This report discusses the growth of the National Information Infrastructure (NII), or the information superhighway, and its implications for people with disabilities. Advantages for people with disabilities include: increasing the ability of individuals with some types of disabilities to access and use information; decreasing personal isolation due to mobility and communication restrictions; allowing individuals to interact with others in a way that makes their disability invisible or irrelevant; and allowing convenient access to educational and medical services. The barriers to the NII include: socioeconomic barriers; the complexity in the design of many products; the use of graphic interfaces; the use of touchscreens and pointing interfaces where alternate input techniques are not available; virtual environments; sound; animation and interactive systems; and the sealed nature of public systems that must have built-in access accommodations if they are to be made accessible. The report makes recommendations on how facets of the NII can be modified to allow greater access by those with disabilities and strategies that can be used to achieve changes. A list of 17 additional readings is included. An appendix describes the mission of the National Council on Disability. (CR)

This work develops a theoretical framework for a virtual community for people with long-term, severe mobility disabilities. It proposes strategies for implementing a virtual community model based on user information needs. The central theme to emerge from their narratives is how the use of information and communications technology (ICT) allows them to regain a sense of control. The conclusion is that the technology provides strategies for independence and facilitates self-empowerment. - Draws on the author's wide-ranging experience of ICT and disability - Provides practical and realistic recommendations to real-world problems

This edited collection brings together keynote articles from the journal Disability & Society to provide a comprehensive and though-provoking exploration of the place of technology in disabled people’s lives, documenting and analysing the growing impact of technology on disability and society over recent decades. The authors explore theoretical, empirical and moral dilemmas that arise with the changing relationship between technological change and the lives, aspirations and possibilities of disabled people. The volume is organised into three parts which consider early foundational work connecting disability and technology; key empirical studies related to the optimum use of technologies for independence and inclusion; and new moral and social dynamics thrown up by technological developments for disabled people’s lives.

This report provides the first evaluation of the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Focuses specifically on the efforts of the Justice Dept. (DOJ) to enforce Title II, Subtitle A, of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination based on disability by public entities such as State and local governments. It evaluates DOJs regulations and policies clarifying the language of the statute; processing of complaints of discrimination based on disability; litigation; and outreach, education, and technical assistance efforts relating to the act. Assesses DOJ's effectiveness as coordinator of the ADA enforcement efforts of 7 other Federal agencies.

This book outlines the development of the Trace R&D Center as an institution for furthering accessible and assistive technologies. The book walks readers through the Center’s nascent attempts to solve individual challenges with augmentative communication devices through contemporary efforts to establish global frameworks and infrastructures for accessibility. This book is premised on the Center’s mission to maximize the potential of people with disabilities by harnessing evolving technologies while at the same time dismantling the barriers created by those same technological advancements. Readers will learn how this has been done in the past and why this practice should be a fundamental and integrated feature in new technology planning and implementation. The book touches on pre-internet technologies before exploring the huge implications of, first, the personal computer and, second, the Internet. In parallel with the massive growth in scale rendered by the launch of the Web, the book traces the expansion of the Center’s focus from the individual to the universal, particularly in working to establish accessibility standards and infrastructures. Learning from the successes and failures of the Center, the book outlines many past challenges and future directions for the development of technologies for people with disabilities from the research and industry perspectives.