accessibility Archives | Solutions Marketing Group

Microsoft Makes Accessibility a High Priority

March 27, 2018

By Joan Leotta

Chief Accessibility Officer for the Microsoft Corporation, Jenny Lay-Flurrie has been working to give the company’s internal accessibility programs a wide reach in the disability community. One of her latest efforts is to create a hiring program that identifies and trains people with autism. Lay-Flurrie, herself deaf, has held many positions within the company. Her own road to corporate success reveals her commitment to success for herself and others with disabilities. She graciously agreed to be interviewed by SMG. The live links in the article will take readers with further interest in Microsoft to more detail about its Autism Hiring Program and other Microsoft Accessibility programs.

SMG: What has your employment journey been like and what advice would you share with others with disabilities who are looking for employment?

Ms. Lay-Flurrie: Well, it’s a bit of a long, winding story, but I have always had a passion for music. Some folks are surprised to learn that I started out by getting a music degree back in the UK. It was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t long before I realized that I needed money to pay rent and music wasn’t cutting it. That led me to start working at a newspaper in London on their IT help desk, which was really the start of my career in the IT industry. At that point in my life, my deafness wasn’t something I wanted to call attention to. After I moved into an IT startup, it became increasingly difficult for me to hide it. I actually got to the point where I tried to resign because I was offered a promotion and I didn’t think I could do it with the state of my hearing being as it was. I had to ask for help. Fortunately, my manager at the time was wonderful and worked with me to get digital hearing aids. It was life-changing!

By the time I got to Microsoft in 2005, my hearing had continued to slide and with so many thick accents and folks talking at the same time, I needed to ask for help again. In short order, I was provided captioning and a sign language interpreter. It was at that time that I also became increasingly involved with employee resource groups at the company, which helped me to really be proud of who I am and open about my disability. My advice to you is this: Learn from my journey, but don’t follow it to the letter. Make it your own. Be honest about everything that makes you who you are, and remember, disability is a strength, so embrace it!

SMG: Do you think society subtly pushes people with disabilities, both visible and invisible, into specific jobs that do not fully tap into that person’s potential?

Ms. Lay-Flurrie: I think sometimes assumptions are made about what people are capable of and oftentimes that simply comes from a place of ignorance. It’s an opportunity to educate as well as recognize the talent that people with disabilities bring to the table. It’s happened in my own life. There was a time when someone told me that I would never achieve much, but I’m happy to say that they were dead wrong! We’re also seeing it in applicants to our Autism Hiring Program. We’ve had candidates with multiple PhDs who held part time jobs at Safeway – clearly an example of an untapped pool of talent that is gold dust for both Microsoft and other companies to latch onto. We’re now working with over a dozen companies on our Autism program, and by sharing our learnings, our thinking is that if we can help more companies hire people with disabilities, then we will be able to impact the unemployment rate, which is our end goal.

SMG: Microsoft has risen as a corporate leader in disability inclusion. What have you done to truly integrate people with disabilities within the company’s culture?

Ms. Lay-Flurrie: At Microsoft, we believe it’s essential to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. With more than one billion people with disabilities in the world, organizations and companies are missing a trick when they don’t think about disability inclusion as part of the diversity conversation. With this in mind, we’re approaching disability inclusion in a number of different ways. Our Disability Employee Resource Group (ERG), has been a key part of this, and is now more than 1,000 strong, representing employees with a number of different conditions such as hearing loss, blindness, and mobility disabilities, to name a few. The Disability ERG champions many of our efforts in the company, including our annual Ability Summit, which provides a forum for innovative thinking related to accessible technology. We have an annual hackathon that includes ‘Ability Hacks’ focused on empowering people with disabilities. This also continues to grow, and this year we had 150 projects. The hackathon really is an incubator for accessibility innovations. Previous Ability Hack winners included the Eye Gaze Wheelchair and Learning Tools for OneNote.

We also host a number of job fairs, as well as offer annual disability scholarships for high school students, and partner with vendors and employment agencies to run a Supported Employment Program. We’ve also created many company-wide trainings, including an Accessibility 101, which is now also available externally. We’ve made a lot of progress in this space, but it’s a journey and we know that there is so much more to be done.

SMG: What are the key elements for disability inclusion to be successful?

