On August 4, the Subcommittee on Technology of the House Committee on Science 
held an oversight hearing on assistive technology and universal design.  Below
 are the 7 prepared statements submitted.  Following my usual convention, I 
have separated each significant section -- piece of testimony, in this case --
with a line of 10 dashes -- thus allowing one to skip ahead if desired.

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                             PREPARED STATEMENT OF
                             CONSTANCE A. MORELLA
                                  CHAIRWOMAN
                      BEFORE THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
                          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
                SUBJECT - DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS FOR ASSISTIVE
               AND UNIVERSALLY DESIGNED TECHNOLOGY TO ASSIST THE
                             PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED
                            TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  Welcome to the Technology Subcommittee's second hearing on
  assistive technologies.
  The Subcommittee held its first hearing, last July, focusing on
  the transfer of federal technologies to meet the needs for those
  with disabled conditions.
  We learned from the hearing that these technologies, which we know
  as "assistive technologies" are being used to increase, maintain,
  and improve the functional capabilities of individuals with
  disabilities.
  An assistive technology is a device, whether acquired
  commercially, off-the-shelf, modified, or customized, that is used
  to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of
  individuals with disabilities.
  Throughout the United States, Americans are using assistive
  technology to achieve greater independence and to enhance the
  quality of their lives.
  Examples of assistive technologies, which provide for more
  independent, productive, and enjoyable living, range from items as
  basic as Velcro in adapted clothing, a computer that can be used
  by an individual with Cerebral Palsy, a motor scooter or a hearing
  aid for an individual who is aging, and enhanced voice recognition
  for someone with Multiple Sclerosis, to items as intricate as
  using the Global Positioning Satellite system in conjunction with
  the Department of Defense to assist visually impaired individuals
  and a Talking Signs project in conjunction with the Department of
  Transportation using infrared transmitters and receivers to
  provide orientation to low vision or learning disabled
  individuals.
  These assistive technologies are providing a disabled individual
  the means to function better in the workplace or the home.
  For the 49 million people in the Unites States who have
  disabilities, as well as for Americans who are able bodied,
  assistive technologies have yielded a tremendous number of quality
  of life enhancements.
  These technology solutions improve an individual's ability to
  learn, compete, work and interact with family and friends.
  As a result of our first hearing, the Technology Subcommittee was
  impressed with the need for a greater emphasis to develop
  assistive technologies.
  Yet, I am concerned that the area of assistive technology has been
  overlooked by both the Federal Government and the private sector.
  While assistive technologies assist all age and disability
  classifications, assistive technologies still do not have the
  recognition in the Federal Government necessary to ensure they are
  a priority for federal research and development.
  Further, because of the relatively small market for specific
  assistive technology products, the private sector generally lacks
  adequate incentives to produce assistive technologies and users
  generally lack adequate resources to acquire assistive technology.
  There are also insufficient links between federally funded
  assistive technology research and development programs and the
  private sector entities responsible for translating research and
  development into significant new products for users of assistive
  technologies.
  Fostering partnerships to promote assistive technologies is, I
  believe, the key to the future for improving a disabled citizen's
  quality of life and providing them a means to acquire a job.
  These are some of the issues we will be addressing today as we
  hear from our distinguished panel and discuss methods to enhance
  the creation, implementation, and commercialization of assistive
  technologies.
  We have with us today a panel of five distinguished witnesses,
  representing a broad spectrum of large and small assistive
  technology companies, disabled organizations, and assistive
  technology users.
  I look forward to engaging in a discussion with our panel today
  about how we can remove the barriers to the development of
  assistive technologies.
  Finally, I hope everyone had an opportunity to attend the
  assistive technologies exhibition earlier this afternoon.
  Thank you to all those companies that participated in this very
  informative demonstration of the latest assistive technologies.
  By reviewing and operating examples of state-of-the-art assistive
  technologies, the Subcommittee, Members of Congress, and staff
  have been provided with an invaluable opportunity to be educated
  on the technology that aids the physically or mentally disabled.
  I would also like to extend my special appreciation to Tyrone
  Taylor, Angela Brown, and the Federal Laboratory Consortium for
  all of their hard work in coordinating the exhibition and their
  invaluable assistance to make this hearing a success.
  I now turn to my ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr.
  Barcia, for his opening remarks.

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                             PREPARED STATEMENT OF
                                 DON PATTERSON
                            DATAHAND SYSTEMS, INC.
                      BEFORE THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
                          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
                 SUBJECT - ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PERSONS
                               WITH DISABILITIES
                            TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  As one of the three directors who launched the company which has
  become DataHand Systems, Inc., I have ten years of experience
  developing the DataHand keyboard system--even though I am not
  involved with the company's operational management. When I first
  learned about the DataHand concept from an article in the Wall
  Street Journal, patent applications had been filed and prototypes
  developed, but much work was needed to refine the design into a
  market ready product.
  DataHand Systems is still a small company, but over the last
  several
  years the DataHand product has proven itself in the market--
  especially among stress injured workers. Because of the
  seriousness of the stress injury problem, this group of afflicted
  workers became the initial focus of the company's marketing plan.
  More and more satisfied customers are spreading the word about the
  success of their experience with the DataHand keyboard. Some
  individuals credit the DataHand system with saving their careers.
  Many DataHand customers are highly paid computer programmers,
  greatly valued by their companies. Some of this group were on the
  verge of forced retirement before they started to do their work on
  a DataHand keyboard. Some had tried voice entry systems and other
  keyboard concepts to relieve their stress before they discovered
  DataHand Systems. Even in the face of improving and well-financed
  alternatives, the DataHand keyboard has remained the keyboard of
  choice for many stress injured workers.
  To the company's knowledge, no sale has ever been lost to any
  competitor. Company research shows that customers either stay with
  their existing keyboard or they purchase a DataHand product. The
  company does not feel it has any competitors capable of delivering
  similar benefits. Most other alternative keyboard products are
  derived from and are similar to the basic fiat QWERTY keyboard
  which was designed over one hundred and twenty years ago to
  prevent workers from going so fast they would cause the mechanical
  typewriter keys to clash. The flat, QWERTY keyboard design was
  intended, from the start to be awkward and inefficient.
  In many cases, DataHand operators, injured from previous work on a
  traditional keyboard, watch their pain and swelling go away over a
  period of months after they change over to the DataHand system.
  This can happen without workers taking any time off from work to
  allow the previously Induced trauma to subside. Nevertheless, the
  DataHand keyboard is not a medical device and no medical claims
  are made on its behalf by the company. The repetitive stress
  injury issue reached the public consciousness during the early
  nineties after the DataHand keyboard was well advanced along its
  developmental path. Although designed to improve productivity, the
  DataHand concept has proven ideally suited to bring valuable
  benefit to stress injured keyboard users.
  By the time the DataHand product was ready to enter the market,
  the repetitive stress injury issue had grown into a $50 billion
  annual national problem. In response, doctors have prescribed the
  DataHand keyboard for their Injured patients; DataHand devices
  have been used to close workman's compensation claims as well as
  to rescue many workers from pain-filled workdays. Last fall, for
  one example among many. the Health Section of the Washington Post
  carried an article about repetitive stress injury quoting a
  Baltimore physician, who reported his experience with the DataHand
  keyboard and other products over the past several years. He told
  of having found no other keyboard device apart from the DataHand
  keyboard which had proved able to help his patients gain relief
  from theft repetitive strain injuries. Many, many compelling user
  experiences could be cited if time and space permitted.
