Adaptive devices open up technology to the disabled San Jose Mercury News Sunday, January 25, 1998 Page 2F by Leslie J. Nicholson Knight Ridder News Service Michael Fiore, a pioneer in rehabilitation engineering, suited tip for battle. The familiar beeps of Pong, the classic computer table-tennis game, started to sound as he moved the paddle up and down, making contact with the ball. A pretty routine scene, really, if you ignore the fact Fiore wasn't using his hands to control the game. His only equipment was a headband equipped with biosensors; his only weapon, the power of his mind. He was using Cyberlink, a bio-feedback device from Cyberlink Mind Systems Inc. which uses brain-wave patterns to control the functions of a Windows-based computer. It also can be configured to react to eye or facial movements. Although the system was developed as a potential interface for video games, Fiore said, the hope is to combine it with other types of technology to help people with severe disabilities use computers. Already, the same technology that lets Fiore play Pong with his brain waves can be used to manipulate other kinds of graphic objects on a computer screen. Such a system could be used instead of a mouse to move a pointer across a screen. "You can go up, down, left, right," Fiore said. "You can position it anywhere on the screen, and using one of those on-screen keyboards, you now have access to typing. "Cool, huh?" The brain-wave device is part of the broad field of assistive technology. For computers, this field encompasses things as mundane as a magnifying screen that fits over a monitor and as futuristic as software that lets people "type" by staring at a word on a list. And people with disabilities are not the only ones taking advantage of these advances. If I had known about this stuff prior to my injury, I would have used it (anyway), because this is so cool said Anthony Williams, a quadriplegic who uses a voice-recognition program and other assistive hardware and software to operate his computer. Fiore demonstrated the equipment at his King of Prussia, PA company, the Sierra Group. The company researches and evaluates assistive technologies, recommends which products would suit clients' needs then provides training in how to use them. Fiore is chief financial officer of the company. His wife, Janet D. Fiore, is president and chief executive. Voice-recognition programs, which allow people to dictate text into computers, are among the most common forms of assistive technology. William uses Kurzweil Voice for Windows, by Kurzweil Applied Intelligence Inc. Such programs are available for only a few hundred dollars at most, compared with thousands of dollars a few years ago, and are being marketed to the general public as conveniences. The Sierra Group's small office is filled with alternative input devices for computers - the Magic Wand, for example, a product from In Touch Systems that lets people with mobility problems type a word into a computer with a slight touch of a stylus onto a circuit board. Other alternative input methods include on-screen keyboards, such as Clicker Plus by Don Johnston Inc., which allows users to pick words from a menu and click on them with a mouse or mouse alternative, such as a voice command or an eye-tracking system. One of the most interesting input devices on the market is what Fiore calls the "McDonald's keyboard." This is the same device used by fast-food workers to ring in orders. Beneath the surface are programmable buttons that can serve a higher purpose than providing fries to a hungry public. they can give a disabled person a new way to function in his or her career. The Fiores used just such a device to give an architect who has muscular dystrophy access to software for computer-assisted design (CAD). Because he cannot extend his forearm, the architect is unable to use the mouse, keyboard and large digitizer board as normally required. "We fit all the AutoCAD commands, of which there are gobs, and the keyboard and mouse controls on this 8.5 by 11 area," Fiore said. "He had access to the entire CAD program and was able to do what everybody else was doing." The touchpad, Keyport KBD by Polytel Computer Products Corp., comes with 176 buttons, each of which can be programmed for up to three functions. Some models have 300 buttons and some have braille surfaces. The types of assistive technologies available vary as widely as the people who use them. For some people with impaired vision, a larger monitor, or hardware or software that magnifies text may be appropriate. The blind can use speech synthesizers or "refreshable braille displays," which produce a braille duplicate of whatever line of text is on the screen, said Ryan Kittle, a consultant for the Job Accommodation Network in Morgantown, WV, a service of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. For some people, multiple solutions are needed. In addition to limiting Ashley Cox's mobility, cerebral palsy has left her with mild dexterity problems. She also has trouble with visual perception. Handwriting has also always been difficult. Throughout her school years, Cox relied on aides to take notes and type papers. High school teachers arranged for her to get a laptop for more independence, but it only made things worse, at least in terms of her morale. "For 10 months, I tried to type, and with my (perception) problem and with my dexterity problem, it was difficult. I was typing about seven words a minute. I was getting frustrated. People weren't knowing why I wasn't learning to type faster," recalled Cox, 21, now a sophomore at West Chester University on Pennsylvania. After years of trying, she got what she needed, voice-recognition software. Now, she's thrilled to report a dictation speed of 42 words a minute. Cox used IBM VoiceType, and usually that's enough. But when occasional eye spasms prevent her from reading the text on the monitor, she can import the information into a talking word-processing program called Write:OutLoud, by Don Johnston, that reads the text back to her. Some people may not realize they already have accessibility features on their computers. Macs and Windows 95 PCs offer an option called StickyKeys that allows a person to hit keys one at a time that normally have to be pressed simultaneously. Another feature, called SlowKeys on the Macintosh and Filterkeys in Windows 95, is designed for people who hit keys unintentionally. It can ignore brief key strokes or slow the rate at which a key repeats if pressed down too long. Mac and Windows 95 also allow users to change the numeric keypad into a mouse, flash a visual signal when the machine beeps a warning and adjust screen images for greater readability. The Fiores point out that many technologies that have become everyday conveniences were originally designed to aid people with disabilities, including touch screens and automatic door openers in supermarkets. "Show me a person pushing a stroller down the street who's not thankful for a curb cut, who doesn't use the ramp when going up," said Fiore. "This is normalization. The trend is not going to be adaptive technology. Five years from now, there will never, ever be an adaptive-technology article written, because there will not be such a field any more." "It will just be 'technology.'" Sources of Aid These are some sources for assistive technology. For general information on computer and Internet accessibility. contact: Trace Research & Development Center University of Wisconsin, Madison http://trace.wisc.edu 608/262-6966 The Sierra Group Inc. King of Prussia, PA 610/992-0288 Alliance for Technology Access San Rafael, CA http://www.ataccess.org 415/455-4575 Apple Disability Solutions Group Cupertino, CA http://www.apple.com/disability/message.html 800/600-7808 Broderbund Software Inc. Novato, CA http://www.broderbund.com 415/382-4400 Cyberlink Mind Systems Inc. Yellow Springs, OH http://www.brainfingers.com safes@brainfingers.com Dragon Systems Inc. Newtown, MA http://www.dragonsys.com 617/965-5200 IBM White Plains, NY http://www.software.ibm.com/is/voicetype 800/426-4968 In Touch Systems Spring Valley, NY http://www.magicwandkeyboard.com 800/332-6244 Job Accommodation Network Morgantown, WV http://www.jan.wvu.edu/english/homeus.htm 800/526-7234 Don Johnston Inc. Wauconda, IL http://www.donjohnston.com 800/999-4660 Kurzweil Applied Intelligence Inc. Waltham, MA http://www.lhs.com/Kurzweil 800/380-1234 Microsoft Accessibility and Disabilities Group Redmond, WA http://www.microsoft.com/enable 800/426-9400 Polytel Computer Products Corp. Sunnyvale, CA http://www.danish.com/polytel 800/245-6655 Picture caption Anthony Williams uses a voice-recognition system and other assistive hardware and software to run his computer.