Joe Lazzaro
The use of GUIs among blind computer users is increasing, for better or worse. According to the Royal National Institute for the Blind (London, U.K.), 82 percent of the software firms surveyed in Europe and the U.S. see the use of GUIs increasing among blind users. "The blind are being guided down a graphical path as text-based applications become scarcer and scarcer," says Dave Kostyshyn, president of Syntha-Voice (Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada), developer of the first speech program for Windows for blind users.
This widespread adoption of graphical applications adds a whole new set of challenges for applications developers and visually impaired users. The World Institute on Disability (Oakland, CA) estimates that between
400,000 and 500,000 people in the U.S. cannot see well enough to use a monitor without depending on speech synthesis or some other alternative output, such as braille.
GUI platforms rely on spatial and pictorial representations to convey information, which makes them much more difficult to use for many blind users than text-only applications, according to Kostyshyn. To make a GUI-based word processor or other type of program accessible to a blind user, developers of speech-synthesis programs must verbalize information about the interface (including buttons, menus, and text associated with graphical objects) and the application itself (including cursor position, font style and color, dialog boxes, and graphical images).
Luckily for companies that need to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, more GUIs are being adapted for the blind with speech, braille, and magnification systems. Although not always easy to use with all applications, this new generation of graphics-based adaptive har
dware and software lets the visually impaired use Mac, OS/2, Windows, and other GUI platforms. At the 1993 Closing the Gap conference, which is often described as "the Comdex of the adaptive-computing industry," many new assistive devices were introduced.
The Mac was the first GUI-based platform to become accessible for the blind, thanks to Berkeley Systems' Outspoken speech software. (For information on other adaptive products, see "Computers for the Disabled," June 1993 BYTE.) Due to the overall success of Windows 3.1, users can pick from a wide variety of Windows-based adaptive hardware and software products. The newest Windows speech package to enter the market, WinVision from Artic Technologies (Troy, MI, (313) 588-7370) joins Windows screen readers like Window Bridge from Syntha-Voice ((905) 662-0565) and ProTalk from Biolink Computer Research and Development (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, (604) 984-4099). IBM has developed Screen Reader/2, a speech-access program for OS/2 that lets
the blind use DOS, OS/2, and Windows applications with the aid of speech and braille output.
A previously inaccessible platform for the disabled, Unix and its GUIs, is starting to attract developers. Several are working on a suite of adaptive products for Unix, ranging from speech programs for the blind to keyboard-enhancement utilities for persons with motor disabilities. The Disability Access Committee for X, or DACX, is creating operating-system-level hooks to make it easier to develop speech- and braille-access systems for visually impaired users.
"We want to make the workstation environment friendly to adaptive developers by creating device-independent tools," says Earl Johnson, manager of enabling technologies at Sun Microsystems Laboratories (Mountain View, CA). According to Johnson, DACX is creating solutions that will let developers target several different Unix platforms when they develop for one platform.
In addition, the Commission of the European Communities has funded GUIB (
Graphical User Interfaces for Blind People), which is exploring the following output technologies: speech, braille, and audio. Those involved in the GUIB project are working to ensure that new platforms are developed with the needs of disabled people in mind.
Although GUI-based platforms are becoming more accessible, Syntha-Voice's Kostyshyn notes that the next wave of operating systems will offer a new set of challenges. For example, when Microsoft unveils its new version of Windows with its overhauled interface, speech-reader programs will have to be modified as well.
The process of adapting GUI platforms will be further complicated by the expected increase in the number of 3-D applications. Ronald Morford, a blind programmer and president of Automated Functions (Arlington, VA), says, "The translation of 3-D graphics screens into braille or speech output is a formidable task for the programmer and a sometimes steep learning curve for the blind user." Challenges like these add a whole new set o
f dimensions for developers of adaptive products.
Illustration: Graph: SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES
Source: Royal National Institute of the Blind
Adapting GUI Software for the Blind Is No Easy Task
