Access all areas

The personal computer offers beguiling possibilities. Sit at your desk and you have art and word processing applications, personal organisers and diaries, spreadsheets, games and educational packages all at your fingertips.

Then there's the world wide web. Exciting, yes. Empowering, certainly. But if you have problems manipulating a mouse, tapping a keyboard or discerning minuscule type on over-decorated backgrounds, it's also frustratingly out of reach.

For many users with disabilities, the ergonomic and visibility limitations of your average computer set-up can be as isolating as a flight of steps at the local library. But there are ways around the obstacles that can mean access for all.

All in the design
The irony is that the very sophistication of modern computers makes them tough for many people with disabilities.

A couple of decades ago, the simplicity of the MS-DOS operating system interface - typically white text on a black or blue background - made the visuals far friendlier for people with impaired sight.

But in recent years we've seen the rise of graphical user interfaces such as Windows and the Mac OS. These heralded intuitive click, drag-and-drop operations, drop-down menus, clickable hyperlinks, video and audio clips and lots of colour.

They also require a great deal of manual dexterity to use and it takes a sharp eye to read some of the tiny text that's widely used. Of course, this isn't much of a problem for most people but it does mean that a typical PC can be a nightmare for anyone with a physical impairment.

Users with limited upper body mobility may not be able to manipulate a fiddly mouse and may find double-clicking impossible. A Parkinson's sufferer, on the other hand, may be unable to press a key on the keyboard, as shaking hands produce multiple keystrokes.

Software answers
There are two million blind and partially sighted people in the UK and, if a conventional computer display leaves you in the dark, you don't necessarily have to buy some expensive specialist equipment.

A quick visit to the Display settings in Windows' Control Panel to change the screen resolution to 640 x 480 will immediately enlarge everything onscreen.

Screen readers are another answer to sight problems. The most popular, JAWS, uses a speech synthesiser in tandem with your computer's soundcard. Information from the screen is read aloud by the computer and it also works with refreshable Braille displays.

Coming from the other direction, Dragon Naturally Speaking lets you input continuous speech and have it converted to text into a variety of Windows applications. Regional accents shouldn't be a problem because the software actually learns to recognise your voice and you can tweak its spelling and context recognition.

Screen enlargers let you zoom in and out on areas of the screen. Windows has a screen enlarger built in. Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, Magnifier. More sophisticated enlargers include ZoomText Level 2 by AI Squared and MAGic by Freedom Scientific.

Another alternative for online use is to ditch Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator and go for www.opera.com, a web browser with its own screen enlargement facility.

Many web designers seem oblivious to the problems their pages create. Too many colours and dazzling colour combinations, invasive pop-up adverts and other distracting features are criticised by the Royal National Institute of the Blind at www.rnib.org.uk/digital/welcome.

Designers could look at www.microsoft.com/enable and www.w3.org for examples of how to do it right.

If you want to strip out the decoration from web pages, open Internet Explorer and go to Tools, Internet Options, Advanced. Here you can switch off pictures, animations or sounds as you choose.

Hardware answers
It's extraordinary how the computer revolution has changed the way people live, work and interact with information, and yet we still access all this stuff with something that's barely evolved in a century: the Qwerty keyboard.

Maltron has been developing alternative input devices for years. Its famed concave keyboard, which looks rather like somebody has melted it, removes the need to stretch for far-flung letters, helping many with limited finger mobility.

It can prevent problems developing in the first place too, as it allows the wrists to stay straight and hands to remain relaxed. It also reduces strains in the arms, shoulders and neck, and can relieve repetitive strain injuries.

Maltron also plays around with the arrangement of keys on its keyboards, providing single-handed models, dual-handed trackball keyboards and the Expanded Keyboard. This has a large (23cm x 62cm) area, a sealed wipe-clean surface, large colour-coded keys, indicator lights to show when Alt, Shift and others are on and customisable layouts.

Many people won't be able to use a keyboard conventionally at all. A wand or stick worn on the head or held in the mouth can be used to strike the keys, and Maltron makes keyboards designed around such use.

Suck-and-puff systems, such as those from Possum, allow input and manipulation via the user's breathing. Another option is to put the keyboard onscreen. The user then selects the images of the keys using a mouse, touch screen, pointer or whatever. Keytools provides 25 variations on this theme.

Conventional mice may be impossible to manipulate for some users. But extra-large models, trackball mice, and mice that can be programmed to 'stick' rather than smoothly roll, can all make the difference between usable or not.

Conversely, the mouse may be the only comfortable way to access the computer and, with makers piling ever more functionality into the little device, you can do a lot of work without approaching the keyboard.

The Microsoft IntelliMouse Trackball Explorer and Trackball Optical have a ball that's operated by your forefinger and you can program several demands into a single click.

