paper: hci and disabilities

Human Computer Interfaces for People with Disabilities
Alan F. Newell and Peter Gregor
Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction, 1988

Human computer interface engineers should seriously consider the problems posed by people with disabilities, as this will lead to a more widespread understanding of the true nature and scope of human computer interface engineering in general.

• Why HCI and disabilities?
• While HCI keynotes, workshops, and tutorials acknowledge the need for a focus on disabled users, little is found in the scientific focus of HCI.
• Statistics (commonly accepted figures in the “developed world”)
• 1/10 have sig. hearing impairment, 1/125 are deaf
• 1/100 have visual disabilities, 1/475 legally blind, 1/2000 totally blind
• 1/250 are wheelchair users
• 6 million mentally retarded people in the US, 2 million are in institutions
• Estimated 20% of population has difficulty performing one ormore basic physical activities
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1992
• Title One: Employers responsibility to accommodate disabilities of employees and applications. Illegal to discriminate when > 24 workers.
• Title Two: Government facilities and services be accessible to the disabled.
• Why do HCI engineers consider the disabled?
• HCI Engineering is
• Of high theoretical and practical value
• "high tech" and leading edge research
• important and academically respectable discipline
• Designing systems for disabled, however is seen as
• Having little or no intellectual challenge
• Charitable rather than professional
• At most, of fringe interest to researchers
• Requirining individualized designs
• Involving small unprofitable markets
• Needing simple, low cost solutions
• Dominated by home-made systems
• Rarely is motivation the same as for joining mainstream science
• Dangers: lack of quality control and commitment, disappointed users, deleterious effect on the commercial sector.
• Reality: Designing for the disabilities is
• Intellectually challenging, with greater scope for inventiveness
• Achievements can be much greater and obviously worthwhile
• The market for such innovation is not small
• HCI in danger of ignoring a large market segment, but also of missing designs more widely useful that inventors originally intend.
• E.g. curb-cuts, cassette tape recorders, remote controls, ballpoint pen
• Who and what are people with disabilities?
• Binary division of society (abled and disabled) is deeply flawed
• Many designers/developers do not understand the narrowness of their vision of the human race
• High-dimensional model of human ability
• Physical, perceptual, mental abilities
• Want to maximize the hyper-volume in this space of useful interfaces
• People MOVE about in this space, abilities are not static
• Contexts of use also often ignored (not JUST in an office environment)
• Environment can induce "disabilities" in people as well
• Assumption that designers are designing for fit human beings
• Good design ought to be robust to changes in environment
• Addressing the problems of extremes can provide impetus for better designs overall
• Designing for disabled can improve performance for the abled in high-stress or extra-ordinary environments
• E.g. flight deck of aircraft, air traffic control
• Promising avenues of research
• Predictive technologies
• Multi-modal interaction
• HCI is missing out...
• Increased market share
• Demographic trends (think baby-boomers)
• ** Extra-ordinary needs are only exaggerated ordinary needs
• Most people have a mix of such needs
• Temporary disabilities are common
• ** Environmental conditions can handicap users
• ** Deeper problem of increasing communication bandwidth
• Greater inventiveness, innovation
• Improved use of truly user-centric design methodologies