November-December 1996
OPEN LINE

The Technology Policy Newsletter of
the World Institute on Disability


Open Line, the newsletter of the World Institute on Disability's
Technology Policy Division, is published six times a year to
inform recipients of significant developments regarding
accessibility for disabled people to telecommunications and
information technologies.  Information, comments and suggestions
from the readership are most welcome.

World Institute on Disability
510 16th Street, Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612

Betsy Bayha, Editor
510-763-4100; 510-763-4109 FAX; 510-208-9496 TTY



Oklahoma University Researchers Shed New Light On Hearing
Aid-Digital Wireless
Phone Problems:

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma launched an examination
of compatibility problems between hearing aids and digital
wireless Personal Communications Services (PCS) in the Spring of
1995.  Now, having identified several contributing factors in
initial clinical trials, the university's Center for the Study of
Wireless Electromagnetic Compatibility is engaged in a Phase II
study which investigators hope will lead to the development of
standards and solutions.

The research group said it expects by January 1997 to have
evaluated most North American digital phone technologies and
types of hearing aids.

Among the general conclusions:
     All three phone technologies tested interfered in many, but
not all, instances with hearing aids in terms of speech
recognition, annoyance to hearing aid users within 2 cm (less
than an inch) of the phone, bystander detection threshold, and
bystander annoyance at 10 inches to 10 feet.
     Hearing aid wearers reported no interference while using
analog cellular phones.

     On the average, hearing aid users did not experience
annoyance unless the phones were within two feet.  Only 2 percent
at 3.3 feet and 12 percent at 1.6 feet reported annoying
interference.  However, results varied by hearing aid type,
hearing loss configuration and phone technology.
     Users of behind-the-ear (BTE) aids experienced the most
interference, and in-the-canal (ITC) users the least.
     Shielding the BTE aids with a metallic coating effectively
reduced bystander
interference at all distances.
     Placing a copper shield between the phone antenna and the
hearing aid reduced interference.  However, the technical
feasibility of the shielding approach as a solution has not been
evaluated.
     The perception of interference increased in correlation with
hearing loss severity.

The research team pointed out that in the Phase I trials, it
focused on "worst-case" conditions for both hearing aids and
phone technologies, and that more investigation is required under
"normal" operating conditions.

Phase II, said researchers, is placing an emphasis on identifying
the mechanism of the interactions, which would lead to the
development of standards and the evaluation of solutions.

Authors of the Phase I report were: A. "Ravi" Ravindran, Robert
E. Sclegel and Hank Grant of the University of Oklahoma, Norman,
Okla, and Pamela Matthews and Perma Scates of Hough Ear
Institute, Oklahoma City.

The address:  Center for the Study of Wireless Electromagnetic
Compatibility, University of Oklahoma, School of Industrial
Engineering, Sarkeys Energy Center, Room R-208, 100 East Boyd,
Norman, OK 73019.



Giant Telecom Firms Pledge Tangible Implementation of Universal
Design:

Major telecommunications corporations serving millions of
customers in the northeastern and southwestern parts of the U.S.
have in recent weeks put themselves on the line in terms of
extending accessibility of their services and products.

Declaring their dedication to Universal Design and promising to
continue working with the disability community to bring about
easier and less expensive accessibility in telecommunications
were NYNEX, provider of voice and data communications in
northeastern states, and SBC Communications, Inc., of San
Antonio, which has pledged to start expanding its focus on
Universal Design pending approval of the proposed merger of
Pacific Telesis and Southwestern Bell Telephone.

NYNEX Adopts UD Principles
The NYNEX pledge is contained in the adoption of these five
"Accessibility and
Universal Design Principles:"
     1.   NYNEX will provide quality services that can reasonably
accommodate a broad range of diverse users, including individuals
with disabilities.
     2.   NYNEX will review its existing services to determine
which services should be more accessible.
     3.   NYNEX will design and develop its services, to the
extent readily achievable, so as to be accessible to a broad
range of users.
     4.   NYNEX will market and provision its services in a
manner consistent with accessibility by a broad range of diverse
users.

     5.   NYNEX will employ these Universal Design Principles
NYNEX-wide, in its relationships with customers, employees,
shareholders, and suppliers.  NYNEX will encourage companies
related to but not controlled by NYNEX to adopt these principles.

In an amplifying statement, NYNEX said in situations where a
modification does not meet the "readily achievable" wording of
the law, it "will conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine
whether the modification should nonetheless be made." The
corporation promised to consult with users in its review.