  Another example of note is the case of SaraLee/Hanes in North
  Carolina where fifteen DataHand devices saved the company $100,000
  in Workman's Compensation claims, according to public statements
  made by company officials. A press release documenting this case
  is attached.
  A recent study of a random sample of DataHand users conducted by
  the University of Arizona is also attached to provide additional
  information about user response. An earlier study by the
  Harrington Arthritis Center is also available. The U.S. Postal
  Service (USPS) commissioned theft own study of DataHand
  ergonomics, but that study has not yet been made public by the
  USPS. The company has been told only that the findings are
  favorable. More information about the DataHand keyboard system can
  be accessed through the company's website at www.datahand.com. 7-
  9000 hits per week are being logged over recent weeks at this
  website.
  To provide more specifics on the views and ergonomic experience of
  postal workers a copy of an article from the Government Computer
  News is attached. The Phoenix Post Office was the first major
  installation site of DataHand devices in a highly stressful, high
  pressure work environment.
  In spite of its record of success, acceptance of the DataHand
  concept has been retarded, to some degree, by the device's unusual
  appearance. Unlike any keyboard people have ever seen before, the
  DataHand concept can be initially intimidating to some people.
  When they first sit down to begin work, people cannot imagine how
  they would ever learn to accomplish work on such an unfamiliar
  keyboard. It takes some minutes of adjustment before people begin
  to get the idea and understand the required touch and pattern of
  finger movement.
  Even though the DataHand key layout is based on the familiar
  QWERTY arrangement of the keys, four finger movements do have to
  be relearned. These correspond to the four diagonal movements of
  the index fingers on the fiat keyboard. These four movements are
  accomplished on the DataHand system through lateral movement of
  the second and third finger on each hand. These four finger
  movements are relatively quick and easy to learn. Most operators
  achieve functional speed on the DataHand device within 15-30 hours
  of work. This is the normal training range. Diligent, full-time
  users, who are not impaired by injury, usually achieve or exceed
  their fiat keyboard performance within 30 days or 3 million
  keystrokes.
  Dvorak and custom key layouts can be accommodated for the benefit
  of keyboard users with these special needs. A ten-key version of
  DataHand is available for those whose work requires only numeric
  entry. Customized numeric DataHand devices are used for sorting of
  mail by zip code.
  While many DataHand customers use the IBM-PC interface, other
  platforms are supported. As is the case with the U.S. Postal
  Service mail sorting equipment, a variety of specialized interface
  protocols have been offered.
  Numbers and functions are typed on the home row with the DataHand
  system by means of thumb activated mode shift. This approach makes
  the DataHand design user friendly, efficient, and readily touch
  typeable without the long finger reaches and hand movements
  required of fiat keyboard users.
  The DataHand design is beneficial to stress injured workers,
  because the palm of the hand is supported, and the keys are
  activated with 80% less movement and 80% less force than is
  required on the flat keyboard (and its ergonomically reconfigured
  derivatives). Accordingly, the stress of performing keyboard work
  is vastly reduced for workers on the DataHand keyboard. Because
  the amount of finger movement is so much less and because the
  "pounding" of the keys is not necessary, fatigue is reduced, and
  people find they accomplish a great deal of work without realizing
  how much is being achieved with very little work.
  All of the standard functions (shift, shift lock, tab, return,
  delete, control, option/alt, command, and space) are placed within
  short, easy reach of the thumbs. The thumb is the "most
  intelligent" of the five fingers, so it is given more work to do
  under the DataHand system. At first, some users find this scheme
  complex, but as they become accustomed to the idea, the logic of
  the concept becomes apparent.
  One of the major factors retarding the acceptance of the DataHand
  keyboard in the stress injured marketplace has been the lack of
  national ergonomic standards and/or a policy which addresses
  potentially overburdening liability costs. Companies have been
  extremely shy about acknowledging stress problems among their
  workers, lest they be forced to take costly steps prematurely on
  behalf of many workers. While many companies officials have waited
  for the situation to become clarified by court action or other
  developments, workers have suffered, sometimes in silence. Many
  workers have been timid about admitting their stress related pain
  for fear of derailing their careers. As a result, keyboard related
  stress is not as visible or as quickly managed as it would be if
  corporate and personal concerns in the absence of clear national
  leadership were not skewing the issue.
  In this climate, DataHand Systems often has not won larger
  corporate orders for DataHand keyboards until it has demonstrated
  improved worker productivity to go along with greater operator
  comfort and relief from repetitive stress. Although word of mouth
  communication has been a great benefit, people need time to become
  convinced that a strange new keyboard device can really help them.
  Each work environment is a little bit different from the next, so
  companies have needed their own experience with the DataHand
  keyboard before they become convinced of the benefits.
  Normally, the capability of DataHand is established by initiating
  a product test involving company workers in their actual work
  context. Ten or more workers are trained over four or five days;
  then their DataHand work results are monitored over several weeks.
  If necessary a learning curve projection is made to determine the
  additional amount of productivity workers are likely to gain over
  successive weeks of continued work. Where possible test results
  are compared to the initial performance results the worker
  achieved when they were learning to perform their job on the flat
  keyboard. So far. the DataHand results have always proved
  favorable in these comparisons.
  Productivity demonstrations have been advanced at a variety of
  companies In several Industries. High emphasis Is placed on
  support and making sure each company is satisfied with the results
  achieved. Typically, a productivity improvement of less than ten
  percent is enough to pay the capital cost of DataHand keyboards
  plus the training costs in less than a year. In each case the
  internal rate of return is calculated using the company's own
  labor cost data together with average worker hours of keyboard
  work per day.
  Productivity improvements have been significant enough to show
  substantial economic benefit to the bottom line of the client
  companies quite apart from the savings on medical cost and lost
  worktime resulting from stress injury, but the precise numbers
  achieved in the testing are proprietary to the client companies,
  The company welcomes the opportunity to set up demonstration tests
  with any company, government entity, or institution where
  substantial mounts of data entry work are performed. In some
  companies, stress Injury is a big issue, while in others
  productivity Is a bigger concern. Sometimes worker comfort apart
  from high rates of repetitive stress injury is considered
  Important. Workers in some companies consider the DataHand
  opportunity to be a significant job benefit. This can be important
  to a company In a highly competitive labor market.
  Where stress is an issue, the financial benefits of the DataHand
  choice are larger than they are where productivity is the only
  concerns - although typically, where stress injured workers are
  involved, some months are needed to bring workers back to full
  previous productivity before they can go on to improved
  performance. Concerns vary from company to company depending on
  the intensity of keyboard work, the number of hours of keyboard
  work each worker must perform per day, and other ergonomic issues
  such as work break policy, workstation design, chair choice, and
  etc. The DataHand purchase decision is normally weighed against
  the average cost of a stress injury case. Industry research has
  found this cost to be in the range of $30,000 including both
  medical costs and lost work time.
