Advances in technology continue to revolutionize the way we interact with both information and each other. However, despite many great advances, individuals with disabilities have often been left out of the technology revolution.
The IBM Accessibility Research group seeks to reduce or eliminate barriers to technology. Their efforts are focused on creating solutions that help individuals with disabilities (both physical and cognitive), the growing aging population, novice technology users, and people with language, learning and literacy challenges. Their goal is to enable people of all ages and abilities to live more independent, productive and meaningful lives through better access to technology.
IBM actually has a rich history of workforce diversity and technology innovation for people with disabilities for more than 100 years. In 1914, IBM hired its first disabled employee, 76 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the 1940s the company hired and trained people with disabilities to replace military workers during World War II. They also provided accommodations for them as well as returning disabled veterans, three decades before the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Some early accessibility innovations include a Braille printer, a talking typewriter, and one of the first commercially viable screen readers.
Dr. Ruoyi Zhou, Director of Accessibility Research at IBM, explained “the organization was created in 1999 with the mandate to help integrate accessibility more formally across IBM’s product portfolio to help comply with government accessibility requirements.” Today, their research is focused on three primary areas:
- Enablement and Guidance
- Technology and Innovation
- Cognitive Eldercare
Enablement and Guidance: In an effort to ensure that accessibility technology is not only easier to use, but is more available to designers and developers around the world, IBM has been releasing open source accessibility tools and creating solutions that help automate the testing process. This helps alleviate roadblocks during the software development process, especially for those less familiar with accessibility issues. Their goal is to strengthen the accessibility of new solutions, but also to help reduce costs by ensuring the design and development is done correctly from the beginning.
For example, IBM has released automated testing tools and best practices that cover mobile and web applications, including the Mobile Accessibility Checker, Dynamic Assessment Plug-in, and the Digital Content Checker and Automated Accessibility Tester.
Technology and Innovation: A major focus of the group is the development of new solutions that help people of all abilities navigate the physical and online worlds so they have equal access to timely information needed for work and life.
One example of these new technologies is Content Clarifier, which represents a powerful combination of machine learning, cognitive technologies and natural language processing. The system takes a long and complicated body of source content and dynamically filters out unnecessary information, replacing complex and recurring words or phrases, and converting it into something more understandable for the user. The content is essentially tailored to the specific needs of the individual.
Additionally, IBM has also been working with Local Motors to create the world’s most accessible, self-driving vehicle (Accessible Olli). The goal is to advance the role technology can play in transforming transportation for the aging population as well as for individuals with disabilities.
IBM has been working with Local Motors to create Accessible Olli, the world’s most accessible,... [+]
Zhou added, “our team in Japan has created a cognitive mobile voice navigation application that guides people with disabilities with an accessible route to their intended destination.” The system has been implemented in an underground pedestrian walkway and shopping center of Nihonbashi-Muromachi, a popular downtown district in Tokyo, Japan.
Cognitive Eldercare: If the explosion of mobile connectivity was the biggest technology shift of the early 21st century, the worldwide aging population (sometimes called the “silver tsunami”) is the biggest demographic shift – one with the potential to significantly impact many sectors of the economy.
To address this critical issue, in 2016 IBM launched its Cognitive Eldercare initiative. The goal is to help the world’s growing aging population live in their own homes longer by creating smart residences and environments that use intelligent sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, etc. Zhou believes that through a network of connected devices, sensors and cognitive systems it can allow family members and caregivers to proactively monitor the health and well being of an aging population.
As part of this effort, IBM is currently working with the Avamere Family of Companies to create smart home environments in senior living facilities. By analyzing data streams from intelligent sensors, Avamere hopes to gain insights into physical and environmental conditions, and obtain a deeper understanding of the factors that affect 30-day hospital readmission rates in patients.
What does the future of accessibility technology look like?
“In the coming years, the ways people interact with machines will most certainly change. For instance,” Zhou explains, “we will soon move away from the traditional desktop and mobile touch devices to solutions that are more intelligent and based on natural human interactions – such as voice. However, this creates new challenges for people who are deaf or mute, which is where new human computer interfaces will likely play a larger role.”
On the aging side, Zhou realizes that the elders of today are not the elders of tomorrow. She adds, “the elders of tomorrow (60 years old today) will have a very different relationship with technology. IBM has to meet the needs of today’s elders as well as designing for the adoption of emerging technologies for future generations, while still keeping a balance with privacy.”
“We also found that loneliness is a growing concern for the elderly.” Zhou continued. “Loneliness has been identified as a looming public health crisis, resulting in higher health care costs, greater mortality and lower quality of life." IBM is exploring how to use cognitive technologies to better identify individuals who are at risk for loneliness, and provide remedies that can mitigate its effects at the individual as well as at the community level.
When the barriers to technology are reduced or eliminated for all individuals, the differences between us becomes less important and brings the world a little bit closer together.
