Access For All

Almost one in five of the world’s population lives with some kind of recognized disability. Sooner or later, everyone will develop at least some limitations in vision, hearing, dexterity or learning. To improve usability for those of us with sensory or physical limitations, phones have features for accessibility, which are continually improving and becoming more prevalent as technologies advance. The Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative (GARI) project was developed to provide a central information source to learn about accessibility in mobile devices. On their website you can learn about the various features that a phone may have and link through to manufacturers websites for specific information on particular models.

This report explores Europe’s vision for a society where every individual can make a valuable contribution. Investments in pioneering and commercially focused research will produce information and communication technologies (ICTs) that should help everyone – including the elderly, disabled and marginalised – to fulfil their potential.
Source: e-Inclusion web site on Europa

The VUMS (Virtual User Modeling and Simulation Cluster) cluster website has been launched and can be reached via www.veritas-project.eu/vums/. VUMS is a project cluster that includes the GUIDE, MyUI, VERITAS and VICON projects. The projects collaborate on future joint efforts. All projects work on improving the accessibility of various products and application areas, taking into account various impairments.

VERITAS is undertaking a survey among designers and developers that will help to better understand the design and development process of products and services for people with disabilities and functional limitations as well as older people.
If you are a designer or developer active in the design and development process in the automotive, smart living spaces, workplace, ehealth and/or infotainment domain, then they kindly invite you to complete the survey:

• Automotive
• Smart living spaces
• Working environment
• E-health
• Infotainment

The questionnaires have been designed to identify the industrial user needs of designers and developers per application sector in terms of procedures followed for the design and development of new products and their potential relation with the older people and people with disabilities in VERITAS project. Its evaluation will be the basis to implement appropriate tools and methodologies in order to increase awareness and need for accessibility.
Data provided by participants will not be distributed outside the project, nor will individual data allow tracking of the respondent’s identity. The data will be considered and analyzed only in an aggregated anonymised format.

Ofcom has commissioned a study to develop future scenarios based on the services required to promote social and economic inclusion of older and disabled people over the coming 20-year period. From these scenarios, the study identifies the key technological developments required, including a detailed discussion of drivers for or barriers to change, and a quantification of the technologies’ impact on wired and wireless networks.

• Assisted living technologies for older and disabled people in 2030 – Research report
• Assisted living technologies for older and disabled people in 2030 – Annexes

This report is inline with the urgent need that was expressed by speakers addressing some 80 delegates at a seminar held at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , London, on June 15, and organised by the charity PhoneAbility in collaboration with BIS. Experts working across the field of disabled and older people have called for a national overall coherent plan to develop fully integrated systems and services which meet their needs.

Additionally, a consultation inviting citizens, businesses and researchers to share ideas on how best to use information and communications technologies (ICTs) to help older Europeans live more independently, and more generally to establish new ways to put ICTs at the service of the most vulnerable members of society, has been launched by a high-level panel established to advise the European Commission on the functioning of the Ambient Assisted Living joint programme (AAL JP). The panel is chaired by former European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva. The public consultation is the first step towards meeting the target of doubling the take-up of independent living arrangements for the elderly by 2015 set by the Digital Agenda (see IP/10/581). The consultation runs until 1 July 2010.

REMOTE is a pan-European research project concerned with the needs of elderly and physically impaired people. The focus is especially on those living in geographical or social isolation whose independent life is at risk with chronic conditions or lifestyle risk factors. The project will provide support for an independent life at home with the aid of ambient intelligence (“AmI”, a technological approach, which means to enhance a person’s environment with sensors, radio modules, and computer processors in order to make everyday life easier) and tele-healthcare. The elderly’s personal environment will be improved with various kinds of monitoring and automation abilities or tracing activity and health condition, and detecting risks and critical situations.
For this purpose the project will use the scale-up of existing research prototypes and new systems for collecting human- and context-related data. These include sensors attached to a person’s body which measure e.g. body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, human posture, etc. Furthermore sensors and actuators can be installed in houses or cars for providing context information, e.g., air temperature, luminance, humidity, human location and motion, etc. Health care professionals have to be able to identify and react immediately to health risks to their patients, irrespective of time and lace. As a growing number of elderly in urban as well as in rural areas live on their own, monitoring activity and medical data at anytime and from anywhere can close the growing gap between urban and rural areas and thus ensure safety and a better quality of care.
REMOTE attains this goal by introducing an innovative, ontology-driven, open reference architecture and platform that will enable interoperability, seamless connectivity and sharing of content among the different services. The project’s overall concept includes:

• A user-centred design philosophy and the consistent involvement of its potential end-users.
• Processes for reaching consensus among all interested parties (stakeholders).
• Strong commitment to ethical and legal issues (e.g. equal rights, and privacy protection).
• Measurement of usability, impact and acceptance of the project’s developments by elderly.
• Close collaboration with research and development institutions and companies in the field of tele-healthcare and ambient intelligence.
• Significant contribution to the recent developments in tele-healthcare and ambient intelligence.

If interested in the project, please fill in the User Forum Nomination form.
For more information: the project’s leaflet and website.