  DataHand Systems is also working to address the needs of other
  workers with disability, such as the blind and the muscularly
  impaired. For example, test demonstration plans involving blind
  workers and others are currently pending at the General Services
  Administration.
  A DataHand accessory providing auditory support for blind workers
  has passed the prototype stage of development. As soon as the
  software portion of the work is completed, testing will begin with
  blind workers.
  Thank you for this opportunity to submit testimony about the work
  of DataHand Systems, Inc. to help overcome the distressing effects
  of disability. We believe we can help many, many workers remain
  productive and pain free. As workers at the Rochester, N.Y. Post
  Office argued powerfully by way of block lettered T-shirts on
  informal dress days before DataHand keyboards were installed at
  their workstations, "Work should not hurt."

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                             PREPARED STATEMENT BY
                                JOHN LANCASTER
                              EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
                           THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE
                   ON EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
                      BEFORE THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
                            TECHNOLOGY SUBCOMMITTEE
                            TUESDAY AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  THE IMPORTANCE OF PRIVATE-PUBLIC SECTOR INITIATIVES TO ENSURE
  TECHNOLOGY ADDRESSES THE NEEDS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
  Good morning Chairperson Morella, Mr. Gordon and Members of the
  Subcommittee:
  I am John Lancaster, Executive Director of the President's
  Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.
  I am very pleased to be here this afternoon to tell you about a
  new public-private sector initiative of the President's Committee.
  SUMMARY OF OUR NEW INITIATIVE
  We are convening a Technology Task Force that will consist of
  technology companies that want to work together to develop
  standards for digital multimedia applications so as to facilitate
  access to information technologies for people with disabilities.
  The end result will be greater employment of persons with
  disabilities who currently face barriers as most technologies are
  not designed with people with disabilities in mind.
  WHAT IS THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE
  The President's Committee on Employment of People With
  Disabilities is a small federal agency whose mission is to
  communicate, coordinate and promote public and private efforts to
  enhance the employment of people with disabilities.
  The President's Committee provides information, training,
  technical assistance to America's business leaders, organized
  labor, to rehabilitation and service providers and to advocates
  and people with disabilities and their families. It has more than
  300 volunteer members and works with the Governor's Committees on
  Employment of People With Disabilities in all fifty states, in the
  District or Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Island. The
  President's Committee works with the more than 600 Mayor's
  Committees on Employment of People with Disabilities.
  BACKGROUND
  The President's Committee has a long history of working with the
  private sector. From the start, in 1947 when the President's
  Committee was formed by President Harry Truman, in response to
  needs voiced by returning disabled veterans, private sector
  individuals and entities have been instrumental in the President's
  Committee's efforts to enhance employment of people with
  disabilities. As members of the Committee and its subcommittees,
  private sector individuals and entities have advised, assisted in
  coordinating and promoting employment of people with disabilities,
  and often behind the scenes, have influenced private actions in
  regard to employment for people with disabilities.
  The Committee provides information and works with business
  leaders. Currently we are working with the United States Chamber
  of Commerce in a Business Leadership Network in more than eleven
  states; with organized labor groups such as the AFL-CIO; with
  veterans' groups such as the Association of Non-Commissioned
  Officers and the Veteran's of Foreign Wars, and with many
  disability service providers and other federal entities.
  The most recent Executive Order for our agency permits the
  Executive Committee and our Chairman "to invite authorities in the
  various professional, technical and pertinent fields. to advise it
  in the exploration of those problems, and review plans and
  projects for advocating the employment of people with
  disabilities."1
  Our new Technology Task Force is one such undertaking among many
  of the private-public activities we initiate. This one was
  introduced by Woody Kerkeslager, Vice President of Technology and
  Infrastructure at AT&T, who came to the President's Committee and
  wanted to work with us on disability access issues in technology.
  IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY AND UNIVERSAL DESIGN
  Most of us now know how important assistive technology devices and
  services are in creating gateways into jobs and education and
  other areas for people with disabilities. From sophisticated
  electronic voice prosthetics to adapted keyboards and zoom
  features in software, to closed captioning and Email text
  Messaging, people with all kinds of disabilities, with the aid of
  assistive technology devices and services, are able to do what
  many people without disabilities take for granted.
  There is also a pressing need to design and develop more
  mainstream technologies with the needs of people with disabilities
  in mind from the start, at the blue print stage. The disability
  community calls this approach 'universal design'. It is defined as
  a process of designing, developing, fabricating, making and
  technically supporting products and services that are designed to
  be accessible to and usable by the largest number of persons. This
  means it works for persons with and without disabilities.
  There is also a need to develop more assistive technologies so
  that a person with a specific disability, or combination of
  functional limitations, can access other devices or systems.
  HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
  Designing with disability in mind is important because of high
  unemployment rates among people with disabilities and due to the
  lack of access to information technology which impedes
  participation in the workplace.
  According to the most recent Harris Poll, conducted by the
  National Organization on Disability, only three in ten working-age
  adults with disabilities are employed full or part-time, compared
  to eight in ten non-disabled adults.2
  Unfortunately, working age adults with disabilities are no more
  likely to be employed today than they were a decade ago, even
  though almost three out of four who are not working say that they
  would prefer to be working. This low rate of employment has, in
  turn, led to an income gap that has not narrowed at all since
  1986, with one in three disabled adults, compared to just one in
  eight non-disabled Americans, living in very low income households
  with less than $15,000 in annual income.
  Other federal data demonstrate the severity of the unemployment
  disparity for people with disabilities compared to people without
  disabilities:
  - While 82.1 percent of the general working age population is
  employed (ages 21-64), only 52.3 percent of all people with
  disabilities are employed.3 This includes persons who have
  difficulty performing functional activities such as hearing,
  seeing, having one's speech understood, lifting and carrying,
  climbing stairs and walking, or difficulty with activities of
  daily living.
  - And, among those with severe disabilities, only 26.1 percent are
  employed.4 Severe disability is defined by the U.S. Census survey
  to mean someone who is unable to perform one or more activities of
  daily living, or has one or more specific impairments, or is a
  long term user of assistive devices such as wheelchairs, crutches
  and walkers.
  Other population data indicate the extent of the problems faced by
  persons with limitations that impact use of the products and
  services of the information age. According to U.S. Census Bureau
  1992 SIPP data, 10.9 million have a functional limitation in
  'Hearing what is said in a normal conversation'; 9.7 million have
  a functional limitation in 'Seeing words of letters in ordinary
  newsprint, even when wearing glasses'. And 2.3 million have a
  functional limitation in 'Having one's speech understood.'
  Additionally, according to this same source (SIPP 1992), more than
  half the population over age 65 has a disability and, with this
  age group growing rapidly, there will be ever increasing numbers
  of persons with functional limitations in the areas that impact
  ability to use information age products and services. Current
  policy changes to raise the retirement age and trends to continue
  working later in life place emphasis on this significant
  demographic shift and the importance we must give to ensuring
  ability to access and use products and services of the information
  age.
