to conduct
four webinars 
on each Tuesday in July from 12 to 1,
so the one that we held last Tuesday 
was on disability language and etiquette,
and the one before that 
was on the history of the ADA, 
so if you were not able to join us 
for those,
um, I highly recommend watching 
the recorded versions.
Um, they are very informative 
and very well received,
and you can find those on the ODC website.
I believe they're either up there now 
or they soon will be,
so if you missed those,
you can watch 'em from there.
And then next week
on the 28th 
we hope you'll be able to join us again 
for our last webinar, 
which is on effective communication 
and lessons learned from COVID-19.
So, before I go over 
a little bit of housekeeping
I just wanna say a few words about the ODC
for those of you who may not be familiar 
with the commission.
So, the Oregon Disabilities Commission 
is a governor appointed commission
housed at the Department of Human Services, 
and currently on the commission we have 
13 of the allotted 15 members,
um, comprised of people with disabilities 
and those who broadly represent 
major public and private agencies
who are experienced in serving the needs
of Oregonians with disabilities.
The main purpose of the commission 
is to listen to and advocate for 
our constituents
throughout Oregon in order, 
order to reach,
uh, achieve our mission 
of securing economic, 
social, legal, and political justice 
for individuals with disabilities 
through system change.
So we advocate for 
Oregonians with disabilities 
by educating and divi, advising DHS, 
the governor's office, 
and the state legislative assembly 
and other appropriate state, 
uh, administrators.
So as a commission we meet every other month 
and our meetings are open to the public, 
so if you're interested in learning 
more about ODC or attending any meetings, 
please visit, 
uh, the website 
and reach out to the OD, uh, ODC staff.
So now just some quick housekeeping. 
Carrier already touched on it 
a little bit, but 
we'll go over it a little bit more 
as well.
So, again, this webinar is being recorded
and it will be housed on the ODC website.
Um, there is CART available, 
so captioning is available 
and you have two options.
You can click on 
the, um, closed caption link you can see 
there at the bottom of your screen 
and you can follow along there 
with closed captions 
or there is a link provided 
in the chat box and you can click on that 
and that will open a separate window, 
uh, where you can follow along 
with chat that way.
Um, also we have 
ASL Interpreting available, 
which, um, I think maybe you guys can all see.
Um,
but if not, you can go to the window 
where you see a person who's captioning 
and you can click, um, 
on the three dots above and if you can 
pen them so you'll be able to watch them 
at all times during the presentations.
If you have any questions, 
please go ahead and type them 
into the chat box
and we'll answer the questions 
at the end of the presentation, 
so we'll also have time 
at the end of presentation 
for you to ask any questions, 
um, and at that time you can turn off 
your microphone and ask questions,
and before you leave today 
we ask that you please complete 
a poll survey, 
and it just pops up on your screen 
and you can interact, 
uh, with it with your cursor 
and there'll be three short poll questions
that we would really appreciate 
your feedback on. 
So, that's, um, end of the housekeeping, 
so again, I wanna thank you for joining us
and I'd like to now introduce 
Bri, Brian Sacre, 
who is with Access Technologies, 
uh, Inc. 
and he's gonna be sharing with us 
a presentation 
on assistive technology 
and universal design.  
So, thank you, Brian, for being here.
BRIAN SACRE: Thank you for having me.
- Yeah.
- All right, 
so I'm just gonna go ahead 
and start sharing my, 
my screen, 
and that button should,
should be sharing now.  
All right, 
so, as, as, 
as you've heard, 
uh, my name is Brian Sacre.
I'm a certified office 
ergonomic evaluator,
as well as an assistive technology 
specialist for Access Technologies, Inc.
Uh, 
ATI is, uh, a little nonprofit, 
uh, based out of Salem but we serve 
the state under two federal grants.
Uh, the first one 
being the Oregon Statewide Assistive 
Technology Program, 
uh, 
that allows us, uh, 
a library of about 2,000 physical items
and about 500 apps 
that I 
usually go all over the state 
giving demonstrations of,
uh, 
to individuals,
um, 
and we still do that to some degree,
as well as some remote demonstrations, 
and a lot of those devices,
most of those devices are actually 
available to borrow for longer term
uh, to see if, if the technology actually 
suits a person's needs.
Uh, the second, 
um, 
uh, grant that we hold is for the 
I Can Connect Program, 
also known as the National Deaf Blind 
Equipment Distribution Program.
