Challenges in Developing Applications for Aging Populations

Elderly individuals can greatly benefit from the use of computer applications, which can assist in monitoring health conditions, staying in contact with friends and family, and even learning new things. However, developing accessible applications for an elderly user can be a daunting task for developers. Since the advent of the personal computer, the benefits and challenges of developing applications for older adults have been a hot topic of discussion. In this chapter, the authors discuss the various challenges developers who wish to create applications for the elderly computer user face, including age-related impairments, generational differences in computer use, and the hardware constraints mobile devices pose for application developers. Although these challenges are concerning, each can be overcome after being properly identified

Stressing the Boundaries of Mobile Accessibility

Mobile devices gather the communication capabilities as no other gadget. Plus, they now comprise a wider set of applications while still maintaining reduced size and weight. They have started to include accessibility features that enable the inclusion of disabled people. However, these inclusive efforts still fall short considering the possibilities of such devices. This is mainly due to the lack of interoperability and extensibility of current mobile operating systems (OS). In this paper, we present a case study of a multi-impaired person where access to basic mobile applications was provided in an applicational basis. We outline the main flaws in current mobile OS and suggest how these could further empower developers to provide accessibility components. These could then be compounded to provide system-wide inclusion to a wider range of (multi)-impairments.Comment: 3 pages, two figures, ACM CHI 2013 Mobile Accessibility Worksho

Ability-Based Design: Concept, Principles and Examples

Current approaches to accessible computing share a common goal of making technology accessible to users with disabilities. Perhaps because of this goal, they may also share a tendency to centralize disability rather than ability. We present a refinement to these approaches called ability-based design that consists of focusing on ability throughout the design process in an effort to create systems that leverage the full range of human potential. Just as user-centered design shifted the focus of interactive system design from systems to users, ability-based design attempts to shift the focus of accessible design from disability to ability. Although prior approaches to accessible computing may consider users’ abilities to some extent, ability-based design makes ability its central focus. We offer seven ability-based design principles and describe the projects that inspired their formulation. We also present a research agenda for ability-based design.Engineering and Applied Science

Accessibility in health mobile applications

Abstract. Nowadays, there is a vast number of mobile devices capable of storing an individual’s entire life. There are applications for everything, from banking to ordering food and clothes, but also different health applications targeted towards different impairments and self-health care management. Self-health care management applications can have a significant impact on individuals with various diseases and impairments. However, it is essential that these applications are accessible to users with different impairments such as motor and vision impairments. The purpose of this study was to examine accessibility concerns in mobile health applications for individuals with multiple sclerosis and evaluate how these concerns were addressed. Multiple sclerosis was chosen as the focus of this study because its symptoms encompass a range of impairments, including vision, motion, hearing, and cognitive limitations. The study was conducted with benchmarking multiple sclerosis applications obtained in Google Play store. Benchmarking focused on accessibility, and measurements and metrics were gathered testing applications with Google Accessibility Scanner and TalkBack screen reader. Measurements were based on web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2 and accessibility guidelines for mobile applications. None of the tested applications followed accessibility guideline requirements based on benchmarking metrics. When examining the metrics from the perspective of impairments, it was found that applications had accessibility concerns related to motor and vision impairments. The applications addressed requirements for hearing impairments in applicable features, while testing cognitive impairment requirements proved challenging with the selected testing tools. In the future, it is recommended to conduct additional accessibility testing for cognitive impairments using methods such as manual accessibility testing and user testing

Improving Access to Voting: A Report on the Technology for Accessible Voting Systems

Twenty percent of U.S. adults with disabilities--more than 8 million eligible voters--say they have been unable to vote in presidential or congressional elections due to barriers at or getting to the polls. Improving Access to Voting is a new report by technology expert Noel Runyan, published by Demos and Voter Action, that finds that state voting systems are widely noncompliant with federal ADA and HAVA access requirements for voters with disabilities