IBM's long-standing commitment to people with disabilities began in 1914, when the company hired their first disabled employee. In the 1940s IBM developed hiring and training programs for people with disabilities to replace workers inducted into the miliary for World War II. Accommodations were provided both to these employees and to returning disabled veterans, three decades before the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In 1975 IBM developed the Model 1403 Braille printer. Five years later it introduced a talking typewriter for people who were blind, and followed up one year later with a talking display terminal.
In 1986, at the dawn of the personal computer revolution, IBM founded the Special Needs Group to develop and market products specifically designed for people with disabilities, including the OS/2 screen reader and the Home Page Reader self-voicing web browser. In 2006, the name of the group was changed to the Human Ability and Accessibility Center (HAAC) to more accurately reflect the IBM vision of accessibility.
In the January 2008 issue of AccessWorld, Jay Leventhal and Paul Schroeder spoke with HAAC Director Frances West about IBM's ongoing initiatives to improve accessibility both within the company and for its corporate partners and customers. Recently, West's profile was raised significantly when she was named the Chief Accessibility Officer at IBM.
We asked West how her new title would change the HAAC mission. "It won't change the core mission, but accessibility has become more strategic," she says. "Before, when we would approach a company regarding issues of accessibility, our most common entry point was the human resources department, or sometimes the CIO, Chief Information Officer. With our elevated status and increased visibility, going forward, we can move accessibility from a small "a" to a capital "A," and it will be much easier to get a seat at the table with other department heads, even company CEOs and members of their boards. In other words, we can now reach more of the decision makers, along with the decision implementers."
According to West, "Accessibility is moving beyond the historical definitions of ADA compliance and creating tools to meet ADA regulations. These days, with the advanced technologies we have, we can better optimize information creation and delivery for people with disabilities, but also focus on personalizing these various tools and technologies to meet the unique needs of those individuals."
IBM is practicing what they preach. "When a new employee who requires accommodations joins the company, one of the first things he or she will do is log on to our Accessible Workplace Connection," West explains. "Using this web-based solution, the new hire can locate and order the accessibility tools and services required to meet his or her needs—everything from screen readers and braille displays, to sign language interpreters to attend meetings."
Often the first hurdle a disabled employee must jump is convincing the human resources department that he or she is capable of doing the job and what accommodations he or she will require. "At IBM we already know what is possible," states West, "and these resources are available to all of our employees in offices around the world. Not only does the company wind up with motivated, dedicated workers, we also show our partners and customers by example exactly what is possible and how."
According to West, meeting employee special needs is more than a responsibility, it's an opportunity. "As we listen to what our employees need and develop in-house solutions, this gives us a decided advantage in the marketplace."
One example of a product that began as an in-house accessibility solution but is now available commercially is the IBM Easy Web Browser platform. This server-side application enables government agencies and businesses to make their websites accessible to people with low vision without having to purchase and install additional assistive technologies themselves. Site visitors can download the plug-in components, which install automatically, then use a special control panel to adjust fonts, colors, contrast, and other screen elements, or use IBM text-to-speech to read the page aloud.
The Accessible Workplace Connection is another example. "We developed the platform for in-house use, but we will soon be making it available for other companies to deploy," says West.
Yet another product IBM expanded from in-house use to a commercial launch is their Media Captioner and Editor. "This software uses advanced speech recognition technology to analyze and translate spoken content to a text transcript, which can then be synced with the original video," explains West. The editor was created to help employees with hearing impairments access training videos. Imagine the enhanced accessibility of YouTube, Facebook, and other sites when more videos can be captioned without the need for human volunteers, too often a scarce resource.
According to West, IBM has hundreds of developers and other personnel working full-time on accessibility, but thousands of others pitch in. "With all of our next-generation products and services, we're committed to building accessibility in from the ground up," she states, and points proudly to IBM Connections, a social media-style office productivity suite.
Here is a description from the IBM Connections product website:
IBM Connections 3.0.1 is accessible and usable software that empowers all business professionals, including those with physical or sensory disabilities, to develop, nurture and remain in contact with a network of their colleagues; respond quickly to business opportunities by calling upon expertise in their network; and discuss and refine new creative ideas with communities of coworkers, partners and customers.
IBM Connections 3.0.1 meets the most current accessibility standards, and uses the most up-to-date methods for doing so. It was developed using the latest WCAG 2.0 3 WAI-ARIA specification 4 that addresses the accessibility of dynamic Web content for people with disabilities, mapping controls, Ajax live regions, and events to accessibility APIs, including custom controls used for Rich Internet Applications.
Recently, IBM entered into a partnership with Apple to provide value-added enterprise solutions for the iOS mobile ecosystem. "We are very excited about our new partnership with Apple," says West. "It brings together two leaders in accessibility who will work together to help enterprises keep pace with advancements in mobile and Cloud computing."
IBM Mobile First helps large companies design, create, deploy, and manage enterprise-level mobile apps and Cloud services. "We equip organizations with mobile accessibility guidance and checklists for mobile, web, and native iOS and Android application development, so that designers and developers can create accessible applications, test them, and certify compliance," says West.
According to West, this is a two-way street. "The more we learn about accommodating special needs with text-to-speech, voice dictation, tactile feedback, and other tools, the more intuitive and feature-rich these same apps also become for all users."
Asked about her long-term vision and goals, West recognizes that accessibility is not a fixed target. "The goalposts keep moving forward at breakneck speed, and it's our job to keep moving ahead just as swiftly. Part of that effort involves encouraging more developers and other information professionals to get involved in the accessibilty arena. Another part is working to spread the accessibility message. At IBM we work with governments and corporations in over 170 countries around the world, and with our innovative products and also by our hiring practices, I believe IBM is in a unique position to show how much is possible with a little motivation and the proper set of tools."
