefit from many of the solutions aimed at people with disabilities.
Fortunately, Apple has designed Macintosh hardware and system software to make Macintosh computers more adaptable those with special needs. For example, the Apple Desktop Bus makes it easy for people to add alternate input and output devices, and the Easy Access control panel is just one of many pieces of system software that can help people with various disabilities. By making your OpenDoc parts universally accessible, you allow more users to use your parts, and that's good for everybody.
Apple Computer, Inc., has a ten-year history of making personal computer hardware and software accessible to people with disabilities. Apple's efforts in this area began before laws and regulations were implemented to mandate access (for example, the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992). As a result, Apple products are fully and easily accessible to individuals with disabilities, and current data indicates that Apple's disability market share is 10 million dollars. This means that there's a lot of market potential for your OpenDoc part, if it is developed with universal access in mind.
Q: What can I do to make sure the OpenDoc parts I develop provide universal
access?
A: Just as city developers have an obligation to permit equal access through curb cuts, software designers have an obligation to create "electronic curb cuts." City planners have discovered that curb cuts are much less expensive to install if they are planned for before the sidewalks are built. Similarly, the earlier you plan for disability access, the less expensive it will be for you to implement--the expense goes way up if you have to retrofit disability access into an existing product.
The general rule when thinking about making software universally accessible is to provide alternative ways of accessing the information. So when an audio cue is used to relay information, it's helpful if you offer a video cue as well (or at least provide a way to choose between the two). When using text, include options that will read that text out loud, enlarge the font size, or switch colors. Easy Access, for example, is the best-known software "electronic curb cut," one that in effect gives an alternative way of selecting multiple keys in the Mac OS. Easy Access is a prime example of a universal access software feature--a built-in accommodation for people who are unable to do a particular task in the standard way.
In addition to the access features mentioned earlier, two other exemplary "electronic curb-cuts" are QuickTime closed captioning and the text-speaking ability of SimpleText. Built into QuickTime is a text track that can be used for creating closed-captioned versions of QuickTime movies--a feature that is useful for deaf and hearing-impaired users. Also, SimpleText includes an option that uses the PlainTalk text-to-speech service to "read out loud" any text in the word processor; this is useful not only for people who are visually impaired, but also for others who
have trouble reading--for example, people with dyslexia.
Even if you don't have the resources to add disability-access features to your part (or any other product), it's important for you to figure out what needs to be done. With that knowledge in hand, you may be able to arrange for a third-party company to provide the needed access solution. This solution is possible only if you plan for it while you are designing your product.
Q: What kinds of parts would be useful to build for people with disabilities?
A: There are a lot of great opportunities for developers who want to create parts for people with RSI or various kinds of disabilities. These opportunities fall into two main categories: parts that help people write or draw, and parts that help people navigate between parts or documents.
For example, a "writing assistant" part could add word prediction and suggestion capabilities to an OpenDoc text processor part. These capabilities could help people with physical disabilities increase their typing productivity, and could help people with cognitive disabilities improve the quality of their written work. A part like this could "learn" new words as they are typed and immediately begin using them in the prediction process.
Another useful part would be a Braille part. It could be used to convert text into Grade II Braille, a version of Braille in which words and combinations of letters appear in a condensed form. Once a document has been translated to Braille, it could be printed out on a Braille printer/ embosser. A part such as a Braille translator would help blind and sighted people work together in any type of environment.
Another part that would be enormously helpful for visually impaired users would be one that reads text out loud. An obvious use would be to read the contents of an entire document, but a part like this could also read characters as they are typed, words as they are completed, or sentences as they are completed. This kind of part could also be used by speech-impaired people who want to use the Macintosh to produce audible communication that can be heard by others.
Another good opportunity for a disability solution part is one that would serve as a replacement for the standard keyboard and mouse. With a part like this, a user with a severe physical disability (for example, people with few muscles under voluntary control, who use just one hand to type, or who must type with their feet) could create content and navigate between the parts in a document. This part could use a scanning sequence--that is, a sequential display of choices that allows users to make their selection by tapping a switch--to allow the user to draw pictures, open menus, manipulate icons, and do many other tasks using an input device as simple as a single switch (for example, a "mouse stick").
Q: What is OpenDoc doing to help people with disabilities?
A: OpenDoc allows the user to perform many operations without a mouse. For example, OpenDoc allows users to copy, cut, and paste icons using the keystroke equivalents assigned to menu items. This greatly benefits those who use alternate input devices and "software keyboards." Also, because OpenDoc has provided keyboard equivalents for commands like Copy and Paste, it will be possible for someone to develop a "software keyboard" part that could easily communicate with OpenDoc, thus enabling users of these input devices to use these very important functions. (Software keyboards are on-screen representations of keyboards that people incapable of using a physical keyboard can control by some other means--a head movement, for example.)
In the Finder, there's currently no way to delete a document except to drag it to the Trash, which is pretty difficult for people who have problems with using the mouse. In OpenDoc, we've added a Delete Document command to the Document menu, which makes deleting files a little easier for some of our users, and makes it possible for "software keyboards" to perform this function. And because the Delete Document command saves the contents of the current document, closes it, and moves it to the Trash (without actually deleting it from the hard disk), there's an easy way to recover the file, if necessary.
In future versions of OpenDoc, we'd like to add a way to navigate through the embedded part's hierarchy using the keyboard. One design we're considering uses the Shift and arrow keys. The Shift-down-arrow combination would navigate down into a selected part (that is, activate it), and the Shift-up-arrow combination would navigate up into the containing part. In order to navigate down through the part hierarchy, OpenDoc would have to provide a way to select embedded parts
through the keyboard. We appreciate any comments you have on keyboard navigation (send to OpenDoc-Interest@CILabs.org).
Q: What is currently done on today's Macintosh computer to support people with
disabilities?
A: The Macintosh includes certain built-in access features that are specifically designed for individuals with disabilities, but used by everyone. These features include
• CloseView (which enlarges the screen image up to 16 times)
• visual beep (which blinks the menu bar to indicate a "beep")
• selectable key repeat (a feature of the Keyboard control panel that helps
users with motor-control problems)
• floppy disk access (Macintosh computers do not require the user to lift and
lower a latch to insert a floppy disk; disk ejection can be initiated in several
ways; and ejected disks are positioned to be easily grasped)
• Easy Access (which substitutes the keyboard for the mouse and makes it easier
for users to press multiple-key combinations)
• SlowKeys (which lengthens the time a key must be held down to register as
a valid keystroke, thus reducing mistyping by people who have
motor-control problems)
These features come with the Macintosh when you buy it. Apple is continually working to ensure that additional access features are included in its new generations of computers.
Q: Where can I find more information on the Worldwide Disability Solutions
Group?
A: The Disability Connection on eWorld (shortcut: DIS) contains information relating to the field of Macintosh assistive technology solutions. Refer to this area to learn about related events and state-of-the-art products used to customize Apple computers for use by individuals with disabilities. Apple has a disability solutions page on the World Wide Web, located at http://www.apple.com/disability/welcome.html. You can also contact the group at the Internet address applewdsg@eworld.com, or by mail at the following address:
