Tokyo IBM team developing technology for disabled
New progress in the research laboratory 

On September 6, 2004, The Nation, reports that in the near future, people who
are disabled as well as senior citizens will be able to enjoy a better
quality of life. They will have more comfort in their daily activities, at
home, in the car, or shopping, thanks to the accessibility research being
done in IBM's Tokyo research laboratory where technologies for disabled and
older people around the world are being developed. Chieko Asakawa, group
leader of IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory's Accessibility Research Center, said
that the lab has been developing several accessibility technologies to assist
people with all types of sight difficulties. Blind since the age of 14,
Asakawa has spent 20 years in research and development of accessibility
technologies for disabled people.  

Since the technology trend is toward broadband and wireless, ubiquitous
computing, radio frequency identification (RFID) as well as Global
Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS), IBM has
plans to integrate all of these into accessibility technologies to enable the
disabled to live as normal. RFID is a technology based on radio waves that
can identify an item, an animal or a person by an electronic tag capable of
transmitting data. With its traceability, the technology is a recognized
alternative for applications where the bar code has reached its limits.  

Asakawa said that for the blind, there might be a wearable PC embedded with
GIS and GPS devices to make it possible for them to check where they are on
the road at any given moment. Then a wireless device, which is embedded with
a voice navigation system, when activated by the satellite signal with the
current location, will speak instructions and suggest whether they should
turn left or right. In the future, when blind people are in a supermarket, it
could be possible for them to shop for all items without help since the
products on the shelves will introduce themselves, saying what they are and
how much they are priced. Incorporated with sensors and RFID, product
information will be transmitted when somebody passing is detected. Once the
products are bought, they will automatically communicate with the stock
department through the wireless system so that the department can update the
inventory. Such applications are now in the process of development in the
lab.  

Asakawa said that with the Web development trend towards multimedia, blind
and deaf people will be able to enjoy Internet content more than ever. It is
expected that by 2010, only 5 per cent of Web pages around the world will
keep text-based main content. Most home pages will use multimedia formats. 
To help Web developers design and create websites appropriate for disabled
people, IBM has announced a preview of its latest accessibility designer tool
called aDesigner. It helps developers ensure that Web pages are accessible
and usable by the visually impaired. aDesigner is a Java-based tool that
enable developers to better understand the problems confronting users with
disabilities. It automatically detects accessibility and usability problems
on a Web page for two types of visual impairments, low vision and blindness. 
It provides guidelines on how to correct these issues. The tool allows Web
developers to easily determine how accessible or inaccessible Web pages are
by simulating what they look like from the viewpoint of a person with weak
eyesight, color vision deficiency or cataracts. It can detect inaccessible
parts of a page by applying image-analysis techniques.