  Furthermore, there is an estimated 2.5 million persons, or one
  percent of the population, who experience mental retardation and
  about 5 million people, or 2.8 percent of the adult population,
  who experience a severe mental disability.5 There is much to be
  done in the field of assistive technology to ensure people with
  this disability can enter the workforce. "Even when software is
  available, existing operating systems create a barrier for
  individuals with mental retardation. Accommodations for such
  persons to use computers will include the development of software
  with simple displays, provision of information in non-text-based
  formats (e.g., graphics, video, audio), minimization of the number
  and complexity of decision-making points, presentation of
  information sequentially, and little reliance on memory."6
  Also, our nation has 4.0 million children and adolescents, or 6.1
  percent of the population under 18 years of age, who have
  disabilities.7 These young people will be a part of the workforce
  of tomorrow and while they face significant challenges in their
  classrooms today due to their disabilities, it is incumbent on our
  society to work to ensure that they do not also have to face the
  same significant challenges in operating the fruits of the
  information age when they enter the workforce. Assistive
  technologies and universally designed systems will be critical to
  ensuring their participation in the mainstream.
  The implication for manufacturers and developers of assistive
  technology and for manufacturers and developers of mainstream
  technologies is clear. There are critical, and growing, numbers of
  persons who cannot with ease:
  - hear voice menus and instructions;
  - see what is written on screens and other read-out devices;
  - walk or wheel up to or physically operate devices that access
  information;
  - voice back to a human or other operator or have great difficulty
  in doing so;
  - manipulate controls and buttons and switches; and
  - understand, or who are likely to become confused, when using or
  operating such devices and services.
  Moving people with disabilities from unemployment to employment is
  of fundamental national concern. Current federal policy trends are
  to move to develop more work incentives and to reduce work
  disincentives (such as proposals found in $. 1858, the Jefforts-
  Kennedy bill). However, whether these individuals with
  disabilities can access and use the electronic communication tools
  and information appliances of the workplace remains an open
  question. In fact, we are heating reports of people with
  disabilities experiencing underemployment and downward mobility
  due to lack of access to accessible technology.
  IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
  One of the key members of our Technology Task Force, Woody
  Kerkeslager, Vice President of AT&T, and who is chairing our
  Technology Task Force -- and who could not be here today due to
  press of business -- pointed out to the President's Committee how
  digital technology can be seen as a power. Digital technology is
  transforming the creation, processing, storage, communication and
  use of information in all aspects of our lives. He told us how
  within the fields of education and employment, and within
  entertainment, to list a few, digital technology is changing
  relationships among people and among business sectors.
  Woody's expertise, from a long career at AT&T that includes work
  in computer-controlled switching to network planning, has informed
  us how this new marketplace force, digital technology, is
  impacting our society. He has advised us that digital technologies
  are more and more becoming the basis of information appliances.
  Computers, televisions, telephones, ATM machines, etc., along with
  communications networks and, importantly, the contents provided by
  communications networks, such as cable television and education
  systems, are more and more likely to be products of digital
  development.
  When essential job functions require the abilities to use and
  operate the devices and services, or the information appliances to
  access work-related content, many people with disabilities are at
  a disadvantage in both competitive and non-competitive work
  situations, when these products and services have not been
  designed with disability in mind.
  We are pleased to have Mr. Kerkeslager working with us as we
  approach solutions to making sure the needs of people with
  disabilities are addressed in technology development. Advice from
  the private sector advice is critical for people with disabilities
  seeking to secure and maintain employment.
  CHANGING NATURE OF THE ECONOMY
  The President's Committee has also learned, from work conducted by
  the U.S. Department of Commerce, that information technology
  industries are growing at more than double the rate of the overall
  economy and this is a growing trend.8
  For instance, the information technology industry represents 8.2
  percent of Gross Domestic Product, up from 5 percent in 1985.
  Information technology industries by themselves have driven over
  one quarter of total real economic growth on average over each of
  the last five years, according to the Commerce Department. Their
  report indicates that traffic on the Internet doubles every one
  hundred days and a large portion of this is business-related.9
  Which means it is employment related.
  Another trend, unfolding before eyes in the headlines and news, is
  how there is growing convergence among technologies. Phone
  companies want to buy cable companies, phone companies are
  entering information services, wireless phone companies and
  software companies seek new partners in joint ventures daily. The
  common base which is driving them to come together is digital
  technologies.
  Digital technology -- telephone wire line networks, wireless
  networks, the Internet, broadcast television, cable television --
  are becoming a communications network which information appliances
  can use to reach content, to reach information, to reach other
  people. Woody Kerkeslager has drawn our attention to the fact that
  the content industry -textbooks, databases, structures of
  learning, information for entertainment -- those industries now
  work with the communications industry in new ways. And the
  information appliance industries are capable of creating common
  platforms across all of them which are necessary to provide a
  network-based application.
  But the platforms which are sometimes called in the general media
  "multimedia applications", are the direction in the future, are
  combining voice and video and text and images. In the future an
  individual with a disability could select the mode of
  communication that is natural to that person if common standards
  are developed.
  When the President's Committee tapped the expertise of AT&T's Vice
  President for Technology and Infrastructure, we began to realize
  how these developments provide a unique and exciting new
  opportunity to fully include and empower people with disabilities,
  particularly in the workplace.
  We realized, too, just as importantly, if access issues are not
  addressed now, people with disabilities run the risk of being left
  out, left behind and otherwise not become participants in our
  nation's vibrant digital economy expansion.
  SHORTAGE OF WORKERS
  Of profound importance to national economic health also is the
  shortage of workers in the information technology sector and in
  digital technologies. Business leaders agree that we are running
  out of qualified people, particularly in the high tech industries
  with labor shortages likely to become even tighter over the next
  15 years. And computer-related jobs are among the ten fastest
  growing job occupations. Right now more than 346,000 computer-
  programmer and systems analyst jobs are vacant in U.S. companies
  with more than 100 employees.
  Demand for information technology workers is outstripping the
  supply. In 1996, 7.4 million people worked in the Information
  Technology sector and in IT-related jobs across the economy. These
  workers earned just under $46,000 per year, compared to an average
  of $28,000 for the private sector as a whole. Analysis of IT
  occupations shows demand is expected to grow from 874,000 in 1996
  to 1.8 million by 2006.
  OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
  A positive result of this labor shortage is that barriers of
  discrimination are beginning to fall and businesses, big and
  small, are looking at people with disabilities to fill their
  needs.
  And the President's Committee has initiated several small private-
  public ventures to address this. One such program is the High
  School-High Tech (HS-HT) program. HS-HT programs are developed as
  state and local partnerships of employers, educators,
  rehabilitation professionals and consumers. We coordinate
  interested persons at the local level to work with a group of
  students to encourage students to enter technology-related
  careers. Over 90 percent of the youth who enter the program go on
  to higher education, usually in a technology-related field. Key to
  the program's success is the involvement of people at the local
  level who want to take responsibility to bring the various public,
  private and nonprofit leaders together in a 'can do' partnership
  to implement the coordination necessary to get the young people
  with disabilities 'jump-started' into technology careers.
  Another project of the President's Committee addressing workforce
  needs is our Workforce Recruitment Project (WRP). Each spring a
  team of our recruiters scours colleges and universities for young
  adults with disabilities, interviews and rates them and if they
  pass certain requirements, enters them on a CD-ROM database (which
  includes operating software) by field of study. The database
  includes notes on the students skills and employment preferences
  as well as their fields of study, such as computer science,
  engineering, or math. This CD-ROM database is provided free of
  charge to any company or governmental agency wishing to recruit
  students for either summer internships or other employment
  opportunities. Over a thousand students with disabilities can be
  searched by employers annually to find a young person that meets
  their qualifications for employment opportunities. This is one of
  the fastest-growing and most popular services provided to the
  private and public sector by the President's Committee!