Ms. Lay-Flurrie: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, disability is a strength! When you recognize that people with disabilities are the experts, having them in your workforce simply makes products better. Creating this type of culture involves many factors, but I think it comes down to a few key things:

First and foremost, hire talent with disabilities. Ensure that recruiters have undergone disability etiquette training and understand how to post jobs in an accessible manner. Conduct inclusive interviews that allow all candidates to bring their A game. Once again, our Autism Hiring Program is a great example of this. We have designed a non-traditional interview process that involves a 5-day academy to really highlight skills that a traditional interview process might miss.
Accommodations are another key piece. Once you get folks on board, make sure to have a defined and easy process in place for providing reasonable accommodations to ensure that all employees are as productive in their jobs as possible to ensure career advancement.
Lastly, I’ve really seen how the disability community can come together in a grassroots way and make things happen. Create opportunities for employees with disabilities to connect and feel empowered, and there is no limit to what they can accomplish.

SMG: What advice would you give other corporate leaders who want to advance disability inclusion? How can they start?

Ms. Lay-Flurrie: I get this question a lot, and it’s a good one. First of all, you don’t have to do this alone and there are TONS of resources out there to help you get started. One resource that we’ve found particularly helpful is the Disability Equality Index (DEI), which was created to help businesses advance their disability inclusion policies. The DEI provides a confidential opportunity to evaluate disability inclusion policies and a benchmark to identify areas of improvement. It’s a great tool that’s used by 80+ companies, including Microsoft. Once you understand where you need to focus, consider taking the approach of ‘crawl, walk, and then run.’ Start slowly, identify the right roles and opportunities for people, and then build on that. We’ve also started to document our learnings, so have a look at our Disability Inclusion Sway to learn more about what we’ve been up to and to access resources that can help you get started.

Need a Ride?

December 15, 2017

By Joan Leotta

Malcolm Glenn, Uber spokesperson and Strategic Partnerships Manager

Need a Ride? The founders of industry wunderkind, Uber, believe that the answer to this question is a resounding “yes,” heard from people of all abilities, all over the world. As the ride-sharing platform continues to expand, the fundamentals of the company blueprint remain unchanged. Exciting inroads have been made to connect Uber to people with disabilities—mobility and otherwise – as both riders and drivers. To better understand the company’s evolution in accessibility, SMG interviewed Malcom Glenn, Uber spokesperson and Strategic Partnerships Manager.

SMG: When did Uber integrate accessible transportation into its business model?

Glenn: Accessibility has been a part of our platform since the beginning. We certainly didn’t start as a company with the mission to deliver transportation to everyone, but over time we’ve realized that there’s an amazing appetite for transportation from many communities for which transportation has been a barrier – including people with disabilities. In the last couple of years, we’ve really started to make internal changes to create a renewed focus around accessibility, creating specific teams and accessibility-focused roles, making significant improvements to the platform, and extensively engaging with members of the disability community to get feedback and learn where we can improve.

In the two years since I’ve joined the company, I’ve been heartened to see how much of a focus this has been across all functions. We still have a lot of work to do, but I think with continued engagement with the community, we’ll continue to find the best solutions and ultimately come that much closer to fulfilling our mission of providing reliable transportation for everyone, everywhere.

SMG: What accessibility options are available on your app?

Glenn: Using Uber is really two different experiences; first, it’s interacting with the app (from both a driver and a rider perspective), and second, it’s interacting with another person in the real world (again, as both a rider and a driver). For riders who are blind or have low vision, we’ve made the app accessible with VoiceOver iOS, Android TalkBack, and compatible with wireless braille display. We’ve also taken significant steps to provide drivers with information about their obligations to transport riders with service animals. Audio is not needed to use the Uber app, though assistive technology such as visible and vibrating alerts can help riders who are deaf or hard of hearing.

There are now thousands of deaf and hard of hearing drivers on the Uber platform in the US who are providing more rides per month on average than hearing drivers. Drivers who are deaf have collectively earned well over $10 million, after we made changes to the app a few years ago that allows drivers to self-identify as deaf or hard of hearing. This unlocks features that improve the experience for both drivers and riders. For this work, we were recognized last year by the Ruderman Family Foundation as one of 18 companies leading the way in supporting people with disabilities.

When it comes to riders with mobility needs, we’ve launched our UberWAV (wheelchair-accessible vehicle) in many US cities, connecting riders with drivers in cars equipped with ramps or lifts. UberWAV is currently being piloted in several US cities using a variety of models – everything from working with commercial partners to taxi providers to leasing/rental models. A more in-depth look at our accessibility offerings is at https://accessibility.uber.com/

SMG: Did Uber consult with any disability organizations to develop the Uber WAV program?