Uh, it's a really cool thing that we do 
where if a person's vision loss 
and hearing loss
are,
uh, such that it is,
uh, it is really difficult 
to access mainstream
telecommunications equipment,
um, 
while the, the Federal Communications 
Commission provides, 
uh, the technology and the training, 
so, so that a person could use that.
Um, 
and so a couple of, a couple of times a 
month I actually get to be Santa Claus 
and deliver some really cool 
technology to people under that program.
Uh, but yeah, today, we're, 
we're celebrating the ADA
and, uh, so we'll, we'll start by talking 
a little bit about
the thing that I am 
sort of the expert in,
and that's assistive technology. 
Uh, when people ask me,
uh, what assistive technology is,
I usually don't give them 
the legal definition,
uh, which is 
assistive technology is any piece of 
equipment or item or software program 
or product system
that is used to increase, maintain, 
or improve the functional capabilities 
of persons with disabilities.
Instead, I usually just tell them 
I show gadgets and software
that helps people increase 
their independence.
And,
uh, that technology, 
uh, when, when you come by our office
it says Access Technologies really big, 
uh, on the sign, but then you look inside 
and it's a lot of durable medical 
equipment that you see 
and a lot of it seems pretty low tech. 
Um,
and, and there is a distinction, 
uh, between low tech and high tech, 
uh,
in that if you're
in need of some technology, it doesn’t 
always have to cost
a lot of money for a device.
Sometimes it's as simple as
a little flexibility with the schedule
or the ability to, 
uh, move your cubicle, 
uh, to a, a quieter 
or 
sometimes noisier environment, 
uh, depending on 
whether you 
need quiet or
you fall asleep in quiet situations.  
Uh,
it could also mean that you get to take 
your work home from the office.
This, this slide actually pre-dates,
uh, COVID a little bit, 
so 
there are quite a few of you,
uh, sitting at home right now watching
this, this presentation. 
The low tech stuff isn't usually all that 
interesting to a lot of people.
We don't get to write it 
in to reports and recommendations 
as often as we could.
Uh, but a lot of people when they, 
when they see us, they wanna see 
the high tech stuff, 
the tablets, the smartphones, 
the smart watches, 
uh, smart pens.
Uh,
I can actually see a Segway from my seat here. 
Um, 
and, and those are the,
those are the 
really expensive items 
and, and I, I'll 
kinda discuss why I don't really 
like them 
as we move along.
So,
for a visual, 
uh, 
an example, usually when we meet
I, I have tables 
and tables of, of devices and we 
pass 'em around like a Tupperware party.
- ****.
- But we can't do that today.
- ****.
- So, um, 
so I'll show you some, some images, 
uh, of some of the things that 
assistive technology can
potentially be for a person.
Uh,
first, there are mounting systems.
Uh, this particular laptop mounting system
that we see here,
uh, is designed to fit under the seat 
of a power chair user's, 
uh, seat, and
it, it bolts in, in a couple of spots.
Um, 
and it allows a person
to, to access their, their computer, 
their, their speech communication devices,
uh, the world, 
uh,
from, from their perspective.
Assistive technology could also be 
positioning devices,
uh, where we're not technically able 
to do that here, 
uh, but a lot of technology goes in to 
making sure 
that a person
who uses a, a chair, 
uh, is able to, 
uh,
do so long term without
a lot of the effects of, of, uh, 
the sedentary 
position that they're in,
and a lot of technology goes in to that 
and those chairs do get really expensive.
Assistive technology can also 
be magnification.
Uh,
if we're talking about analog 
magnification that requires no 
electricity to use,
uh, once, 
once you get beyond 
a six power magnification, 
the size of the lens becomes very small 
and 
a lot of folks that need that 
magnification at a higher power, 
uh, to, to read their books,
they, they'll need to go digital.
Uh, it's just not possible to read
War and Peace through a hole the size 
of a silver dollar, 
uh, not, not comfortably, 
not easily.
Uh, but the cool thing is, 
uh, a lot of these 
magnification devices with 
high contrast and they can zoom 
sometimes 50, 125 powers, 
uh, they can be replaced by 
mainstream technology,
and so a lot of times these days, 
uh, a lot of this specialized 
assistive technologies 
are actually moving in to 
electronic devices that are mainstream   
and a lot of people already have.
That's really cool. 
Assistive technology can be the 
wheelchairs themselves as well. 
Uh, 
what we see here 
is 
a pretty sporty
wheelchair.
We, we don't actually have this one, 
but I, I, I really like the design of it.