  These are just two of our projects addressing the problem but we
  hope the Technology Task Force can work to support and expand such
  programs.
  ROLE AND FUNCTION OF THE TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE
  Our Technology Task Force would utilize the power of the private
  sector to work cooperatively with leaders in the disability
  community, in government, academia and other entities. Our
  technology task force could develop industry agreement on common
  platforms for digital multimedia applications. Such an agreement,
  when products and services are developed, would paves the way to
  allow an individual with a disability to readily and easily select
  the mode of communications that is natural to that person. It
  could lead to new and exciting assistive technologies. It could
  lead to greater universal design within networks.
  The Task Force will be composed of corporate executive from
  relevant industries, such as long distance telephone companies,
  regional telephony operating companies, cable operators, cellular
  phone operators, television and radio networks, computer and other
  electronic appliances manufacturers, and software developers.
  Already we have Oracle Corporation, IBM, and AT&T involved and are
  contacting colleagues at Nokia, Microsoft, GTE, Hewlett-Packard,
  Bell-Atlantic and other companies who are expressing interest.
  By housing this activity at the President's Committee on
  Employment of People With Disabilities, the private sector can
  work within a private-public venue at a national disability entity
  that has historically, for over fifty years, worked with public
  and private sector entities, and in a non-partisan manner,
  advances the employment interests of people with disabilities.
  Through the collective action of this task force, which is driven
  by the private sector, and in a neutral public setting, agreements
  that lead to standards or common platforms for digital multimedia
  could lead also to more integration of people with disabilities
  into the mainstream of the digital revolution and greater
  inclusion in the development of the very tools that are defining
  education and the economy for the 21st century. It could mean the
  end of most technology-related barriers for persons with
  disabilities!
  The Technology Task Force plans also to focus on technology issues
  as they relate to the critical problems of under- and unemployment
  among persons with disabilities and we wall assist and direct the
  development of activities and programs to help ensure that every
  American with a disability can participate in our nation's vibrant
  information-based and expanding digital economy.
  With support from Congress, the President's Committee can promote
  and demonstrate exciting new programs that demonstrate how adults
  with disabilities can enter into information technology careers or
  how youth with disabilities can transition into information
  technology careers.
  We can do these activities only by working cooperatively with the
  private sector, and that we have started, and with leaders in the
  disability community in government, academia and with other
  entities. Your blessing on and support of this work is
  appreciated.
  Thank you.
  FOOTNOTES:
  1 Executive Order 12640, signed by President Ronald Reagan, May
  10, 1988, Section 3(b).
  2 National Organization on Disability/Louis Harris & Associates
  Survey of Americans with Disabilities, 1998, Executive Summary.
  This nationwide survey of 1,000 Americans with disabilities aged
  16 and older, was conducted in April and May of 1998.
  3 U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program participation
  (SIPP) data, 1994.
  4 Ibid.
  5 According to Accepted Estimates. (National Institute on
  Disability and Rehabilitation Research's (NIDRR) Chartbook on
  Disability, 1996).
  6 National Survey of the Use of Assistive Technology by Adults
  With Mental Retardation, Michael L. Wehmeyer, Journal of Mental
  Retardation, February 1998, page 48.
  7 1992 National Health Interview Survey.
  8 The Emerging Digital Economy, U.S. Department of Commerce, April
  1998.
  9 For instance, workers who telecommute number 11 million in the
  US in 1997, up from 9.7 million in 1996. The U.S. Department of
  Transportation expects that up to 15 million workers will be
  telecommuting in the next decade.

----------
                             PREPARED STATEMENT OF
                                JOHN FALES JR.
                                   PRESIDENT
                  BLINDED AMERICAN VETERANS FOUNDATION (BAVF)
                 COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON TIMES (SGT. SHAFT)
                     BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE
                          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
              SUBJECT - DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS FOR ASSISTIVE AND
                 UNIVERSALLY DESIGNED TECHNOLOGIES FOR PERSONS
                               WITH DISABILITIES
                            TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  Thank you, Madam Chair and distinguished Members of the
  Subcommittee on Technology for holding this important hearing.
  There are no words adequate to express the positive impact new
  technology has had on those individuals with disabilities. It must
  also be noted, however, that synthesized speech technology
  developed for the blind has also had a positive impact on the
  entire world, for instance, voice mail.
  Assistive technology has played an important and meaningful part
  in my life these past few years. My talking computer, scanner, and
  "pocket-talk"/voice pager have enhanced me professionally as well
  as avocationally. It is important, therefore, when new
  telecommunication technology is developed, interfacing with
  assistive technology for the disabled must take place immediately.
  I am a user, not a technocrat. Recognizing that "a little
  knowledge is a dangerous thing" I have requested from those with
  expertise in assistive technology their suggestions and have the
  following recommendations:
  1. "Commit to the full implementation of Microsoft Active
  Accessibility (MSAA) and full keyboard equivalence in Internet
  Explorer 4.0 to ensure full accessibility.
  2. Ensure that MSAA is part of the standard or typical
  installation of all future Microsoft operating systems, including
  Windows NT, CE and the successors to Windows 95.
  3. Commit to comprehensive use of standard Windows controls or
  implementation of MSAA in such a way as to grant full access to
  non-standard controls within all future releases and upgrades of
  key products beginning with business, reference, education,
  developer tools and home productivity products.
  4. Maximize accessibility of Microsoft products by committing to
  develop and implement full keyboard access to all features,
  continuing to offer customizable displays, and to support speech
  input/output.
  5. Substantially increase the amount of staff time devoted to
  accessibility efforts across Microsoft product lines, especially
  in key product areas such as Windows, Office, IE and education.
  6. Provide full support for MSAA in all developer tools and
  include accessible design as an important element in presentations
  to software developers.
  7. Draw upon the resources of organizations representing the
  interests of people who are blind or visually impaired, to provide
  training in the access needs of persons with disabilities to
  Microsoft staff across all product lines, including research
  staff.
  8. Strengthen the accessibility provisions as requirements of the
  Windows logo program and make compliance and support of MSAA a
  mandatory requirement for any application seeking authentication
  as a Windows compliant application.
  9. Explore staff incentives such as providing bonuses to Microsoft
  employees who make significant contributions to a product's
  accessibility.
  10. Improve Microsoft's technical and other support provided to
  screen reader developers to allow them to bring their products to
  market soon after the introduction of the Microsoft product they
  are intended to provide access to."
  There is strong concern among the disabled community that when
  Microsoft is the sole provider, as in MSAA, then access to other
  mainstream products will be controlled or limited by Microsoft. It
  is essential that mainstream developers coordinate with access
  developers and not depend solely on Microsoft and MSAA.
  Recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
  published for comment their Final Rule for Section 255 of the
  Telecommunications Act of 1996.