Glenn: Working with disability organizations has been paramount to growth of all of our accessibility offerings, including UberWAV. We’ve talked extensively with various national and local organizations about our different UberWAV models, and their feedback has helped inform our getting pilots out onto the road. The leading organizations representing blind people were also integral in helping us improve app accessibility and get into place a robust service animal policy. Finally, we partnered with the Communication Service for the Deaf, the largest deaf-led nonprofit in the United States, to expand opportunities for deaf men and women. We’ve also worked with members of the deaf community including the National Association of the Deaf and Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TDI) to design and implement a series of fully optional product capabilities to improve the driver experience.

SMG: At present, we see WAV only available in NYC, DC, Chicago, and Portland. Are there plans to expand it to other cities? If so, which ones?

Glenn: In addition to those cities, we’ve recently launched pilots in Philadelphia, Boston, and Toronto, and additional WAV options exist in cities like Austin, Houston, and San Francisco, not to mention internationally in places like London and Sydney. We’re always looking for new partnerships that can help expand the number of cities where UberWAV is an option.

SMG: Can you estimate the percentage of Uber riders who require accommodations for Deaf/HoH, Blind/Low Vision, and Limited Mobility?

Glenn: Because we don’t ask for this information from riders, it’s very difficult to estimate the number of riders who have disabilities. But more than 10 million rides take place on the Uber platform every day all across the globe, and we regularly receive feedback from riders and drivers that leads us to believe that a sizable number of both riders and drivers with disabilities are benefiting from the platform.

SMG: What are the limitations for WAV when a rider has a wheelchair? Does WAV only cover manual wheelchairs? How do you address power chairs and scooters?

Glenn: All drivers are expected to accommodate riders using walkers, canes, folding wheelchairs or other assistive devices to the maximum extent possible. Because the nature of the Uber platform in most places is people using their own vehicles, driving when and where they want, we look to form partnerships in order to have vehicles on the platform that can accommodate power wheelchair users and larger scooters. These are the users that benefit most from our UberWAV service, as previously mentioned. (Read more about what Uber is doing to accommodate riders with mobility disabilities.)

SMG: Does the company require a rider to input specifics about how much assistance a wheelchair user will need?

Glenn: Riders do not input information about accessibility needs; in fact, drivers only see a few pieces of information when they’re matched with a rider – the rider’s first name, the rider’s current rating (out of 5), and the rider’s current location. (Drivers are also notified if the rider is going to a location that is expected to be at least 45 minutes away.) It’s important to minimize the information drivers receive in order to remove any conscious or unconscious bias, though we do encourage riders to communicate with their drivers about any identifying information that they deem relevant. Most riders with disabilities can be accommodated by any one of our products, and we encourage riders with power wheelchairs to request the UberWAV or similar service where they’re located.

SMG: Recently, your company was accused of not being accessible enough, especially for people with limited mobility issues. Can you explain what the company has done to address the issue of physical barriers?

Glenn: We certainly haven’t always gotten these things right on our platform, and much of the criticism in the past has been justified. We started out only offering expensive black car rides and over time we’ve evolved to a much more ambitious mission to make a product that everyone can use. So that’s meant lots of community engagement, finding partners who can help us expand the nature of our model, and really focusing on what people need. Publicly stating our commitment to accessibility has helped, and we need to continue to improve how the platform serves users with physical disabilities. Continuing the lines of dialogue is key in working towards that.

SMG: How many Deaf/HOH driver partners does Uber have?

Glenn: We don’t know exactly how many deaf or hard of hearing drivers we have on the platform, because the value of creating features for deaf drivers is that many hearing drivers have recognized the benefits and activated those features, too. It’s a great example of the usefulness of universal design – building products that work for everyone means that people with disabilities and without disabilities all have a better experience.

SMG: Has the company placed focus on disability inclusion and employment at headquarters and in staff offices?

Glenn: Disability inclusion has been a priority for us, both from the perspective of making our platform accessible as well as making sure we’re including people with disabilities in our employee population. This year we’re proud to have participated for the first time in the Disability Equality Index, a joint venture by the American Association of People with Disabilities and the U.S. Business Leadership Network. The DEI helps make businesses more inclusive for people with disabilities, and we look forward to working with other organizations in this field.

One of the benefits of Uber is that we’re very decentralized as a company, meaning that city teams are empowered to build relationships with local organizations and structure their offices in a way that’s reflective of the diversity of the cities they serve. That’s been a real opportunity to see innovation around inclusion come from many different parts of the company and many different geographies. Our diversity and inclusion team and many other folks in headquarters are leading the charge on lots of our disability inclusion work, but I love seeing people in other functions and in offices across the globe contributing to making our company as diverse and inclusive as possible.