It, it's,
it, it
notably lacks a handle in the back, so, 
uh, no one can, can help you, 
uh, 
without 
actually asking if you wanna have 
your shoulders touched. 
Uh, we do
a fair business with, with walkers 
and rollators.
Again, that's what people see when they 
actually look in
Access Technologies front windows, 
uh, and that's because 
walkers and rollators and other 
mobility assistants 
falls under that,
that subheading of 
assistive technology. 
AT can also include braces,
like this, uh, skiers brace that 
we see here.
Uh, it's usually recommended that 
a person see their, 
uh, 
uh, orthopedic surgeon
to, to have a brace recommended for them, 
and usually it, it's, it's a specialized 
piece of equipment.
Uh, 
and, and we don't really do 
a lot of that here,
but it does fall under that heading of, 
of AT.
Uh,
which also could include things like 
power lifts that help
people get up the stairs in their homes.
This requires a contractor 
and,
uh, 
I, I'd like to put one together actually.
It seems like it would take a lot 
of power tools.
One of the coolest lines on my resume 
is that I'm a Dragon trainer.
Uh, Dragon
is one of the pieces of software 
that actually qualifies
as assistive technology. 
It helps a person
access a computer that they would 
probably otherwise not be able to touch 
or use as well.
It is expensive software 
and as such,
I, I do like the fact that
it's, it's
almost time for Dragon to, to kind of
ride off in to the sunset 
and all of the things that it does 
actually gets folded in to
the operating systems, your Windows, 
your Mac OS,
or your Chrome OS.
We're just about there
and that
makes me pretty happy, 
and the company that makes Dragon nuance, 
you don't have to worry about them.
They also make Siri, 
so they, they're, they're getting paid.
We have a lot of devices, 
uh, available, 
uh, for people who 
have difficulty with their hands, 
including adaptive writing utensils.
Uh, what we see here is actually called,
uh,
a Penagin.
Uh, we, we call it a wishbone pen.
It's designed to wrap around the, 
the knuckle on your index finger
and you don't have to apply 
very much pressure,
if any at all, to write, 
and that will really save a lot of pain
if a person has 
something like osteoarthritis.
AT can also be something that helps 
a person communicate, 
so this thing that we see on the screen 
right now is, uh, a Surface tablet 
that's connected to an Eyegaze system, 
and
while it's made some strides, 
Eyegaze is somewhat fatiguing 
for a lot of individuals, 
um,
and still quite expensive, 
but as more and more gamers are actually 
being marketed to for using Eyegaze 
to control,
uh, their games,
uh, we're gonna see more of these devices 
made and the cost will 
hopefully come down to reflect that.  
We also got a pretty big, 
uh, 
courtship going on right now
with the, the Telehealth 
device manufacturers,
as we know 
a lot of our people are 
kind of 
trapped in their homes 
and in their facilities,
and they, they can't go see the doctor,
but we can bring the devices to the people
and a lot of them are somewhat 
straightforward to use, 
and so
a person can have their, 
their measurements taken 
while they are, 
uh, at home in their, 
in safety and comfort, 
and the doctor can get the information 
that they need to make the 
right recommendations. 
Uh,
I was really hoping to have one today, 
but,
uh, one of, one of the people that came 
to show us their device, 
we found it inaccessible,
so,
they, they went back to, uh, design school
and uh,
I, I hope to see Version 2 in a, 
in a thing that we can show 
and be proud of.  
And assistive technology can also 
be a lot of those mainstream devices.
Again, like, uh, Alexa,
the Amazon Echo, 
uh, devices,
a couple hundred dollars, 
and the smart plugs are, uh, 
a couple dozen dollars each these days, 
and they could replace a system 
that used to cost 
10, 12, sometimes $15,000.00 
to price out and install in to a person's home.
Uh, it's really convenient for some us 
that don't
really want to reach for a light switch, 
uh, 
but it's essential for somebody 
who wants to be
independent in their home
and they,
they, they simply can't reach 
that light switch.
One of the bigger things, uh, that, 
that falls under assistive technology
is, is screen reader software, 
and, uh,
it's always kind of a, uh, an, 
an interesting topic, this, this 
screen reader software. 
On the one hand it's absolutely necessary,
uh, but on the other hand it,
it sometimes costs money.
