Greg Lowney
Director of Accessibility, Microsoft Corporation
April 1998
Microsoft's long-standing vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home" should also be an industry-wide call to action for making computers and software accessible to individuals with disabilities.
That was the message Bill Gates delivered recently in an address to 2500 Microsoft employees as well as representatives from government and advocacy groups.
"Our vision when we started the company was a computer on every desk and in every home," Gates said. "And in this setting, I think the word to emphasize there is 'every'. The PC can be a tool for everyone."
While many people in the industry have been addressing accessibility issues for years, most have never given them much thought. Gates said Microsoft should lead the way in raising awareness and providing solutions. "(There are) things that we need to get other software developers and hardware developers to do," he said.
But is accessibility really an issue for most software customers? As we'll explain, it actually affects the majority of them, either directly or indirectly. As such, it's not a matter of whether your organization will deal with accessibility issues, but when.
Who Are Your Customers?Your customer base probably includes many people with disabilities, whether you're aware of it or not.
According to government figures, one person in five has some functional limitation, and 8 percent of all users on the Web have disabilities. In the U.S. alone there are more than 30 million people with disabilities who can be affected by the design of computer software, and worldwide the number is much higher.
People with disabilities are in all trades and professions. There are computer programmers, engineers, accountants, teachers, or researchers who are blind, deaf and paraplegic. As computers become central to more areas, increasing numbers of these individuals need to use computers in their work and education.
Also, anyone can gain permanent or temporary disabilities through injury, illness, or aging. Most people experience a period of disability if they live long enough: 25 percent by the age of 55, increasing quickly thereafter. How many people have had an arm in a cast? Or experienced pain from typing or using a mouse too much?
Plus, circumstances can create problems similar to those faced by people with disabilities. If you're working somewhere noisy such as a plane or a workshop, you're temporarily hard of hearing. If you have a broken mouse, you rely on the keyboard just as someone who's blind or quadriplegic might. Anyone can experience conditions that impose limitations that mimic a disability, and be forced to rely on the same sorts of solutions.
It's Good BusinessSo why is accessibility important to your company? There are many sound business reasons. Let's talk about some of the carrots, then some of the sticks.
First, it's a way to add tens of millions of potential customers, as well as their friends, their relatives, and their employers. Studies show that each person with a disability has an average of five people who care about them, and people tend to purchase software that works for the people they work with, care about, or who share their machine.
Most important, this includes employers. Many corporations want a standard configuration that works for everyone, including staff members with disabilities. In any case, they're required by law to provide an accessible workplace, but we'll come back to that.
Accessible design also improves general usability. People feel more comfortable and are more likely to enjoy what they're doing when the software lets them work the way they choose. Things such as screens that are easy to read and controls that are easy to manipulate make it easier for everyone; they're just more important for people with disabilities.
In fact, many things that everyone appreciates started out specifically for people with disabilities. The telephone, ramps cut into curbs, easy-open containers, and even the bell and light that tell you when the elevator is arriving are just a few examples of the conveniences that people use every day.
Accessibility features will help you qualify for the "Designed for Windows" logo. This program already includes a number of requirements designed to make your application more accessible, and Bill Gates announced plans to strengthen the program as a way to promote accessibility.
Looking to the future, accessible design is also a way of preparing for next-generation user interfaces such as intelligent agents and voice recognition. (See Robert Coleridge's article in this issue of MSDN News, "A High-Level Look at Text-to-Speech via the Microsoft Voice Text Object.") In a few years people will use voice input and voice output to operate computers over the telephone or while driving. These technologies are in their infancy, but they use the same techniques as accessibility aids. In fact, people with disabilities have been using them for years, pioneering techniques that will someday be commonplace.
A more immediate benefit is that making your product accessible means that it's compatible with improved testing tools. For example, the next version of Visual Test from Rational Software will fully support Microsoft Active Accessibility. Adding this support to the custom controls in your application will let you take advantage of these sophisticated test automation tools, and allow those tools to perform more intelligent and effective testing than ever before.
Finally, accessibility can help your company in a very tangible way by supporting your employees with disabilities. If your best programmer suddenly gains a disability, you'll want the tools he or she needs to use to be accessible.
It's the LawIf those advantages are not enough for you, there are some stronger reasons as well.
It's the law. Many countries have laws that mandate accessibility at some level. In the United States, there are three laws that cover this area:
Because of these laws, you may face loss of sales to both corporate and government customers if your product does not address these needs. In fact, as an employer (most software development occurs in businesses with 15 or more employees) you could be subject to lawsuits or fines.
What You Need To DoAccessibility means making computers accessible to a wider range of users than would otherwise be the case. There are features in the Windows operating system that can compensate for many types of disabilities, but the most important issues require the cooperation and proper design of application software. In particular, your applications' special needs can be addressed in a couple of ways:
There are many good resources to help you make sure your products are accessible: guidelines for testing, design, development, and documentation; tools to help you identify the most important problems with your current product, and technologies that can allow you to implement accessible design more easily. You can use those resources without compromising your design goals, without restricting your ability to innovate, and without costing you a fortune.
For more information, please see our web site at http://www.microsoft.com/enable/.
Remember that accessibility is not just good business, it's also the right thing to do.