  It is important that this Subcommittee review and ensure that
  Section 255 of this Act is strong and is adhered to by
  manufacturers. This section requires assessment of accessibility
  and compatibility for each product. Furthermore, Section 255
  requires that access "cannot be bypassed simply because another
  product is already accessible."People with disabilities experience
  more unemployment than those people who do not; people with
  disabilities are disadvantaged more so with the advent of new
  technological advances. It is always a continuing game of catch-
  up.
  A recent (July 23, 1998) Harris Survey commissioned by the
  National Organization on Disability (NOD) reinforces the
  statement. The survey finds that there are significant gaps
  between the working disabled and the working non-disabled: only
  29% of disabled people between the ages of 18-64 work full time or
  part time, whereas 79% of the non-disabled population work full
  time or part time (a 50% gap). Significantly, 72% of those with
  disabilities who are not working say that they would prefer to be
  working. 34% of the adults with disabilities live in households
  with a total income of $15,000 or less compared with 12% of the
  adults without disabilities. About 20% of adults with disabilities
  have not completed high school compared to 9% without
  disabilities.
  It is imperative, Madam Chair, that the disabled community have
  immediate access to new technologies so individuals with
  disabilities have access to productive and meaningful careers.
  In closing, I wish to raise a personal quirk. Public Law 93-112,
  the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, as well as the Americans with
  Disabilities Act mandate that materials should be provided to the
  blind in alternative format such as on audio cassette. I have yet
  to receive manuals from Microsoft or other computer hardware or
  software manufacturers on audio cassette so that I can
  independently install and train myself on their products and
  programs.
  Thank you, Madam Chair, for this opportunity to appear before you
  today and for your interest in insuring that individuals with
  disabilities have access to this wonderful world of technology.

----------
                             PREPARED STATEMENT OF
                                  MARK LOHMAN
                                   PRESIDENT
                               BARTIMAEOUS GROUP
                      BEFORE THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
                          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
                            TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  Thank you for inviting me to appear before your Subcommittee on
  Technology.
  My name is Mark Lohman, I am the President and co-founder of a
  small, privately-owned firm called the Bartimaeus Group, located
  in Northern Virginia. Founded in January. of this year, 1998, the
  Bartimaeus Group focuses its energy on providing access solutions
  to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Our trainers,
  three in number, are all blind or severely visually impaired. We
  have a support staff of professionals providing administrative,
  driving and accounting assistance to these men. Finally, our firm
  has assembled a unique group of five multi-media computer
  specialists who have developed a new, state of the art,
  interactive training CD for the blind computer user. This training
  CD, called NavigAide teaches the blind computer user how to
  operate the basic functions of a personal computer in the Windows
  95 environment.
  The Act which your Committee and eventually the full House and
  Senate may someday consider addresses several major ongoing needs
  in the field of assistive technology. There are many different
  ways to conceptualize the most pressing needs of the blind and
  visually impaired community. Some would say we need additional and
  more reliable technology; others will emphasize the lack of
  information; some will talk about more training; and as always
  everyone will say there is not enough money to provide the needed
  technology, training, or service to those who are in need.
  But I believe there is a simple and direct statistic which gives a
  more powerful indication of how well opportunities are available
  for the blind and disabled individual. That one statistic is the
  current rate of unemployment among the working age blind person.
  Their unemployment rate hovers around 70% and when compared to the
  current national rate of 5% a tragic national story is captured.
  More than any other advancement, the personal computer armed with
  appropriate assistive technology can open up the employment world
  to large numbers of blind adults in a way never before imagined.
  The blind young man who graduated first in his class from Notre
  Dame and is headed for medical school at the University of
  Wisconsin did so with his native intelligence, hard work. and a
  laptop computer armed with a screen reader and voice synthesizer.
  Professor Dan Meador, fully blinded during adulthood, a
  constitutional law expert on the faculty at the University of
  Virginia, (also well known to many on Capitol Hill) continues to
  lecture and write voluminously with the aide of a Toshiba
  notebook, armed with DECtalk Express and a software package called
  JAWS for Windows.
  These two bright, shining lights demonstrate that the blind
  individual can attain the highest levels of cognitive and
  professional attainment and compete effectively side by side with
  their photon-dependent peers.How then can government aided
  research and private enterprise partnerships turn the exceptional
  into the normative?
  Bartimaeus Group, a privately formed company, hopes to demonstrate
  that a range of employment opportunities can be created through a
  successful private enterprise start-up firm that offers a
  comprehensive solution for the blind individuals we serve.
  The child who grows up with blindness and may or may not attend
  college (many do) or the adult who suddenly and severely loses
  Iris vision to Macular Degeneration, Retinitis Pigmentosa,
  Diabetic Retinopathy, and a host of other low vision conditions
  faces several significant hurdles to attain or maintain their
  professional employment standing commensurate with their ability.
  They need access to technology, a personal computer, possible
  Braille Display, a closed circuit TV for high magnification, and a
  screen reader with synthesizer. They need sophisticated adaptive
  technology, the means to purchase it, the right training,
  technical assistance for when breakdowns occur, and a supportive
  work environment.
  To say that our society is prepared to make the necessary
  investments for the millions plus blind community in our country
  remains a mountain to be climbed.
  This technology is expensive. Personal computers configured with
  adaptive technology attachments (both hardware and software) can
  cost anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 depending on the complexity
  of the solutions proposed. Few of the blind students leaving
  college have access to that amount of money. And how many
  employers do you imagine will make a $10,000 investment in new
  technology for an untried, blind college graduate?
  Assembling these technological pieces into a coordinated working
  unit is an almost impossible daunting task for the technological
  novice. Add a visual impairment and it's impossible except for the
  most gifted.
  Finding the right equipment and piecing it together is only part
  of the solution. Learning to use the personal computer in a manner
  applicable to one's work place requires extensive training.
  Training at $300-$500/day for 5-10 days-the usual requirement-may
  be out of reach for most blind individuals, if paid for
  personally. And, advancement in one's job usually means additional
  training. Program crashes and hitting the wrong key that may take
  the blind user to another planet are always dreaded events that
  can happen daily. Technical support lines may be nearly impossible
  to reach on some days. Most sophisticated sighted users of
  computers do not know how to configure the equipment for the blind
  user. The blind worker does not perform his job in a vacuum. The
  sighted supervisors and co-workers may all have fears about what
  types of accommodations may be required, or how best to provide
  assistance or opportunity when asked.
  For a young company such as ours breaking through those barriers
  to provide assistance to the blind is formidable. Our company
  offers the following services: we represent seven different
  manufacturers and sell an array of assistive technology products
  to visually impaired professionals; we go on site and install
  these products; we provide technical assistance and we train the
  blind and visually impaired professional on site. All of these
  services are provided by our blind/low vision staff.
  Where does a company such as ours, aiming to service three states,
  Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia, raise
  the necessary capital to purchase $40,000 worth of equipment,
  carry a credit line of $100,000 and meet a $20,000 per month
  payroll? In our case, where I have provided personally all of the
  start-up funds, some form of tax credits would be a great piece of
  relief.
  At Bartimaeus Group we have developed the first of its kind. an
  interactive training CD. This technology product which costs the
  user $250 supplants and/or reinforces a training pro,am that costs
  $2,000. If our training CD works, it places training at an
  affordable price for blind users in the most remote regions of our
  country..