Um,
the most common paid for piece 
of screen reader software
is called Job Access with Speech
or JAWS for short,
and they moved to a software as a service, 
uh, system,
uh, which means, 
uh, you're, you're never done 
paying for it, 
and it used to cost 
a whole lot of money, 
just one lump sum for
a version of the software, 
and they've since switched it over 
to where you, you pay them $90.00 a year,
and that, 
that's an added expense, 
uh, for, for a thing that a person 
has no control over.
Like you, you need the software. 
You have to pay for it.
Uh, 
but you have to pay extra,
more than other people do and, and that's just not really fair. 
Um,
and the same is true for other 
manufacturers, so Dolphin does 
the same thing. 
Uh, 
uh, a little bit different.
I, I always say it's, it's like 
driving a Ford versus driving a Chevy.
They, they, they do a very similar thing.
Uh, it's just that the controls are 
a little bit different and the voices 
are a little different 
and they're both really expensive. 
Uh,
and there are some alternatives, so, uh,
there's non-visual desktop access, 
for example, 
that's considered a freeware 
or donor ware, so if you have money, 
you can send it to them 
and that kinda keeps the lights on there, 
but
it does,
it does pretty much the same job as JAWS.
Uh, your experience might vary,
uh,
and it, and it's, it's free. 
Uh,
but also free, 
uh, and getting better all the time
is what's built in to the computers 
these days. 
So I set up a lot of new Windows 10 
machines, for example,
and the first thing I hear is Cortana,
and
that is so people with low vision 
and literacy difficulties can
actually set up their computer
more independently,
and Apple does the same thing with voice over, 
so,
it's getting better, 
but it, it used to cost a lot extra 
to, to have your accommodations.
One accommodation that's 
probably note going to go away
are braille displays.
And what we see in the image, uh, 
are four different
types of braille displays. 
Uh, in the top right corner there's 
one called the Smart Beetle
and it's a pretty good example of, of what a braille display does.
Uh, it has 14 
cells that a person who reads braille,
uh, can access
and, and they can take notes
and read their emails
and text messages, 
and it, it fits in a pocket, so it travels.
And in the lower left hand corner 
there's, uh, the Focus 40,
uh, made ironically, by the same people 
that make JAWS 
and, uh, 
they also make an 80 cell focus,
uh, for computer users.
It's a lot of fun to clean 
one of those things.
It involves a lot of rubbing alcohol,
a paintbrush, sometimes Q-tips.
Um, 
but these guys are,
they're always going to be
around,
uh, because
there, there, there's an ever in shrinking 
population of, of people that need
to be able to access the world, 
uh, through their braille display.
They cost about as much as a car though.
Uh, 
and that's why
I really like,
uh, our I Can Connect Program because
the people that really need the braille 
displays the most 
that can't use 
screen reader software 
by itself because maybe they can't hear it
so well,
uh, but they can read braille.
Uh, 
they have access to the world through this
and if they qualify, 
they don't have to pay extra.
There are other softwares for literacy, 
um,
that are out there.
Uh, there, there's some that are designed 
specifically for people who have dyslexia.
There, there are some that are, 
are just really convenient for dictation.
There are some that, that 
just kinda help, 
uh, 
find the right word 
when you're, when you're trying 
to put together,
uh, your, your work.
And again, 
almost all of these things cost extra, 
except the web extensions
and almost all of these things are 
being addressed now by 
the accessibility departments 
in the major computer,
uh, and tech industries,
and that,
that's actually
a good thing.
So, 
when a company 
like Microsoft decides
that they want to do away with, 
uh, screen readers as a business
that costs extra,
they incorporate it in to 
their operating system
and it goes from being 
assistive technology 
to a universal design 
and there, there's a quote there from me 
that said if they all do this, 
I would be unemployed. 
Uh, 
a lot of the assistive technology 
I talk about,
uh, is necessary because
a lot of the designs that we have
in our day-to-day lives just didn't 
include everyone from the start.  
And so the difference, 
uh, is that 
universal design is considered a process 
that enables and empowers 
a diverse population
by improving human performance and 
health and wellness, 
as well as social participation.
What we see in the image here
is actually, 
I believe it's the 
all inclusive restrooms at 
a courthouse in Portland.
Um, 
and it doesn't,
it doesn't distinguish by gender.
It doesn't 
make it difficult for a person 
using a wheelchair 
to reach the sink 
or, or the, the restroom itself.
There, there's even a changing table,
um, 
and, and that's, 
that's the, the, the modern attempt 
at a universal design.
So universal design is
different from assistive technology in that
when I suggest a piece of AT,
it's usually bolted on to 
an existing design.