SMG: Uber’s mission statement says it focuses on six core areas relative to accessible transportation: Efficiency, Ease, Reliability, Accountability, Responsiveness, and Economic Opportunity. How are these being implemented throughout the organization?

Uber: These areas are at the core of the experience we want all of our riders to have, whether they are riders with disabilities or riders without disabilities. Efficiency, ease, and reliability are at the core of the product, and one of the key value propositions for using Uber instead of other options: it’s efficient and easy to do everything from downloading the app, inputting your information, and ultimately requesting and completing a trip. Accountability matters in terms of making sure that issues with drivers are minimized, and when they do occur there’s a concrete mechanism in place to deal with them. Responsiveness, unsurprisingly, is necessary to have true accountability.

Finally, economic opportunity is the reason that drivers, continue to decide to drive with Uber. One of the unanticipated aspects of Uber when the company started was how many people had a need for reliable transportation, but we also hadn’t anticipated how many people were looking for flexible work opportunities. To the degree that we can continue to provide people with those opportunities, we’re doing our job.

SMG: How does Uber determine which transportation partners it engages with? How does this make consumer experience seamless for passengers with disabilities?

Uber: We take feedback from advocates, have exhaustive conversations with potential partners, and look closely at the assets they have to assess whether they’re a fit for our platform. Whomever we choose as partners, we’re committed to making sure the experience is the same across our various products. The experience should be seamless no matter which product you’re using, and our partners have to be able to help in providing that experience.

SMG: Your guidelines for drivers are very comprehensive. In addition to those guidelines, are there any hands-on classes for drivers to help them understand people with disabilities?

Uber: All drivers are provided extensive materials when they partner with Uber, and UberWAV drivers receive additional, more extensive instruction. We also have a product available in more than 40 cities around the world, UberASSIST, that is designed to provide people who would like a helping hand with additional assistance. With UberASSIST, top-rated driver-partners may obtain independent training from third-party organizations to assist riders into vehicles.

SMG: What are your plans for making Uber even more accessible in the future—for both riders and drivers?

Uber: We’re always thinking about how we can improve – and we know we have lots of ways in which we can do so. We’re always looking to increase the number of deaf and hard of hearing drivers on the platform, decrease the number of issues with service animals, improve app accessibility and increase the number of places where UberWAV exists, as well as improve = the reliability of the product in the cities where we operate.

We appreciate the opportunity to talk about the work we’re doing, how we’re thinking about improving, and to acknowledge that we haven’t always gotten this right. There are newfound efforts across the company to make the platform as accessible as possible, and we look forward to engaging with the community in order to truly get this right.

SMG: Thank you, Malcom Glenn and Uber!

Finding a Room that Fits

April 5, 2017

By Joan Leotta

Accessible Travel Online company logo

Whether travelling for business or pleasure, people with disabilities desire an experience made memorable by ease of access rather than logistical nightmares. This is especially true when it comes to lodging. In the United States, most major hotel chains have rooms designated for people with disabilities, eliminating many concerns of suitable access. Until recently, however, there were no internationally focused, hotel vetting services for the intrepid traveler with an eye toward travel beyond the U.S. Marlies van Sint Annaland, CEO and Founder of Accessible Travel Online (ATO) has changed that. Now, seeking, finding, and booking an accessible hotel is as easy as point and click.

About the Service

A man holds an award, standing next to ATO founder Marlies van Sint Annaland

ATO founder Marlies van Sint Annaland (right) presenting an award to Corendon Vitality Hotel Amsterdam for outstanding accessibility services

It was a new friendship with a kindred spirit that first opened Van Sint Annaland’s eyes to the carefully negotiated worlds of people with disabilities: “About a decade ago, I met a woman in my neighborhood. She was my age, passionate about travel like me, full of energy like me and she was a free bird, a free mind. We drank coffee and connected easily. The world of ‘accessibility’ or ‘disability’ was completely new to me and I had, as many others, until that moment, never realized what it takes to get through the day facing all the obstacles, misunderstandings, prejudice and (sometimes) unwanted help. I decided to do something about it and learned that out-of-the-box thinking was very helpful.”

In search of a practical solution to the problems she saw, Van Sint Annaland decided to focus on travel. “I learned that the biggest obstacle to overcome is that other people just don’t know how to realize accessibility or where to turn to if they want to know. I thought of traveling and wondered what that world would look like, as in an accessible travel world. Being a big hotel fan, I created Hotelaccessibility.com. In the many talks I had with people with disabilities, I heard the same thing over and over. Accessibility was always a promise, (in hotels) but rarely a given.”

