ASSETS

Graphical user interfaces are one of the more prevalent interface types which exist today. The popularity of this interface type has caused problems for users with poor vision. Because usage strategies of low vision users differ from blind users, ...

Manipulating a mouse pointer is often difficult for the low vision computer user. Working with such a small, mobile screen object is very visually demanding. Although several techniques have been used to address this problem, the design space of ...

Line graphs stand as an established information visualisation and analysis technique taught at various levels of difficulty according to standard Mathematics curricula. It has been argued that blind individuals cannot use line graphs as a ...

A new image segmentation method is proposed for the automatic conversion of images from visual to tactile form. The proposed method utilizes a watershed-based algorithm for obtaining the initial segmentation. A new joint region merging criterion is ...

Existing drawing tools for blind users give inadequate contextual feedback on the state of the drawing, leaving blind users unable to comprehend and successfully produce graphical information. We have investigated a tactile method of ...

By analysis of the primary cost factors for existing refreshable Braille displays, a team at NIST has pioneered a new technology that can reduce the cost of the electromechanical portions of a Braille display by an ...

We are developing a prototype storytelling robot for use with children in rehabilitation. Children can remotely control a large furry robot by using a variety of body sensors adapted to their disability or rehabilitation goal. In doing so, ...

A PC based desktop Virtual Reality system was developed for rehabilitating hand function in stroke patients. The system uses two hand input devices, a CyberGlove and a RMII force feedback glove, to allow the user to interact with one of four ...

This paper describes improved methods of web access for the visually impaired. Some A few web access systems for the visually impaired have already been developed and are widely used. The improvements described in this paper are in two areas. The ...

Voice controlled web browsers allow users to navigate by speaking the text of a link or an associated number instead of clicking with a mouse. One such browser is Conversa, by Conversational Computing. This within subjects study with 18 subjects ...

A majority of Web based information, facilities and services is unnecessarily inaccessible to people with certain disabilities, largely due to a lack of awareness of accessibility issues on the part of developers. This paper argues ...

This research describes the development of a highly configurable word processing environment to alleviate some of the difficulties encountered by dyslexics when producing and reading text. It also describes a pragmatic, empirical ...

This paper describes progress toward a prototype implementation of a tool which aims to improve literacy in deaf high school and college students who are native (or near native) signers of American Sign Language (ASL). We envision a system that will ...

ViSiCAST is a major new project funded by the European Union, aiming to provide improved access to services and facilities for deaf citizens through sign language presented by a virtual human, or avatar. We give here an outline of the project, and ...

Our research has focused on developing a brain-controlled switch that is suitable for asynchronous control applications. We have developed a switch, the Low Frequency Asynchronous Switch Design (LF-ASD) that users can ...

Controlling a computer directly by brain signals has been made possible by the development of a neurotrophic electrode that is implanted in the human motor cortex. The success of this technology can be enhanced by researching and developing ...

Computer head controls provide an alternative means of computer access for people with disabilities. However, a person?s ability to use head controls may be reduced if his or her disability involves neck movement limitations. In this study, 15 subjects ...

This paper considers the differences between users with motion-impairments and able-bodied users when they interact with computers and the implications for user models. Most interface design and usability assessment practices are based on explicit ...

This research concerns the use of Human Computer Interaction models to assist in the provision of the Electronic Assistive Technologies (EAT) for people with severe disabilities. The novel feature of this work is that the ...

This paper reports on a tool for assisting students with visual disabilities in learning how to program. The tool is meant to be used by computer science majors learning the programming language Java. As part of the developmental ...

A system that enables a person to program without typing is needed because of the high incidents of repetitive stress injuries among people who program. This paper presents a design for a system that generates environments that enables ...

Among the most critical issues of the internet today is how to make Web content accessible to all users, especially to users with disabilities. To meet the diverse needs and abilities of this population, the Web today calls for the development of new ...

These days, the web has been coming to play various types of roles, so each site has been designed in a complex way to integrate as many roles as possible. Web authors tend to cram various functions and many links into one page to improve usability ...

These days, Web authors try to describe as much information as possible in one page using various types of visual effects. This information is visually fragmented into groupings. Blind users read the Web contents in tag order, but visually fragmented ...

We present a general framework for navigating complex structures - specifically, tables, frames, and forms?found in web-pages. Our framework is based on an (automatically or manually created) program written in a domain specific language that captures ...

When blind people wish to walk through an area not fully known to them, they have to prepare themselves even more thoroughly than sighted pedestrians. We propose a new approach to support this preparation with the help of an interactive computer method, ...

People with severe visual impairment need a means of remaining oriented to their environment as they move through it. Three wearable orientation interfaces were developed and evaluated toward this purpose: a stereophonic sonic ...