Tech Advances Narrow Digital Gap for Disabled

By Maggie Jackson, Boston Globe Correspondent, 2/16/03

Al Sten-Clanton, a blind computer programmer at FleetBoston Financial, couldn't fully access the Web and all its resources at work until a few years ago. Now equipped with the latest software program that reads text off the screen, Sten-Clanton can "see" much of what his sighted colleagues can on the computer.

Since 1999, Sten-Clanton has used a software program called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), made by Freedom Scientific and costing $895 or $1,095 depending on the version. "It's my access to the computer screen," said Sten-Clanton, who comes to work with his guide dog. "Since that's my job right now, it matters a good deal."

The yawning digital divide for people with disabilities is starting to close, thanks to an explosion of advances that gives them better access to mainstream technologies and provide the tools necessary to succeed in the work force.

Many gaps remain, but the growth in high-tech devices to help the disabled is rapid. Start-ups that make products such as screen-readers, speech recognition programs, and alternate keyboards are forging alliances with behemoths such as Microsoft Corp. and IBM. And, nudged by federal regulations, corporate America is beginning to realize the power of disabled consumers and workers, and the growth of this segment.

"Technology is the linchpin. All of business today is coming together and being facilitated around technology," said James Kutsch Jr., a vice president of technology for Convergys Corp., a Cincinnati software company. "Those same elements of technology have to be available to people with disabilities so you're not faced with the same glass ceiling effect."

Kutsch, who lost his sight at age 16 in a home chemistry accident, says new advances, such as the first personal digital assistant for blind people, allow him to plug into the same information as colleagues who see. "I'm not behind this curve of being a second-class citizen, of getting a little bit less, a lot later," said Kutsch, who is based in Jacksonville, Fla.

The employment picture for people with disabilities is far from rosy though it is improving. Definitions of disability vary, but about 19 percent of Americans age 21 to 64 - or 30 million people - have a disability, according to the latest US Census data. Of those, 57 percent nationwide, and 60 percent in Massachusetts, were employed in 2000. About half of working age disabled people were working in 1991, according to a Census study. No state by state tally is available for 1991.

Progress on the job front, especially at large companies, can be traced to the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against the disabled and mandates that most employers give disabled people "reasonable" accommodations - ranging from adjustable desks to restructured hours.

But the key to breaking through the disability glass ceiling lies in advances that keep pace with the mainstream high-tech world, many specialists and users argue.

Kutsch had used specialized personal digital assistants for more than a decade before getting the PAC Mate, released by Microsoft and Freedom Scientific late last year. But he's thrilled to have it since the device uses standard applications. Kutsch can now download attachments directly onto his PAC Mate, rather than converting them to his PC and then transferring them back to his hand-held.

"It allows me, as a vice president of technology, to be on a level playing field with my colleagues who are carrying Palms and iPods," he said. "It's not so much that technology is not available. The full power of technology is not accessible to people with disabilities."

That's partly because the makers of computer-related "assistive technologies" typically are small start-ups, created by people with disabilities or their friends and family, who must charge high prices for their customized equipment. "They're using duct tape and bailing wire and chewing gum and whatever they can use to hold parts together," said Michael Takemura, a wheelchair-user who leads Hewlett-Packard Co.'s accessibility program, which promotes accessibility in HP's products.

The $695 orbiTouch alternative keyboard, consisting of two bowl-shaped joysticks, began as the dissertation of 36-year-old industrial engineer Peter McAlindon after he suffered hand pain from too much typing in his student days. Seven years after the first prototype was made from cereal bowls, orbiTouch garnered awards for the best and most innovative assistive technology product at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

McAlindon's company, Keybowl Inc., of Winter Park, Fla., is in talks with several big firms. And Microsoft has worked closely with assistive technology companies for years to ensure that their devices could be released nearly in synch with the Windows XP operating system in 2001. In the past, disabled users had to wait up to two years for modifications that would allow them to use such mainstream systems.

But the growing interest in the market from corporate heavy hitters isn't purely altruistic. Because of amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, since 2001 all electronic and information technology products in federal government workplaces must be accessible to people with disabilities. The government spends $58 billion on such products and services each year.

Makers of technology and employers in general are increasingly aware that their consumer base and their work forces are growing older - and are more likely to become disabled. Thirteen percent of people age 25 to 44 have a disability, but 36 percent of people 55 to 64 do. And by 2030, more than 30 percent of the population will be over 55, according to Census data. Still, to close the digital divide, more disabled people need to be aware of and have access to these new technologies. Only about one-tenth of the 1.1 million blind people in the United States have access to a screen reader.

Sten-Clanton researched screen readers himself before Fleet bought his current one. In-depth help is also available for employees who need technological or other accommodations, said spokeswoman Kathleen Searle.

But sometimes, helpful technologies can be hidden from even the tech-savvy. Increasingly, computer operating systems come equipped with accessibility settings that control the size of the cursor to help those with vision problems, or provide keyboard shortcuts needed by people who have trouble using a mouse.

Still, while doing a usability study last fall, Microsoft discovered that some of its own disabled employees were unaware of these features, said Madelyn Bryant McIntyre, head of the Accessible Technologies Team at Microsoft. "We were surprised," she said. "It means that the discover ability of these features is too low."

For those who have acquired technologies that open up the mainstream work world, however, the discovery is priceless.

Scott Putnam, the coordinator at a Worcester nonprofit for the disabled, cannot talk due to cerebral palsy. In December, he got Mercury, a new device made by Assistive Technology Inc. of Newton that uses a Windows XP-based computer system. Mercury allows Putnam to type messages that are voiced by a computer and to send e-mail twice as quickly as with his old system.

Without such technologies, would he be employable? He's quick to type out an answer. "No way," he said.

Maggie Jackson can be reached at Maggie.Jackson@att.net.

[ Back to News Main Page ]