Frank Bowe, Hofstra University expert on telecom accessibility,
hailed the adoption of the principles: "The steps NYNEX is taking
are the kinds of initiatives that will be needed throughout
corporate America if the Information Age is to become as
accessible to people with disabilities as the built environment
now is becoming."


SBC Agrees on UD as 'Goal'

SBC Communications, Inc. Senior Vice President and General
Counsel James D.  Ellis, in a letter to WID, said his firm
"agrees with the disability community that Universal Design
should be the goal for new products and services, because it is
easier and more cost effective for accessibility . . . to be
addressed at the design stage, rather than later at the retrofit
stage."

Betsy Bayha, acting director of Technology Policy for WID, said
Ellis's commitment in behalf of SBC is "particularly important in
view of the merging of Southwestern Bell and Pacific Telesis,
which will encompass an immense territory and include millions of
customers."


Ellis said SBC will be working with disability leaders in the
combined companies' territory "to determine an appropriate
planning and implementation process." He said the policy of
cooperation would include product development processes,
usability testing, marketing and dealings with vendors, and would
have the full support of SBC's top management.



Message From the Director:
Photo: Betsy Bayha

Mergers, strategic partnerships, buyouts and breakups...the era
of deregulation ushered in by the new Telecommunications Act is
transforming the communications industry at a record pace.  So it
is somehow fitting that we announce the breakup of the Blue
Ribbon Panel Project. Launched in 1990, by WID's Technology
Policy division, the Blue Ribbon Panel
brought together top experts working in the field of accessible
technology to advise consumers and members of the
telecommunications industry about the critical need for universal
design of telephones and other communications equipment and
services.  More than five years of effort paid off with the
inclusion of disability access language in Section 255 of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Perhaps more importantly, the work of the Blue Ribbon Panel
helped to build a strong nationwide network of advocates and
allies who have carried the message to their constituents and
communities. And our efforts continue apace.

While the Blue Ribbon Panel is no more, WID continues to work in
close alliance with the individuals and organizations who
participated in that effort. You will no doubt be reading about
our ongoing collaborations in the pages of Open Line.

WID will also continue its strategic partnerships with industry
supporters, who have responded positively to our message that
universal design benefits us all, by improving the design of
products as well as expanding business opportunities.

On behalf of Deborah Kaplan, the former director of WID's
Technology Policy division, and the many staff members who have
supported our work over the years, I want to extend my heartfelt
thanks and appreciation to members of the Blue Ribbon Panel who
have helped achieve lasting benefits in communication access for
all people especially people with disabilities.

Betsy Bayha
Acting Director
Division on Technology Policy


(text box)
International Hard of Hearing Group Calls for Action:

This, just in from Open Line's European bureau:  A resolution
adopted by the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People
at a meeting in Graz, Austria.

Member countries of the IFHOH report that people who use hearing
technology -- hearing aids, assistive listening devices, cochlear
implants -- are increasingly experiencing difficulties when using
digital wireless telephones.
     Therefore, the IFHOH resolves that all digital wireless
telephones should be made accessible to and usable by people who
use hearing technology.

The federation, with headquarters in Hertfordshire, England, has
members in 31 countries.



FLASH From the Future
Stanford's Archimedes Project Gains Leverage With Its Total
Access System:

"What can you do for Jackie?" the headmistress in a New Zealand
school asked Neil Scott 20 years ago when he was just starting
his career as a computer systems designer. Jackie had lost most
of her mobility to cerebral palsy but Scott found she could make
consistent, discrete movements with her knees, so he taught her
to use them to punch out dots and dashes.  She mastered Morse
code in two weeks; Scott adapted a computer for her, and Jackie
was on her way.

And Scott was on his way, pursuing a lifelong career of helping
people gain access to computer technology that eventually brought
him to The Interface Lab at the Center for the Study of Language
and Information at Stanford University, where he is senior
research engineer for the Archimedes Project.

The project's goal is to promote equal access to information for
individuals with disabilities, those with motor impairments who
cannot use a keyboard or mouse or dial a telephone or pick up a
computer printout, people with speech disabilities, or those who
are hard of hearing, have low vision or learning disabilities,

Project Leader Betsy Macken and Scott embrace the view that while
computer technology can create problems for people with
disabilities, it can also provide the leverage needed to provide
access to a world of activities and information. Hence the name,
Archimedes, after the Greek mathematician and inventor, famous
for his statement about levers: "Give me a place to stand and I
will move the world."