It, it, 
it's software you install 
on to the computer.
It's, it's a thing that you
carry with you,
an extra thing 
that costs extra money, 
and it usually has 
a lot of extra cost and, with, with, 
uh, redesign and, and materials,
and a lot of AT is serviced by
a specialist, and whenever you see 
the word specialist, you see
dollar signs.
Uh,
whereas universal design,
uh, 
it's baked in to the process, 
uh, so there isn't any extra 
cost involved, 
and it's, it's able to be serviced by 
a mainstream technician.
Um, 
what, what assistive technology 
and universal 
design have in common are that they do 
have the same goals, 
and so it says the goals of 
universal design but also of
assistive technology. 
[clears throat]
Uh, the, these goals include, 
um, making sure that people 
of all shapes and sizes,
uh,
are able to access 
the things that they need to access, 
uh, 
without putting in any extra effort
or 
having to 
have a,
a pre-understanding of how to operate,
uh, a device
before actually accessing the device. 
Uh,
another, 
another set of goals is that, 
uh, they, they do promote 
wellness and health and they, 
they avoid injuries,
uh, 
so in the 90s, for example, a lot of us 
had keyboards with feet on the back
and, 
and the keyboard itself would be
positioned at an angle that would cause 
us to bend 
our wrists backward while we typed, 
and a lot of doctors 
had a lot of business in carpal tunnel 
surgeries because of this, 
so 
they have changed the design of keyboards 
quite a lot to make sure that they are 
at least flat, if not a little bit of 
a negative tilt 
to keep your hands in what we call 
a neutral posture. 
Uh, 
universal design also incorporates 
personalization, 
so, 
uh, 
it, it, 
it allows a person to, to put their,
their personality out there and give, 
give themselves an expression, 
uh, and, and it, it provides choices, so
you, you don't get just one style of shoe.
If, if you have a need for 
a, a special shoe, you have 
the whole range
of shoes available 
and 
they can 3D print them
in such a way that 
it fits you
as a person.
And, 
uh, 
the, the final goal is to make sure that, 
you know, your cultural values, your, 
your social 
and environmental values are also 
respected 
and taken in to account. 
And those are taken in to account by, 
uh, adhering to the principles, 
and famously there are seven 
principles of universal design.
These are called guidelines. 
They are not
laws.  
Uh,
and the, the image illustrates, 
uh, the reason why they're guidelines 
and not laws,
in that, uh, the, the, the picture says 
meeting requirements doesn't always 
ensure accessibility, 
and there's an image 
I, I can almost imagine the process 
that went into it,
uh, 
but there's a, a curb cut on a corner
and there are tactile,
uh, pavements for,
for, uh, low vision, uh, commuters, 
uh, but 
about 3 feet away from all that 
the, the sidewalk ends, 
uh, right in the middle of a light post,
and so it's ADA compliant
to the letter, 
but not necessarily to the spirit, 
and when you're thinking universal design,
you, you wanna think
beyond
what's the minimum.
So the first one –
CARRIE: Hey Brian.
Sorry, this is Carrie.  
I am just gonna let you know that 
we're at 12:30 and, uh, just giving you 
a little time check, okay?
- Oh, sure, thanks.
- Thanks.
- So the first principle is equitable use.
Um, that
implies that 
everyone has the same kind of 
experience using 
this, 
this particular, 
uh, idea that a person has 
in their design, so,
uh, what we see in the image is, uh,
that the stairs of, 
uh, 
that, that lead down to the Chicago River
in, uh, downtown Chicago 
and it has incorporated,
uh, 
a somewhat accessible ramp, 
as well as a couple other features that,
that make it aesthetically, 
uh, pleasing, 
uh, to the, 
to the subjective eye, 
but at the same time, 
uh, it makes sure that everyone 
kinda gets down to the river
at about the same time in the same way. 
Another principle
is flexibility in use,
uh, and, and originally I was going to 
incorporate an image of, 
of my desk,
uh, which is electric height adjustable
and it goes down to about 2 feet off the 
floor and it goes up to about 5 feet up
and has a swing away keyboard tray 
and all that, but I, I really, 
uh,
was impressed by 
the gaming industry's  
embracing of 
universal design 
and so I've included this, 
this really dark graphic
of, 
uh,
the, the button mapping scheme for a game 
called the Last of Us Part 2,
which has 
what they 
claim, uh, 
probably accurately so, 
to be, 
uh, to most accessible video game ever. 
