OTTAWA — A new study released today by the Canadian Association of the Deaf – Association des Sourds du Canada (CAD-ASC) has found that including people with disabilities in the research, development and marketing of accessibility technologies can contribute significantly to the success of those technologies.
“Unfortunately, this kind of involvement doesn’t happen often,” said Jim Roots, executive director of CAD-ASC, in a press release. “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.”
This can lead to years of work and money being wasted creating technologies which people with disabilities don’t want, can’t afford or won’t use, says CAD-ASC in its press release.
“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,” said Roots.
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 advocacy group dedicated to equality in wireless accessibility and affordability for Canadians who are Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and hard of hearing.
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.
CAD-ASC 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.
