Willing and able

In his new book, ‘Accessibility for Visitors’, Dr John Gill, Chief Scientist of the RNIB, shows how mass consumer electronic devices, such as smart cards and GPRS-enabled mobile phones, can increase accessibility for those of us with impairments.

Often, it’s just a question of a little forethought in design, but the benefits to users can be immense. So too can be the potential for designers and manufacturers. We spoke to him to find out more.

Dr Gill, in your book you highlight how existing technologies can be used to improve the lives of the physically impaired. What prompted you to write it?
My concern is that we’re at the stage where there’s a lot of exciting technology out there which is being planned and introduced for the general public. One of the problems is that each one is being developed independently because manufacturers don’t see any reason not to.

If you look at it as a member of the general public, the fact is that you’re going to have a different user interface for every system you use and you’re expected to understand that. The general public just want a system that gets you from ‘a’ to ‘b’ and works in roughly the same way. We’ve already had ATMs where you only input your four digit PIN number, whereas on a chip and PIN terminal, you have to input your number and then press enter. If you’re in a restaurant and are given a handheld device it may have even more options.

The time to make any changes to technology is before it is introduced. The costs then are very modest. To retrofit anything, the cost is horrifyingly expensive. Also, people are very reluctant to change. If you look at chip and PIN terminals, they’ve all agreed to use layout on the telephone as opposed to calculator (with 123 across the top). They’re consistent there, but they’re not consistent as to where they put the function keys. There’s no engineering reason why it’s better to put function keys in one place, it’s just that companies say “that’s where we felt like putting it”.

Considering that there is quite an explicit set of guidelines for websites, for example, why not for other devices such as phones?
It’s quite difficult to write one which is technology-independent. You don’t want to stifle technological innovation, but you want to make the user experience as simple as possible because in five years’ time the criteria for buying a piece of equipment might not be what functionality it has, but how easy is it for me to use.

Technologically, it’s easy to add more functions and make the device more confusing. You’ve got to consider that if it’s a bit of equipment for personal use, you learn how to use it, [but] on a bit of equipment for the general public or visitors, they will not have had previous experience of it.

Dr John Gill

So, looking at an event such as London 2012, if you develop public systems that are accessible and useful for everybody, including foreign visitors, you have powerful potential?
Yes - once you’ve got a system that can cope with different natural languages you’ll sell it all over the world. You’ll also leave a legacy in the UK for a usable system.

How does the UK stand up internationally with regards to accessibility issues?
In America you’ve got stronger legislation. You get similar stuff in Canada and Australia. In the UK we have a Disability Discrimination Act which is quite clear if you’re interviewing someone for a job, but when it comes to things like equipment, it goes more than a bit vague. It talks about ‘reasonable adjustment’ and leaves it for the court to decide what is reasonable.

There is more pressure on website accessibility partly because it’s easier to measure, though web technology is changing. We now have social networking aspects [and] we will have web on mobile devices. So, when you say that you need subtitles when you’ve got audio, how do you actually do a subtitle on a little handheld device? The world is moving on, and although the web accessibility guidelines are good, they’re going to need continuous updating. The problem is, of course, that they’re not easy to read unless you’re an expert web developer!

In the area of the built environment, we’ve got some reasonable consensus which varies from country to country (width of doorways, etc.), but when it comes to equipment for public use, be it ticket-selling machines or whatever, no, we haven’t got any consensus. 

The thrust of your book is the potential for existing technologies; can you explain why you focus on this?
Economics says that if you’re going to put in special systems to help disabled people it’s going to cost a fortune. If you’re putting out equipment wholesale for the general public, it’s a matter of minor additions.

For instance in ticketing… From next April there will be free bus transport after 9:30 in the morning for all over 60s in England. They’ll probably be using a smart card ticketing system because otherwise you can’t spread the cost between the bus companies. The beauty of the card favoured by The Department of Transport is that it incorporates the coding of user requirements. You can store the person’s preferred size of characters on screen, whether  they need more time than usual to get through any gates or require speech output, even what language they’d prefer it in. That’s already built into the system, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that people will use it. The next stage is to encourage the bus companies and others to actually use the coding on the card to make their machines easier to use.

Have any systems that have been specifically developed for the disabled end up with a wider use than intended?
If you go back a bit, you’ll find that the fountain pen, the long-playing record and the typewriter were all developed for the blind. When you put some systems in which are of benefit to disabled people you’ll find that many other people use it.

Take subtitles on television for example. The gym I go to has subtitles on its television, not because people are deaf but because they haven’t got the sound turned on for various reasons. Frequently good design for disabled people is good design for everyone.

How did you get interested in accessibility issues?
I was an engineering student and said to my professor that I wanted to do a project on the ‘human’ side of engineering.  The previous day he had had lunch with a blind history lecturer. I went to see him, got interested and 36 years later I’m still doing the same job.

If you had a simple message to put to the heads of design and manufacturing around the world, what would it be?
Think of the older market. You’ve got an older population that is increasing in numbers and in life expectancy. People who are 60 now will be 70 in ten years’ time and will expect to have a mobile phone that they will be able to use. In the past, the older population has rather meekly accepted what’s provided; in ten years’ time they’re likely to be far more demanding. And the ‘grey market’ is not short of money.

Designers tend to be young and design for themselves and their peers. If they designed for their parents, they could identify significant gaps which would give them commercial opportunities.

Frequently the designer at the coalface is aged between 20 and 35. When they get older they tend to move into management or other things. But they’re very interested, so if you point them in the right direction they’re very keen. The board are typically older, so if they’ve got a parent still alive, there’s a high probability that they’ll have some sort of impairment. Therefore if you talk to the board about markets, they’re very interested. But then you’ve got soft middle management who moves from one project or even one company to another. They’re only looking at [whether it] will make money in six months, or will it delay a project for a week. If there’s a delay on the project, your competitor will get there first. Therefore there is considerable resistance. They say “we’ll look at accessibility issues when we’ve launched the project”. By then it’ll be far too late.

Have issues of accessibility become more common in engineering and design courses?
Increasingly universities have got modules or lectures in courses, and some universities do more than others in that respect. Loughborough University has been known for being a leader in this respect.

Accessibility for visitors

Copies of Accessibility for visitors can be downloaded by clicking here.

Alternately, you can get a free copy by writing to:

Dr John Gill
Chief Scientist
RNIB
105 Judd Street
London WC1H 9NE

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