Accessibility, Technology, and Universal Design

by Dora Raymaker

Published April 09, 2009 @ 09:36AM PT

Universal Design is the general idea that engineering something to remove disability-related barriers can also benefit people who don't have a disability; in other words, design stuff so everyone can use it. Most of us have experienced the benefits of universal design when we make use of handrails on stair cases, even if we don't have a disability which makes the handrails always necessary. Or used the magnifying capabilities of a computer's operating system to read inhumanly tiny text, even if we don't have a disability which makes screen magnification always necessary.

Something else that's great about universal design is that it makes the accommodations automatically accessible. In other words, no one has to fill out paper work, get a doctor's note, reveal personal information to strangers, or plead for their right to use a handrail or operating system's magnification software. The accommodations are simply there when needed.

Gear change: AT&T wireless has a Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) that is perfect for someone with my particular set of disabilities. Between speech difficulties, auditory processing difficulties, and lack of anything resembling "phone skills," the telephone for me is mostly something I dial and grunt into if I'm having an emergency--and only to a few select people who understand what said grunting means. However, I do communicate via telephone lines, through data, the Internet, email, chat, and SMS. In fact, I am dependent on data technology for communication with anyone beyond my immediate friends and family. So while voice plans for cell phones make zero sense in my world, data access is what it's all about.

So what's the gripe, and do these bits of ideas tie together into some actual point?

In order to be allowed access to TAP, AT&T requires that a person fill out and submit a form giving proof of disability, including a description of the exact nature of the disability, and signed by a "certified professional" such as a SLP, therapist, or medical doctor.

This is all well and good for someone like me who has a current, established relationship with a SLP who can clearly document the nature of disability without charging for the time (plus as I've already divulged personal info about diagnosis in this here very public forum, so having strangers at AT&T read all about it doesn't make me particularly squeamish). HOWEVER:

1. Not all autistic adults, or adults with other speech or hearing difficulties, have an established relationship with a certified professional; finding someone to fill out the documentation could require extensive communication skills and/or financial expense. The requirement to provide proof of disability may be an accessibility barrier in itself.

2. Confidentiality? ??

3. Most importantly, what about universal access? People who don't have a notable level of speech or hearing impairment may full well prefer an option like TAP over a voice-centric plan. Instead of creating some segregated option for only those who can prove their telephone gimpiness, what about extending the idea of universal access so that anyone who wants a text-centric plan can sign up for it? Increased choice, decreased barriers to access, less stigma, and everyone wins.

Universal access works as well in the high tech of computers and telecommunications as it does in the low tech of handrails and forks. Inclusive society doesn't just mean giving the disabled access to the tools of the non-disabled, it also means giving the non-disabled access to the tools of the disabled. AT&T, IMO, can do better.