Lab Aims to Make Items Disabled-Accessible
From: Associated Press - 05/06/2006
By: Greg Bluestein

Companies are turning to Georgia Tech Research Institute's accessibility
division for testing to ensure that their electronic devices meet the federal
guidelines for making products accessible for people with disabilities. The
federal statute, known as Section 508, requires companies to upgrade their
electronic devices for the disabled in order to sell them to the federal
government. Copy machine companies have responded to the federal guidelines
by incorporating tactile displays and voice controls into their products.
Georgia Tech researchers have worked with Ricoh to improve accessibility, and
the office equipment manufacturer has settled on a final model for its
copiers that includes tilted screens for wheelchair users and other
improvements. The institute offers more comprehensive testing than the
procedures carried out in-house at companies, and as an independent facility
it is more concerned with the accuracy and integrity of the examination than
whether a product passes or fails. The lab was launched during the Cold War
to test the usability of military systems and other items, and half of its
work remains focused in this area. "It's hard to get more real than military
testing," says senior research scientist Brad Fain. "When your life is on the
line, every move counts."  

Read the entire article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060506/ap_on_sc/accessibility_research
http://www.examiner.com/a-100470~Lab_Aims_to_Make_Items_Disabled_Accessible.html

Links:
Georgia Tech Research Institute
http://www.gtri.gatech.edu/

Brad Fain - brad.fain@gtri.gatech.edu
http://www.tvworldwide.com/ittatc_bios/020314/bradley_bio.cfm

Researchers Evaluate Products’ Usability for People with Disabilities
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/access.htm

Assessment of Workplace Product Accessibility
http://www.workrerc.org/sos/fain.php