The ATIC Lab Moves, But Its Mission Remains the Same

Lee Ridgway

Since 1992, the Adaptive Technology for Information and Computing (ATIC) Lab has assisted disabled members of the MIT community with their computing needs. The ATIC Lab now serves about 250 students, faculty, and staff each year.

Disabilities include a wide range of visual, speech, hearing, and neurological impairments, as well as learning disabilities. Adaptive technology for computing environments is equally wide-ranging. For example, a simple adaptation might be an alternative mouse or adjustable-height table. Or the technology may be more complex, such as a voice recognition system or refreshable Braille display.

A Move to Larger Quarters
This fall, after several months in temporary space, the ATIC Lab moved to new quarters in Room 11-103, near the Student Services Center on the Infinite Corridor. Coordinator Kathy Cahill and her student consultants are again offering the full range of ATIC Lab services. These services, available by appointment, include demonstrations of adaptive technologies, advice, and troubleshooting. Access to Lab equipment is available to students on a continuing basis by prior arrangement.

A Place to Try Things Out
The ATIC Lab is the place where you can try out a variety of adaptive technologies. Some recently added products are highlighted below. You can find out more about these solutions from the ATIC Web site at http://web.mit.edu/atic/www/

Alternative Keyboards and Mice
Makers of alternative keyboards have created different configurations to relieve repetitive strain injuries (RSI) and to help those whose disabilities limit movement of hands and fingers. Kinesis makes a split, tilted keyboard with a concave key layout. Itıs designed to improve arm positioning and is easy for people of different sizes to use. Several keys let users take advantage of thumb strength instead of stretching their little fingers. This keyboard comes in a Dvorak/QWERTY model so that you can switch key layouts or use programmable keys to remap key positions to your preference. The Kinesis comes with optional foot switches to emulate keystrokes. While many clients with RSI have found the Kinesis helpful, ATIC staff recommend that each person test this and other keyboards before deciding which one is most appropriate.

Other alternative devices can be combined with, or used in lieu of, a keyboard. Computer mice come in many designs, and you can also move a cursor and click buttons with trackballs, touch-sensitive pads, and even foot pedals. Digitizing tablets with a stylus also fall into this category.

The Kensington Expert Mouse is a large trackball with four programmable keys. It comes with MouseWorks software so that you can change mouse key assignments as well as control the speed of the trackball and the cursor display on the screen. You can use different parts of your fingers and palm to control the trackball and keys, according to your comfort level.

Voice Recognition
Voice recognition systems let you manipulate a computer and enter text by talking. While this technology has been under development for over a decade, it has only recently become a viable method for alternative input.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking, new from Dragon Systems, is a continuous-speech voice recognition product. You can dictate into a word processor without pausing between words. You can also make corrections, spell, and format with voice commands. The deluxe version lets you create custom macros to increase your productivity.

Alternative Output Devices
People who are partially sighted or blind need alternative ways to read output. The visually impaired can use magnification utilities to enlarge screen contents. Blind users can opt for refreshable displays that convert text on the screen into tactile Braille. These displays holds 20 characters at a time; users indicate when they are ready for the next ³stream² of characters. Another option, embossing devices, produce Braille paper copies of text.

Screen readers are voice synthesis systems that convert words on the screen into audio output. JAWS for Windows 3.0 is a Windows 95 and NT-based package from Henter-Joyce. It uses the numeric keypad for speech control and keyboard hotkeys in place of a mouse. JAWS can be used with a hardware speech synthesizer, such as an internal DECtalk PC board, or a software synthesizer, such as FlexTalk.

Emacspeak, from Cornell, is the first full-fledged speech output system for UNIX. The ATIC Lab is running this software on a Sun SPARC4. The program does require users to have some knowledge of Emacs.

Contact Information
You can reach the ATIC Lab at x3-7808 or . Staffed hours are posted at http://web.mit.edu/atic/www/hours.html