While efforts are expanding to build disability access into
technology at the blueprint stage -- what we understand as
universal design -- the Archimedes Project has taken a different
approach that complements universal design, it's called the Total
Access System (TAS).  This approach has tremendous potential for
people with multiple disabilities or for those with highly
specific access needs that would be impractical to build into
off-the-shelf technology.

A personal accessor that looks like a compact personal computer,
complete with monitor, keyboard and mouse, is designed to meet
the specific needs of the user by equipping it with whatever
adaptive equipment is needed. The accessor interfaces with a
Total Access Port (TAP), a box slightly larger than a pack of
playing cards, which translates the user's commands and passes
them on to the "host" computer.  Archimedes already has TAPs
specially designed to work with a number name-brand computers and
is adding more.

"TAS is simple to install, relatively inexpensive, and portable,"
says Scott.  "You just choose the TAP appropriate for the machine
you are working on.  The port is the glue which allows us to mix
and match.  TAP looks after all the connections in such a way
that the host computer isn't aware that the accessor user exists.
So there are no time penalties, no compatibility issues."

The host computer needs no modifications because the special
accommodations have been
built into the TAS..  This divide-and-conquer approach, as Scott
calls it, also assures that the accessor doesn't become obsolete
when an operating system or applications software is changed on
the host unit.  Furthermore, the accessor "belongs" to the user,
who can use it at school, at home, or on the job.

Scott is especially enthusiastic about using TAS with emerging
speech recognition systems (especially Dragon Dictate) "based on
resonances of the vocal tract and the cavities that make up your
mouth and other physiological characteristics, which are
constant." Thus, even if the user came down with a cold, the
system would recognize the words, nasal congestion and clogged
sinuses notwithstanding, and match them up with the user's words
previously spoken in a normal voice.

The Archimedes team expects TAS to speed progress in many areas
of accessibility: Faster and more efficient speech-driven
accessors, eye-tracking accessors, tracking microphones, access
to Graphical User Interfaces, and much more.

We'll keep you informed.

[Diagram:  Total Access System (TAS)
(3 vertical blocks as laid out below)

ACCESSOR  TAP  HOST

User Interface Screen

AccelerationRoutinesComputer

TAS Interface  Total Access Port (TAP)Keyboard ;;; Mouse

In this diagram there are 3 vertical blocks labeled ACCESSOR,
TAP, & HOST.  Arrows go both directions in the ACCESSOR block
between User Interface & Acceleration Routines, as well as
between Acceleration Routines & TAS Interface, and between the
TAS Interface and the Total Access Port in the TAP block.  There
are dotted lines around the ACCESSOR block.  A single direction
arrow goes from the Total Access Port to the Screen in the HOST
block.  2 single direction arrows go from the Total Access Port
to the Computer.  One single arrow goes from the computer to the
Total Access Port.  And 1 single arrow each go from the Keyboard
and Mouse to the Total Access Port.]



Bobby Offers Help to Website Designers:

CAST (the Center for Applied Special Technology in Peabody,
Mass.) wants everyone to meet Bobby.  Bobby is a graphical
web-based program to help web site designers and graphic artists
make their web pages accessible to the largest possible number of
people.
Bobby assists in identifying design problems that might prevent
pages from being displayed
properly on the various web browsers -- America Online, Netscape
Navigator, Mosaic, Lynx, Microsoft Explorer, and others.

In addition, Bobby performs a series of tests to catch and
correct problems that could make a site inaccessible to people
who are blind, deaf, or have other disabilities.

CAST is a not-for-profit research and development organization
that concentrates on expanding opportunities for people with
disabilities through the innovative development and application
of technology.  It is dedicated to the concept of Universal
Design --
building access and support directly into products from the
beginning rather than retrofitting special technologies later on.

More information about Bobby can be obtained from: Chuck
Hitchcock, Director, Universal Design Lab, CAST, 39 Cross Street,
Peabody, MA 01960.  Phones: (508) 531-8555 voice; (508) 531-0192
fax; (508) 531-3310 TTY.  email:  chitchcock@cast.org or
chitchcock@aol.com.

Oh yes.  Bobby was named after the jaunty British cop image that
stands in attendance at the CAST website, "there to help
everyone, to be of service just like the legendary British
bobby," said Hitchcock.

And no, Chuck isn't related to the late film director.



Rules are Needed on Telecom Access Disability Community Tells
FCC:

The Federal Communications Commission must promulgate rules on
telecommunications accessibility if it is to comply with the
intent of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as passed by
Congress.