  But to produce this training CD cost our company $80,000. Who will
  provide this necessary amount of investment capital? No bank would
  lend us money to develop this product. The venture capitalists
  find us much too small and our market too specialized to be of
  interest to them.
  Here we are, ready to produce a family of interactive, multimedia
  training CDs for use on additional Windows applications such as
  WORD and Wordperfect, searching the Internet via a browser, e-
  mail, and other advanced office applications. We believe these
  training CDs will make a major difference in the lives of
  thousands of blind users. The question for our company is can we
  attract the necessary capital to develop these products? Can we
  sell them in sufficient quantity to earn a reasonable profit?
  A bill such as the one you are considering hopefully will provide
  the seed money for hundreds of small businesses, styled like
  Bartimaeus Group. and aiming to provide the link between
  technology and successful career advancement for the blind
  computer user.
  As Helen Keller once remarked, "Security is mostly a superstition;
  it does not exist in nature: nor do the children of men as a whole
  experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than
  outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
  To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in
  the presence of fate is strength undefeatable."
  Thank you Madam Chair for permitting me to testify before your
  subcommittee
  today.

----------
                             PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
                             JAMES R. FRUCHTERMAN
                                   PRESIDENT
                               ARKENSTONE, INC.
                      BEFORE THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
                          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
                SUBJECT - DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS FOR ASSISTIVE
                AND UNIVERSALLY DESIGNED TECHNOLOGY FOR PERSONS
                               WITH DISABILITIES
                            TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  INTRODUCTION:
  Chairwoman Morella and members of the Subcommittee on Technology:
  I am Jim Fruchterman, Chairman of Arkenstone, Inc. As a Silicon
  Valley engineer and entrepreneur, I've dedicated the majority of
  my time over the last nine years to building a nonprofit
  organization that is dedicated to breaking down the barriers to
  information access for people with disabilities. I have also had
  the privilege of serving recently on the federal advisory
  committee advising the Access Board and the FCC on the
  implementation of Section 255 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act,
  which provides for improved access to telecommunications by people
  with disabilities. Arkenstone is the holder of a GSA contract for
  adaptive technology, and our annual sales to the U.S. federal
  government are approximately $250,000. Today, I am testifying to
  encourage partnerships to put assistive technology into the hands
  of the people who need it: people with disabilities.
  I started Arkenstone as a nonprofit organization in 1989, after
  founding two successful Silicon Valley companies, because I saw a
  need that couldn't be filled by traditional high technology
  companies. I had helped invent a technology that could be applied
  to making affordable reading machines for the blind, but my
  company couldn't afford to invest in making a product for such a
  small market. There is a tremendous amount of technology sitting
  on shelves in this country that could positively impact social
  needs, but the powerful economic motivation for doing this does
  not exist. Arkenstone's financial goal is to break-even. This
  gives us more flexibility to pursue our nonprofit
  mission.Arkenstone's motto is: "Information Access for Everyone!"
  We provide tools to people with disability to pursue independent
  living. Our primary projects are reading systems for people who
  are blind, low vision or who have a learning disability.
  Arkenstone reading systems expand literacy and expand the reach of
  people with disabilities to the world of printed material. We are
  now the leading maker of such reading systems in the world.
  Partnerships
  Our assistive technology goal is to replace or augment a sensory
  disability. The technology we have used has been derived heavily
  from military, NASA and federal sources. For instance, I first
  thought of building a reading machine for the blind while I was a
  graduate student at Caltech. This was after my professor explained
  how a smart bomb used pattern recognition to blow up an enemy
  airfield. Pattern recognition research at that time was heavily
  supported by our military. I thought the same technology could
  recognize words on the page for blind people. A few years later, I
  was able to apply that technology to reading when I helped found a
  company to develop optical character recognition.
  We've also been able to put other government technologies into the
  service of people with disabilities. Our use of voice synthesis,
  digital maps and the Global Positioning System CGPS") to make map
  and position information accessible all depend partly or wholly on
  technology created by the research of federal laboratories and
  agencies.
  Our relationship with the federal government and labs has been
  great. As a matter of fact, just last month we moved our facility
  to NASA Ames Research Center on Moffett Field in California's
  Silicon Valley. We have fixed up and are now paying rent on what
  was an empty Navy office building. As the first tenant of NASA's
  planned space technology campus at Ames, we will be working with
  NASA's technology people on expanding the application of NASA
  technology to the needs of people with disabilities. We are
  especially interested in making Internet technology more
  accessible to seniors and people with disabilities, and believe
  that this partnership will bear fruit from the sharing of our
  resources and expertise.
  Arkenstone has not been a recipient of direct federal funding,
  probably because of our small size, but we have greatly benefited
  from the U.S. government's dedication to employing people with
  disabilities and supporting its veterans with disabilities.
  Through purchases of our systems, we have been able to generate
  the revenue we use to invest in development of improved assistive
  technology. We have specifically benefited from extensive work
  with the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense, the
  General Services Administration and the Social Security
  Administration, where Arkenstone either holds federal contracts
  directly or as a subcontractor, supplying adaptive technology.
  We also have had great partnerships with the high technology
  industry. Through the tireless efforts of Dr. Bruce Mahaffey of
  IBM's Special Needs Systems, in June we were able to introduce a
  major innovation in assisting adults and students with learning
  disabilities. With extensive assistance from IBM, we've made a new
  reading program called WYNN (for "What You Need Now"). WYNN
  provides text in a visual and auditory form that a dyslexic person
  can read independently. IBM has supported our work in learning
  disabilities in many ways: product ideas, subsidized access to
  IBM's speech technology, research with disabled students, loan of
  the time of IBM engineers, direct financial grants and marketing.
  I know that in working with IBM I am seeing corporate
  responsibility to society exercised at its highest degree.
  Together we have produced a major step forward in making
  independent literacy a reality for people with learning
  disabilities such as dyslexia.
  Other firms have been generous both financially and with
  assistance. I want to especially acknowledge Intel, which has
  provided millions of dollars of the best Intel microprocessors for
  us to use in our systems for people with disabilities. The Intel
  microprocessor is at the core of that incredible tool for people
  with disabilities, the personal computer. I call the PC the "Swiss
  Army Knife" for people with disabilities: an incredibly powerful
  general purpose tool that can be made usable for people with a
  wide variety of disabilities through the addition of adaptive
  technology. Hewlett Packard has supplied the "eyes" of our reading
  machines through the efforts of their scanner group. HP has
  provided us with incredible deals on their scanners, as well as
  dedicated technical support and locating discontinued scanners
  that have features that our disabled users especially prized.
  Lastly, I wouldn't have been able to enter this field without the
  incredible support of my former company, which is now part of
  Caere Corporation. Caere is a strong supporter of the application
  of their reading technology to the needs of the disabled.
  Challenges
  Adaptive technology is a tough area to be in business. The
  majority of people with disabilities are unemployed and
  economically disadvantaged. You can't make it in this field solely
  on heart, though many people try. Technology costs money to
  develop and for consumers to purchase. Thanks to the incredible
  engine of the computer industry, the affordability of adaptive
  technology has improved every year. However, the barriers are
  still high.