Acquiring and Disseminating Reliable Information

ATO’s chief objective is to connect the consumer with accessibility information that is reliable and visible. Van Sint Annaland explains that because “there are many online resources on accessible locations or accommodations — mostly operating locally — it is difficult to find your favorite destination and information about its accessibility. Just like in every world – politics, education, travel – there are a thousand ‘islands’ in the world of accessible travel. I want to be the ‘Bridge Builder’. Helping the tourism business where needed and making sure that people with disabilities can wander along all these beautiful ‘islands’ and travel the world.”

She continues, “Accessible Travel Online’s ultimate goal is to connect people with as many beautiful locations on this planet as possible, creating one big travel platform where people with disabilities will find what they need, and what they want. Let’s travel the world! TOGETHER!”

According to the ATO website, newly vetted hotels are added monthly to an already well-researched and sizeable variety At present, the site offers information on accessible hotels in: Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the United States and Canada, South America and Southeast Asia: “More countries will be represented on Hotelaccessibility.com every time we set up a new partnership with local travel agents. If you don’t want to miss updates, please subscribe to our news update or follow us on social media via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.”

Trusted Advisors

To properly vet hotels, Van Sint Annaland relies on a small group of advisors and personal contacts who gather the hotel information ultimately appearing on the site. This differs from the model used by most travel rating services that typically list the experiences of travelers who have stayed in a particular hotel. ATO advisors are selected specially to look for ways in which the hotel serves people with disabilities in its hospitality profile.

Becoming an advisor requires more than a keen interest in world travel. Returning to the company objective of providing reliable information to is customers, Van Sint Annaland selects individuals who bring a personal awareness of just how invaluable

reliable information can be. As she explains, “Experienced travelers with a disability themselves, is the basic starting point to join the ATO team. Our motto is not to talk about disabilities, we talk about abilities. I never ask people why they are in a wheelchair for instance. It’s obvious, right? So, we make sure we can take away barriers and focus on the possibilities. Melanie and Mirjam, who coordinate the HotelCheck procedure, are trained experts in hospitality and are very good in motivating others to share their skills in endurance, positive thinking and helping others. Helma singlehandedly changed the law in the Netherlands, making sure assistance dogs are never to be refused on any property. Representation with advisors in the USA is coming soon.

In describing the feel and function of the website, Van Sint Annaland says that ATO is, above all, a community, a platform where people can share information: “Yes, we allow hotels and accommodations who have ‘passed our test’ to promote themselves on our site. We don’t work with reviews (per se), but we use our (in house developed) HotelCheck ratings. These set an international standard and a universal quality label travelers can rely on.”

Hotels also seem to prefer the HotelCheck method with trained advisors. According to Van Sint Annaland, ATO has been “testing hotels in our region for three years and the feedback from the hotels involved was unanimously the same. All hotel managers valued the time spent with a HotelCheck consultant because it created the opportunity to ask questions and learn how to improve or facilitate accessible amenities or services.”

How the Site Works

As Van Sint Annaland discussed earlier, ATO bridges the international hospitality industry and travelers with disabilities. She goes on to describe how ATO facilitates this relationship: “The key to helping clients Find a Room that Fits their needs is the round-up of the varied, small services that operate in Europe. Ours is a one stop shop … for example, The Corendon hotel in the Netherlands has been listed since September 2015 and they won our Accessibility Award 2016 .”

This hotel, whose website is https://www.corendonhotels.com/corendon-vitality-hotel-amsterdam, offers many accessible rooms. She says, “We have worked with the Corendon Vitality Hotel in Amsterdam from the start, before it was built! They have two accessible rooms on each of the seven floors.

She further advises, “Should clients desire hotel reviews, AccessAdvisr.com, is a standard resource. Co-owner and Managing Director Rob Trent provides a service that effectively complements ATO: AccessAdvisr gives disabled people the opportunity to provide a real-world view of how easy-to-access different places and transport stops are for disabled people. If a place gets a poor review, we’ll feed that back and campaign for better accessibility. If it gets a good review, we’ll feed that back too!”