Things are evolving fast too. With electronic pointing devices using ultrasound, infrared beams, eye movements, or even brain waves or nerve signals, complete immobility will soon be no barrier to using the PC. Go to www.eyecan.ca and www.lctinc.com for current products.

New directions
We've looked at some expensive pieces of hardware and run the rule over simple, free tweaks in Windows.

What they all have in common is that they can transform the lives of people with disabilities. A correctly set-up PC can make the world come to someone who is housebound and those who face the greatest barriers to computer use have the most to gain.

All of the barriers can be overcome, often quickly, and at little or no cost. With 2003 designated the European Year of People with Disabilities, consider this: not only is one in 10 of us disabled but, by the time we retire, this number will rise to one in four. Disabilities affect all of us.

CONTACTS
AbilityHub
For people with a disability who find operating a computer difficult.
www.abilityhub.com

AbilityNet
Making IT accessible for all.
www.abilitynet.org.uk

Adaptive Computer Products
Enormous list of suppliers of adaptive hardware and software.
www.makoa.org/computers.htm

Disabled Living Foundation
Offers 'solutions for independent living' and is a good place to find equipment suppliers, as well as information on broader issues.
www.dlf.org.uk

TECHNOLOGY
AI Squared
www.aisquared.com

Dragon
www.dragonsys.com
0118 963 7464

Eye control systems
Eye control input systems
www.eyecan.ca and www.lctinc.com

Freedom Scientific For JAWS & MAGic
www.freedomscientific.co.uk
01604 798070

Inclusive Technology
www.inclusive.co.uk
01457 819790
Keytools
www.keytools.com
023 8058 4314

Microsoft Intellimouse
www.microsoft.com/uk/mouse/im_info.asp

Maltron
www.maltron.co.uk
020 8398 3265

Possum
www.maltron.co.uk
01296 461000

WINDOWS' ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES

Microsoft has been building accessibility aids into its operating systems for years now, with each new version of Windows aiming to be more accessible to more users.

There are no significant differences between the options in Windows Me and XP but for a complete chart of the features in the various versions, go to www.microsoft.com/enable/products/chartwindows.htm.

Many users find it impossible to press two keys at the same time, such as Shift and a letter. StickyKeys overcomes this by simulating simultaneous keystrokes when you press just one key. FilterKeys instructs Windows to ignore brief or repeated keystrokes and ToggleKeys plays a sound when Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock are pressed.

For those with hearing problems, SoundSentry tells Windows to generate on-screen warnings when your system makes a sound. Similarly, ShowSounds tells your programs to display captions for the speech and sounds they make.

Go to Display to set up the High Contrast theme for using colours and fonts designed for easy reading. You can speed up or slow down the cursor blink rate and fatten up the cursor to make it more visible. MouseKeys lets you control your on-screen pointer using the keyboard's numeric keypad, and SerialKeys allows the use of alternative input methods such as augmentative speech devices.

Pointer Schemes allows you to beef up or change the appearance of your on-screen pointer. You can also speed it up or get it to leave a trail on-screen as it moves, making it much easier to detect.

You'll find a guide to the features under Start, Settings, Control Panel, Accessibility Options. Or, if you want to be guided through setting up Windows to suit your needs, go to Start, Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, Accessibility Wizard.

There are also step-by-step tutorials on setting up and using the accessibility features for every version of Windows back to 98, as well as for Office programs and Internet Explorer at www.microsoft.com/enable/training .

CASE STUDIES

Laurence Hudspeth is a freelance writer and found that the onset of Parkinson's Disease threatened his livelihood as well as his health. "You don't realise how delicate and precise the movements of typing are until you have this," he said.

The uncontrollable tremors in his hands only get worse when he is under pressure, tired and putting in longer hours; in other words, when deadlines approach.

"I tried Dragon Naturally Speaking but I prefer to input and edit manually. The Accessibility options in Windows have made my keyboard usable again," he explained.

StickyKeys lets him press two or more keys simultaneously, while FilterKeys ignores keystrokes not held down for a specified time and word prediction suggests words as he begins to type them.

"Phrase prediction is useful too, though it's made me realise how much I overuse certain phrases!" admitted Hudspeth. "But I reckon predictors cut my keystrokes by about half. That means less laborious work, and less fatigue, so the problem is lessened."

Michael Curtoise is blind and uses a Braille keyboard to touch-type his assignments for his degree course in Social Studies. The use of JAWS screen-reading software has made an immeasurable difference to his work.

JAWS reads back text at up to 400 words per minute (around three times the speed of normal spoken English).

"It sounds pretty odd to casual listeners," he explained. "But once you get used to listening at that speed - and like many people with limited sight, I have very finely attuned hearing anyway - it's superb. It allows me to check for mistakes and for rhythm and sense all in one."