Industry

July 2019 marked the 29^th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Local celebrations were held around the United States, and national access and inclusion initiatives were highlighted, as well. For example, at the local level, to kick off the 29th Anniversary of the ADA, Rapid City, South Dakota an official proclamation for the city was signed to recognize July 26th as ADA Awareness Day, emphasizing inclusion. At the national level, the Federal Emergency...

Wireless RERC project director (PD), Salimah LaForce, and DeeDee Bennett, former Wireless RERC PD and currently, associate professor at the University at Albany, The State University of New York co-authored Text-to-Action: Understanding the Interaction Between Accessibility of Wireless Emergency Alerts and...

Amelia (Amy) Lambeth, a research associate at the Interactive Media Technology Center (IMTC) at Georgia Tech, under advisement by Dr. Maribeth Gandy Coleman, director of IMTC as well as the Associate Director of Interactive Media for the Institute for People and Technology completed an M.S. Human-Computer Interaction project. The project title is A Social Acceptability and Assistive Usability Audit of a Novel Wearable Computing Device. Lambeth conducted “A heuristic evaluation...

In May, the eighth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) was celebrated to bring about awareness and activities that support access and inclusion for people with all types of disabilities. The primary audience of GAAD is the “design, development, usability, and related communities who build, shape, fund, and influence technology and its use.” As a result, many companies launch accessibility initiatives on GAAD. This year saw access and inclusion news from Procter and...

The FM Radio and RBDS-Based Emergency Alerting research brief, and 2-page executive summary Save Lives, Withstand Catastrophe, and Stimulate the Marketplace, were submitted as Ex Parte comments replying to the FCC’s Hurricane Response Public Notice [PS Docket # 17-344].[1] The Public Notice sought input on the effectiveness of emergency communications technologies, procedures, and policies that...

This report presents findings from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Wireless Inclusive Technologies’ (Wireless RERC) Survey of User Needs (SUN) for 2017-2018. In this report, we present key findings regarding the use of wireless technology features by SUN respondents, including real-time-text, intelligent assistants, and visual and audio display options. We also discuss the use of wireless devices by individuals with disabilities for a variety of activities. Whereas...

This research brief presents findings from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Wireless Inclusive Technologies’ (Wireless RERC) Survey of User Needs (SUN) for 2017-2018. We present key findings regarding mobile phone use and satisfaction by consumers with disabilities.

March saw the reintroduction of The Internet of Things (IOT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019 bill, with an aim to improve security for IoT devices bought by government agencies. This Act has implications for the devices used by people with disabilities, and its legislative approach is similar to that used to bolster compliance with Section 508 of the...