The Future

Going forward, ATO plans to focus expansion in areas where they have already made successful inroads. But this does not mean that newer inroads will not also be made. In the spirit of its slogan, “Travel without Limitations,” the company has recently begun a U.S. operation to further ease the paths to worldwide travel. In fulfilling her dream, Van Sint Annaland has helped others fulfill theirs. ATO offers a map of possibility for travelers with disabilities, who are well-accustomed to knowing their limitations and then defying them.

online movies 2017

Real or Robot? Robotics Offer New Opportunities to People with Disabilities

October 1, 2015

By Joan Leotta

Being in two places at once is no longer an impossibility. Thanks to “telepresence” robots, people with disabilities who are confined to their homes can now travel for work or enjoyment beyond those physical limits. This exciting, new technology provides more than a virtual experience. A screen on wheels allows the individual controlling the telepresence robot to interact with people at the target destination, creating an interactive experience for everyone involved. In November 2013, Henry Evans, co-founder of Robots for Humanity, recently delivered a Ted Talk that astounded the assembled attendees. From hundreds of miles away, Evans, a mute quadriplegic who cannot leave his bed, “visited” the audience, spoke, and even powered a drone vehicle while “onstage” via a telepresence device called a Beam unit. The Ted website praised Evans as “a pioneer in adaptive robotic tech to help him, and other disabled people like him, navigate the world.” Indeed, as he personally attests, Evans has helped create a new path with this innovative technology: “I have always seen robotics as my best option. Put yourself in my shoes. I can’t move or speak. My motto is ‘if you want something, you look for options’.”

R4H Logistics

The term “telepresence” refers to a set of technologies which — via telerobotics — creates the sense and gives the appearance of an individual being present at a place other than his true location. Teleconferencing, which is its precursor, is an often used virtual meeting technology. With telepresence, however, the moveable robots produce a stronger sense of presence. With the added implementation of a Beam unit, the person visiting by robot can move about, interacting as a physical materialization with others on the job. The user’s position, actions, and voice, may be sensed, transmitted and duplicated in the remote location. Furthermore, information may travel between the user and the remote location, passing both ways.

Prior to telepresence technology, Evans depended entirely upon his computer to communicate. Even with that advancement, there were thoughts that remained trapped within his mind; his body was imprisoned within his home. Now, with his Beam, he can do more than apply his mind to work solutions. He can be there. He is proof that telepresence technology elevates the overall quality of life and workplace productivity for a person with physical limitations, no matter how severe. Using it Evans can once again enjoy the garden in his home and even tour art museums. It is a quality of life improvement beyond measure.

Johnson believes “partnerships are central to our work. Partners can be individuals, organizations, or companies with a national scope that preserve, celebrate, or educate. Two of our first partners were and still are the ADA National Network, and the Georgia Disability History Alliance. We serve as a clearinghouse by connecting and coordinating”. Johnson notes that “partnerships are like pieces of a puzzle—the more partners we have the more clearly the larger picture of rights for everyone is assembled.” An example of this is Legacy’s work with the Center for Civil & Human Rights that opened in Atlanta in 2014. Johnson has been involved with the museum from its inception. The Center has included disability rights in its core displays and in fact, from May through September of this year, is participating in the anniversary with an exhibit of disability-rights that will feature ADA milestone photos by Tom Olin.

Furthering this Technology with R4H

According to Evans, “the primary role of R4H (Robotics for Humanity) is to inspire and motivate engineers to apply their knowledge of robotics to help the disabled.” To achieve this goal, R4H has partnered with a number of organizations since its inception. Evans notes that, “Many groups have participated in one-time projects. The groups that have creatively participated in many projects over an extended period of time are: The Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech, led by Dr. Kemp; Willow Garage/Suitable Technologies [founded by Scott Hassan], and Savioke Technologies [founded by Steve Cousins]. Dr. Kemp and Steve Cousins co-founded R4H with me. My nephew Henry Clever has also added a lot of energy and creativity to many projects over the years.” Steve Cousins of Savioke remarked that, “Savioke (pronounced “savvy oak”) is creating autonomous robot helpers for the services industry. So I have been a sponsor of various sub products. One of these was a device known by the group as ‘scratchbot,’ a project Evans’ son helped with to allow his father, who is immobile, to scratch his nose.”

As a single-use device, the ‘scratchbot’ may not generate a widespread demand. Nonetheless, its creation has contributed to refining the effective implementation of the Beam unit and similar robotic devices. As a result, the field has expanded as other organizations with the same mission collaborate. Steve Cousins explains that Savioke has played an important role in these partnerships, making connections with “Evans and professors from different universities at “Willow Garage,” including Ted Jenkins who was at the Ted talk.”

Cousins goes on to explain that Savioke is “guided by the beacon that is R4H.” The company is “passionate” about delivering easy-to-use yet sophisticated robots that improve the lives of people in places where they live and work. By developing and deploying robotic technology in human environments, Cousins believes that over time, personal robots will help people to achieve their potential, enhancing strengths, overcoming weaknesses, and endowing new capabilities. “We are just beginning to imagine. We are inspired by people who use technology to overcome disabilities, and we believe that robots have the potential to make all of our lives better.”

