Lab probes ease of everyday items (AP/CNN) {Accessibility/Section 508}

[eppur_se_muova]

Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Posted: 10:07 a.m. EDT (14:07 GMT)
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At the lab, researchers check out copiers to see whether wheelchair-users can easily reach controls. Fax machines are put through a battery of tests to investigate whether blind people can use them. And coffee jars are probed to determine if arthritic hands can unscrew the lids.

About half the work at the Georgia Tech Research Institute's accessibility division is now dedicated to such testing, while the rest is still spent on military projects. There's also a flight simulator jammed with complicated tracking devices in the office.

Testing Folgers and fighter pilots in the same lab may sound like a strange mix, but scientists say the work is quite similar. The research team uses the same methodology -- primarily extensive checklists that focus on user experience -- to tackle both military systems and everyday items.

Familiar with the military's rigorous standards for determining accessibility, the school's $7.5 million center is a good fit for investigating how to make products more accessible to the disabled, senior research scientist Brad Fain said.
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The scientists primarily aim to help products meet a federal guideline, known as Section 508, which encourages companies to make electronic devices more accessible to the disabled. Companies that want to sell products to the federal government are urged to meet the federal statute, which is monitored by the Department of Justice.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/05/09/accessibility.research.ap/index.html