INVOLVEMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
CRUCIAL TO SUCCESS OF ACCESSIBILITY TECHNOLOGIES
Ottawa (ON) – Including people with disabilities in the research, development, and
marketing of accessibility technologies can be the difference between the failure and
success of those technologies, according to a new study by the Canadian Association
of the Deaf – Association des Sourds du Canada (CAD-ASC).
“Unfortunately, this kind of involvement doesn’t happen often,” laments Jim Roots,
executive director of CAD-ASC. “Usually, what happens is that people who don’t have
disabilities will create devices and technologies that they think will be useful for us. They
are often wrong, because they haven’t bothered to ask us what we want.”
The consequence is that years of work and money can be wasted creating technologies
that people with disabilities don’t want, can’t afford, or won’t use.
CAD-ASC hired two research groups to undertake the study: David Berman
Communications Inc., a leading international accessible design team based in Ottawa,
and the Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee, a national body dedicated to
equality in wireless accessibility and affordability for Canadians who are Deaf, Deaf-
Blind, and hard of hearing.
The project was funded in part by the Office of Consumer Affairs in the Ministry of
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada. The project’s goal was to
strengthen marketplace attention to Canadians with communication disabilities and
remove barriers to their participation in that marketplace.
“When designed properly, with the full involvement of people with disabilities, new
technology can benefit us in the same way it benefits the general population,” added
Roots. “The current pandemic has opened everybody’s eyes to the terrific accessibility
provided by video-conferencing.
“For years, Deaf people have been using video calls as our version of phoning because
these calls allow us to communicate through sign language. Now everybody realizes
video-conferences are the great equalizer in phone technology: add a qualified sign
language interpreter on video remote, take two minutes to explain how it works, and
then we’re all on a level playing-field.”
The Canadian Association of the Deaf – Association des Sourds du Canada is the
national information, research, and community action organization of Deaf Canadians.
Its mandate is to protect and promote the rights, needs, and concerns of Deaf people in
Canada. Founded in 1940, it is the oldest national-level disabled consumer organization
in the country.
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For more information, contact Jim Roots, Executive Director, via email at
jroots@cad.ca, or visit www.cad.ca .