Disseminating the Technology

Lowering the cost of Beam units and familiarizing the broader culture with its practical uses will be key to disseminating this new technology. Although the unit used by Evans costs more than twenty thousand dollars to produce, units with similar capability are now available for two thousand dollars. As far as public familiarity with the product concept, the popular comic strip “Baldo” features a character who uses Beam technology to great effect. Confined to her home because of a compromised immune system, Rayna, a vibrant teen, is nonetheless fully engaged in a high school experience via the use of a telepresence robot. Beam technology is readily accepted by her family, her boyfriend, in her classroom and by her peers. Though obviously fictional, Reyna’s reliance on her Beam unit models possibilities for people with disabilities and the people who support them.

Finally, widespread acceptance of the Beam necessitates precision in ergonomics: effective design plays a vital role. Both Henry Evans and Steve Cousins agree that there will be almost no training needed if the robot is properly designed. Evans recalls, “I needed only ten minutes of training to use the robotic body (the Beam) featured in the Ted talk. It is very intuitive.”

Advances Benefit Many

R4H has a spillover effect, encouraging many to participate in inventing devices that can assist people with disabilities. When a group of high school students in Australia learned that Evans was unable to interact with his dog, one student in particular, Amber. So, offered to build him a remote controlled electric dog feeder that Evans could control with his head. The Australian High School’s Robotics class allowed for the environment where such single purpose inventions can be invented and find applications beyond their intended sole use.

Spillover from robotics research aids daily life for everyone—able-bodied and those with disabilities alike. The reach of this technology is increasingly common, varied and potentially vast. Few consider that the typing aids used on cellophanes are direct descendants of the typing aids developed for people with disabilities. Savioke develops robotic solutions to help with jobs in the service industry including devices that can carry heavy items. For this reason, Evans feels that all types of disabilities, not only extreme, multiple ones can be aided by robotic solutions. “Different disabilities need different interfaces, ” he points out but all can benefit. Consider the exciting development of R4H is implementing Beam units in Disneyland so sick children in hospitals can visit anytime! People with long-term disabilities and chronic conditions will encounter a unique set of challenges as they get older. But that doesn’t mean they can’t age successfully and safely. The Georgia Tech website affirms that research in this area of robotics will aid us all as we grow older.

Cousins says, “I think one of the things that changed over the last ten years is that we have progressed from a world where robots were rare except for those in factories. Now robots are coming in and out from behind cages and more importantly, are not confined to industrial uses and research labs but starting to be made affordable. For example, in industry, ten years ago people were looking to make delivery robots only for in hospitals to carry five hundred pound loads — big lumbering thing but now we can build smaller and inexpensive lighter and smaller and it can do smaller loads, even making them affordable for smaller institutions.” In addition technology like the Beam are already available at a price that is affordable for individuals.

The Future

This is just the beginning. Henry Evans’ tragic stroke at the age of 40 rendered him voiceless and quadriplegic. Through robotic technology, Evans continues to find ways to explore and interact with the world. Devices developed by members of Robots for Humanity to date range from a laser pointer mounted on his glasses to a very expensive humanoid robot (PR2) to various flying quad rotors. Through robotic technology he speaks and brings his ideas to the world.

Comcast says, “Open Sesame!”

April 13, 2015

By Joan Leotta

Tom Wlodkowski, Comcast Vice President of Accessibility

Almost 200 years ago, Braille opened up the world of written communication to people who cannot see. Now, Comcast has developed a solution that allows blind people to enjoy all of the action, not just the dialogue, in any program on television. The new feature also allows users to hear descriptions of menu options usually only presented as text on the screen. Just as Braille opened up the universe of written stories, Comcast Xfinity’s X1 service unlocks the world of television entertainment in new ways for people with visual disabilities.

Tom Wlodkowski, Comcast’s VP of Accessibility, knows that technological advances have the power to help people with disabilities be full participants in all activities of everyday living. “As someone who was born blind, I always thought of technology as a great equalizer,” he explains. “And when I joined Comcast to focus on product accessibility, I was excited to explore how our services could open new doors to independence. I’ve been here close to three years now and I feel like we’ve made progress on a number of fronts. But watching this effort come to fruition, and hearing how people are reacting, really leaves me speechless.”

In a recent Comcast press release, customer and product beta tester Amy Ruell echoed these sentiments. “TV is such an important and integral part of the fabric of our culture,” she believes, “that to be excluded from that experience in any way makes it more difficult for blind people to participate fully in society.”