  Solutions
  I want to express my strong support for financing assistance for
  adaptive technology. In the United States, individuals and their
  families still bear much of the burden of buying adaptive
  technology. The need for financing of this equipment is the number
  one issue I hear about from my constituency. We need to help these
  individuals help themselves. Whenever we have been able to mount
  our own subsidized financing programs in the past at low or no
  interest, we have had excellent payment records even though we
  usually accepted people who couldn't obtain commercial credit. The
  demand for such financing has far outstripped the funds we were
  able to allocate to these programs.
  I'd like to make it easier for small organizations like ours to
  expand our relationships with federal labs and agencies. We've run
  into the barrier that a lot of technology transfer is modeled on
  the commercial partner coming up with a substantial investment.
  Those funds generally don't exist in our field. We'd love to find
  a way to get the start-up costs for new products covered en route
  to fielding products that can break even in production. We've had
  to put my favorite Arkenstone invention, Strider, our talking GPS
  locator for the blind, on hold because we've run out of funding to
  finish the project. We've had the most success raising money for
  this project outside the U.S., from Canada and Austria, but I'd
  rather be finding the funding here.
  Lastly, I'd like to encourage the concept of universal design as
  much as possible. Many of the barriers the adaptive technology
  industry spends its limited resources trying to overcome could be
  completely and economically side-stepped if the engineers at
  Microsoft or other firms were thinking universally in their
  designs. My long term goal is for adaptive technology to become
  unneeded because all products in the future should be designed to
  adapt to the needs of the consumer, rather than the consumer
  adapting to the product! I hope we can work together to make
  universal access a reality. Thank you for the opportunity to
  address you on these important matters.

----------
                             PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
                            DAVID A. BOLNICK PH.D.
                             MICROSOFT CORPORATION
                      BEFORE THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
                          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
              SUBJECT - DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS FOR ASSISTIVE AND
                  UNIVERSALLY DESIGNED TECHNOLOGY FOR PERSONS
                               WITH DISABILITIES
                            TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1998
 
 
                            
  Good afternoon, Madam Chairman and members of the Committee. My
  name is Gary Moulton and I am here representing Microsoft
  Corporation. On behalf of our Chairman and CEO Bill Gates, and our
  President Steve Ballmet, I want to thank the Committee for its
  invitation to participate at this afternoon's hearing. Another
  member of Microsoft's Accessibility and Disabilities Group, David
  Bolnick, joins me.
  Bill Gates recently said, "the personal computer is one of the
  most promising assistive technologies there is today"- and he
  reaffirmed Microsoft's commitment to be an industry leader in
  making our software products accessible to all users. Microsoft's
  earliest efforts involved adding access to our personal computer
  (PC) operating systems. The Trace R&D Center,/1 with a grant from
  the National Institute on Disability and
  Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), developed the "Access Pack," a
  set of accessibility aids for DOS, Windows and Windows NT users. I
  can't emphasize enough how important such a triad among
  government, academia and corporate America is to obtaining
  universal accessibility.
  Starting with Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT 4, the features
  of the Access Pack were built-in to these operating systems so
  that any user, anywhere, using a Windows PC would have access to
  these features. Windows 98 contains additional access utilities.
  Windows NT 5.0 will contain even more. These accessibility
  features -- electronic curbcuts as we call them -- and the
  hundreds of adaptive hardware and software products have enabled
  individuals with disabilities to use PCs in their everyday
  activities, the classroom and the workplace. However, the
  evolution of PCs, operating systems and applications is occurring
  so rapidly that the use of a PC as assistive technology often
  fails to keep up with rest of the industry. In some cases,
  individuals with disabilities do not have access to the latest and
  greatest technology. This is not acceptable - and Microsoft is
  applying significant resources to help narrow this gap. To this
  end, Microsoft has developed and is continuing to improve a
  technology called Active Accessibility. Microsoft Active
  Accessibility will standardize the way Windows PCs and adaptive
  hardware and software communicate with each other. Like the Access
  Pack, Microsoft Active Accessibility will be integrated into the
  operating system so that all users, on any Windows PC, can benefit
  from this technology.
  The Internet, with its explosive popularity, poses another speed
  bump for individuals with disabilities. Thousands of Web pages are
  created daily, with only a fraction of them employing good
  accessible design practices. Thus, Microsoft Internet Explorer has
  built-in accessibility options to help tailor Web pages to the
  needs of the user. In addition, Microsoft has created a software
  development technology called SAMI Synchronized Accessible Media
  Interchange -that enables webmasters and software developers to
  easily add closed captions and audio descriptions to multimedia
  that employs Internet standards. These represent only a few
  accessibility features built into our products. Yet, all of these
  electronic curbcuts are worthless if those who need them are not
  aware of their existence. People with disabilities need to be
  aware so that they can develop competitive academic and workplace
  skills. Likewise, educators, professional service providers and
  employers need to be aware so they will utilize this "under
  tapped" resource. No one company, organization or agency can
  ensure that products are accessible and available, and that the
  world knows about them. Thus, to make progress, partnerships must
  be fostered, formed and focused on two specific objectives: 1. To
  promote and provide an incentive for the development of accessible
  products; and 2. To raise awareness of what is possible with
  assistive technology.
  Microsoft has underway its own initiatives aimed at achieving both
  objectives. During 1998, Microsoft is integrating individuals with
  disabilities into every facet of our product design and
  development processes. We have formed independent Access Review
  Boards to help evaluate our products in the early design and
  development phases. We will form a Disability Advisory Council
  composed of individuals with disabilities that will periodically
  consult with Microsoft to keep our efforts on track with the needs
  of individuals with disabilities. In addition, our "Designed for
  Windows" logo program is a widely used industry standard for the
  design of software for the PC. Software developers who want to use
  our logo on their packaging must follow certain accessibility
  recommendations and requirements in the design of their products.
  We verify compliance by using a third-party testing lab. When
  computers are accessible, everyone benefits. Employment- in
  particular --is one of the greatest examples of what an accessible
  PC can make possible. Individuals with disabilities are
  significantly under-employed. Recent survey data from the National
  Organization on Disability (NOD) suggests that this fact is not
  changing. At the same time, the information technology (IT)
  industry sorely needs qualified individuals. An accessible PC will
  enable many individuals with disabilities to be employed in the
  industry. Imagine how that one opportunity impacts our society and
  economy. Microsoft is helping to make this opportunity a reality
  for many. For example, Microsoft has a Skills 2000 initiative --
  the overarching goal of which is to help remedy the information
  technology workforce shortage by recruiting and training new
  people for jobs in the IT industry.These programs are open to
  individuals with disabilities.
  Madam Chairman, Microsoft is committed to making our products
  accessible to the widest range of users. We are also committed to
  helping drive the industry towards universal, accessible design.
  Finally, we are committed to raising awareness of what is possible
  with assistive technology. But again, Microsoft recognizes that
  other business entities, federal and state governments, relevant
  organizations and individuals must all work together to make these
  fundamental changes. We know this hearing will help further this
  larger goal, and we look forward to an ongoing dialogue with the
  Committee on how to foster these relationships.
  FOOTNOTE:
  1 At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the auspices of
  Professor Gregg Vanderheiden.

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