This is the emphatic message being sent to the FCC by the
Consortium For Citizens With Disabilities (CCD) Task Force on
Telecommunications and Communications Access in response to the
Commission's Notice of Inquiry issued in mid-September.

The disabled community, nationwide, contends that without clear
guidance from the FCC as to the extent and nature of
accessibility requirements, companies will be free to ignore the
concept of universal design and they will find it easier to
argue, when complaints are filed, that retrofitting is "not
readily achievable."

Universal design seeks to ensure consideraton of the access needs
of all individuals, including those with the full range of
disabilities, when designing and fabricating new
telecommunications products and services.  In order to
incorporate this concept, the CCD task force argues, it is
critical for the FCC to issue regulations requiring companies to
consider and meet access needs at the earliest stages of
development.

"Without clear guidance, companies may intentionally or
unintentionally ignore access needs at these early stages," says
Jenifer Simpson of the CCD.  "Yet, once the products and services
are manufactured or deployed, it becomes much more costly and
burden some to retrofit them for access."

The CCD acknowledged that the FCC has demonstrated a sincere
commitment to ensuring that all Americans, including those with
disabilities, have access to telecommunications products and
services, citing their numerous rule-making proceedings on such
matters as telecommunications relay services, hearing aid
compatibility, and decoder-equipped television receivers.

The Task Force urges the FCC to "continue this trend toward
reversing decades of discrimination against individuials with
disabilities," through the development of rules to implement
Section 255 and related disability access issues of the new law.

Rules are necessary, according to representatives of the disabled
community, because the market has not historically addressed and
responded to the need for disability access.

Simpson, who covers Capitol Hill from the government activities
office of United Cerebral Palsy in Washington, DC, said the FCC
is now circulating comments received in response to its Notice of
Inquiry issued in September.  Individuals and organizations now
have the opportunity to respond to points and issues raised.  The
deadline for these replies is Nov. 27.

In particular, she suggested letters to FCC Commissioners
Rachelle B. Chong and James H. Quello, who have expressed
reservations concerning FCC drafting of access regulations (with
copies to Commission Chairman Reed Hundt).  The FCC address is:
1919 M Street NW, Washington, DC, 20554.

The CCD is a coalition of over a hundred national consumer,
service provider, parent and professional organizations that
advocate on behalf of people with disabilities and their
families.


Hofstra Parley Report, Updated, Now Available:

"Access to the Information Superhighway," a 50-page report on
proceedings from a conference held early this year at Hofstra
University, Long Island, NY, is now available -- edited and
updated by Hofstra Professor Frank Bowe, who chaired the
conference.


It includes a keynote address by WGBH's Larry Goldberg (along
with excerpts from the Federal Communications Commission's
guidance on captioning and video description), an address by
Maureen Krolak (then with the Trace Center at the University of
Wisconsin), excerpts from the Telecommunications Act of 1996
(since passed by Congress and signed into law by President
Clinton) and World Wide Web addresses for key disability-related
Internet sites.

Also, the FCC's notice of inquiry issued in September on the
Telecom Act's section 255 (access to services and products) is
available from Dr. Bowe, both in print and on disk.  While the
deadline for comments (Oct. 28) passed just as Open Line was
going to press, the need to be familiar with what is happening
continues, and more opportunities will occur for interested
individuals to tell the FCC that Americans with disabilities see
a need for specific regulations and guidelines on how access
should be provided in the Information Age. (See "Rules are
Needed," adjoining column.)

For more information:
Prof. Frank Bowe, 124 Hofstra University Hempstead, NY
11550-1090.
serfgb@hofstra.edu
1-516-463-5782 (voice)
1-516-463-5153 (TTY)
1-516-463-6503 (fax)



Address Correction Requested

World Institute on Disability
Technology Policy Division
510 16th Street, Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612
510-763-4100
510-763-4109 FAX
510-208-9496 TTY
E-mail: OpenLIne@wid.org

Staff
Betsy Bayha, Acting Director, Division of Technology Policy
Shelby Jones, Department Assistant

The Technology Policy Division of the World Institute on
Disability Gratefully Acknowledges these industries for their
support.
Adobe
Interactive Services Association
American Express
MCI Foundation
Ameritech
Microsoft
AT&T
Minitel USA
Bell Atlantic
Motion Picture Association of America
Bellcore
NEC Foundation
BellSouth
NYNEX
CTIA
Pacific Telesis Group
Citibank
Southwestern Bell
Electronic Industries Association
Sprint
Ericsson
United Technologies
GTE
U S West
Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.
The Walt Disney Company

.