How It Works

Comcast’s revolutionary X1 service is the first to provide voice guidance through the ever-more-complex menus involved in TV viewing and recording. All Xfinity X1 customers across the country can activate the talking guide on their existing boxes by tapping the “A” button twice on their remote controls. The feature can also be turned on via the Accessibility Settings within the main menu.

“The talking guide speaks what’s on the screen as the viewer navigates the Guide, Saved, On Demand, and Settings sections of X1,” Wlodkowski explains. In addition to vocally communicating menu items, the service relays information such as individual program descriptions and ratings from Common Sense Media and Rotten Tomatoes to help viewers decide what programming they might enjoy. “Future versions of the feature will include functionality within the Search section and additional personalization settings like rate of speech,” Wlodkowski continues.
A video previewing the new service is now available at the Comcast website.

Development of the Talking Guide

Wlodkowski notes that “about 19 million U.S. households have at least one member with a disability and, according to the U.S. Census, there are 8.1 million people with a visual disability.” These numbers reveal not only buyer potential but, more significantly, a segment of the US population who are often not able to join in the national conversation that is TV viewing.

A few years ago, Comcast set out to solve that problem at one of its Lab Weeks: employee-led innovation workshops. As Wlodkowski reports, “In the fall of 2012, a team of developers got together in Philadelphia and brainstormed a new X1 feature for an upcoming Lab Week centered on the theme of accessibility. They called it Text to Speech and, inspired by the notion that there should be more than one way for customers to interact with their TV interface and discover what’s on, the idea set the stage for what would become the industry’s first voice-enabled television user interface. Around the same time that year, I took the helm as the Vice President of Accessibility for Comcast to focus on the usability of our products and services by people with disabilities.”

Emily

Recognizing the value such a service could provide to potential television audiences, Comcast chose to highlight the talking guide through a commercial that aired during the Oscars. The ad featured a seven-year-old girl named Emily who has been blind since birth. Through the ad, viewers can experience what Emily “sees” when she enjoys her favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. They also are exposed to the reality that people who cannot see also want access to the infinite stories available through TV.

Wlodkowski relates, “We’re hoping to spark an even bigger conversation about how people with disabilities enjoy entertainment through a national campaign called Emily’s Oz.” Taking Emily’s impressions of the classic film, a documentary crew has recreated the story and characters as Emily envisions them. “But the cool part,” Wlodkowski emphasizes, “is how we bring her vision to life in a way she’s never experienced before. It’s an adorable and inspiring outcome — not because Emily happens to be blind, but rather because she is an independent, imaginative and charming young girl whose creative mind is infectious.”

Using the time during the Oscars to introduce the talking guide service not only helped spark awareness of the entertainment possibilities for blind people. It also increased the determination to do more on the part of Comcast’s staff. Wlodkowski asserts, “The work that went into telling Emily’s story has really galvanized my team and encouraged us all to pursue even bolder things.”

Comcast’s Commitment to Accessibility

The voice guidance system is just the latest in a series of innovations created in the Comcast Accessibility Lab. “From expanding the number of On-Demand movies and shows that include video description to helping those with a disability navigate their smart home and the Internet of Things, we’re still just scratching the surface of what’s possible in the accessibility space,” Wlodkowski reports. Check out the full range of current and future accessible produce from Comast: Leveling the Playing Field with Products for Everyone.

“The talking guide is as much about usability as it is about accessibility,” he continues. “We think about accessibility from the design of a product all the way through production, and this feature is the result of years of work by our team, including customer research, focus groups and industry partnerships. For people like me who are blind, this new interface opens up a whole new world of options for watching TV.”

Comcast has long been active in providing solutions that make it more enjoyable for people with a variety of disabilities to enjoy broadcast entertainment. In addition to voice guidance and one-touch access to closed captioning, Comcast has created an online help and support resource for Xfinity customers looking for information about accessibility-related topics. The webpage includes an overview of accessibility products and services, support for third-party assistive devices, information related to Braille or large-print bills and the ability to connect with accessibility support specialists.

The company has a service center specifically dedicated to customers with disabilities. Comcast’s Accessibility Center of Excellence, based in Pensacola, Florida, houses a team of specially-trained agents who handle about 10,000 calls each month.

Comcast plans to collaborate with service organizations and nonprofits to create awareness in the disability community, not only to promote the voice guidance system but also to highlight other accessibility features that offer more inclusive entertainment experiences. “Comcast’s commitment to accessibility is encouraging,” beta tester Ruell contends, “because it means there will be tremendous progress in developing technology that is universally accessible.”

Article edited by Mary-Louise Piner.