Uh, that you, you have pages and pages 
and pages of options,
um, that allow you to access the game 
and, 
and more and more people are allowed 
to play
and don't feel left out because of this design. 
The third principle 
is making something simple 
and intuitive to use,
and so what we see in the image 
is an Amazon Alexa remote 
and 
compared to 
the remote that my grandma bought in 2004 
that said it was a universal remote, 
this one doesn't require any masking tape 
to cover all of the extra buttons
that
make the TV 
and, and back then the VCR harder to use.
This, this device
that we see on the screen here, 
uh, the only English, 
uh, or any 
written language on it at all 
is actually the logo for the company that 
makes it.
Uh, 
it's tactile. 
There are only eight buttons, 
uh, 12 if you count the directions.
The fourth principle is to make your 
information perceptible.
Uh, so it shouldn't,
it shouldn't require 
a lot of extra steps 
to learn how to do something, 
and
whenever possible we try to think of 
legibility, so what we see in the image
is actually a tactile map of the 
Wolverhampton Art, Art Gallery 
and all of the black lines that we would 
see on there actually raised up off of 
the map so a person could feel
the map and kind of know 
both where they are and where they want 
to go
and what direction they would take 
to do so.
The fifth principle involves tolerance 
for error.
That means you can be wrong,
but you can still be right, 
and
taking away features 
that lead to failure. 
So, what we see in the image is called a,
a USB to USBC cable, 
uh, and just the business ends of them, 
and the USB side of things, again, they said universal serial bus is what USB stands for. 
Uh, most of us have had to try 
to plug in the device
three times before we're successful, 
uh, 
and then when they got to USBC, 
which is the smaller end of the, 
of the, 
of the plugs, 
they made it so that you can be 
upside down
and it still works, 
and that, 
that's universal design.  
Principle 6 involves
a low physical effort. 
So, 
this allows a person, again, 
to maintain that neutral body position.
They don't have to reach for anything.
They don't have to stretch 
and, and hold the position 
that makes them uncomfortable, 
and, uh, for this visual example here 
I've actually included
the Apple 2E computer, 
uh, that, this is actually 
the first computer that I ever touched, 
not, not the one on the screen 
but it's a representation of them, 
and, uh, anyone that sat in front 
of the thing, uh, as an 8-year-old kid,
uh, 
would never know 
to reach behind the box 
to find the dip switch to turn 
the power on for the computer.  
It, it's, 
it, it's a bit of a stretch and most 
of the monitors in the library where 
I played with computers as a kid, 
they all had kind of a forehead mark on the monitor 
from reaching 
behind the thing to turn it on.  
Uh, these days, 
uh, we do look at this for, 
for laptop computers especially, 
uh, 
where the power button is located
is very important for people who have mobility difficulties.  
It's still a thing that we address, 
uh, 
but it has come a long way.
The seventh principle is to use the size 
and space for approach and use, 
which is to say 
make room for everyone.
Uh,
and what we see in the image is a,
uh, a playground,
uh, that is accessible,
and what that means
is that the merry go round
is level with 
the ground
and a person using a wheelchair
up to three
can actually 
access the, the merry go round 
without any, any special help 
from anyone else.
They can just get on the thing 
and go.
There's a swing
that's accessible
and there's a jungle gym
that's also in many ways accessible.
Um,
I don't know where this is.
It's probably not here in Salem,
but we have had conversations 
with local municipalities about
how to make playgrounds,
uh,
more inclusive for everyone.
So,
if we wanted a single universal design for everyone,
it just doesn't exist.
All we can do is keep approaching 
and including more people in, in, -
and there's, there's a process where 
a lot of times in design we say
it's good, 
it's fine, 
and we never listen to anyone 
say it's not good 
and it's not fine for me,
I can't get there, 
I can't use it.
And if we don't listen to those people, 
then we continue to think
it's good and it's fine, 
so all we can do is 
keep listening to people who say
that this is why
we can't access this thing, 
and we can just keep
trying our best to incorporate everyone.
And this the third section.
Uh,
it was actually going to be a lot more,
uh, detailed in to how you, 
uh, the, the, the watchers, the listeners, 
the audience, 
uh, could, could be more, 
uh, of an active participant 
in universal design, 
uh, because most of you,
uh, 
are creators, you're designers.
You work under what we call 
the ICT umbrella, 
uh, information and 
communications technology, 
also known as IT, 
uh, 
and those communications, 
uh, 
they're federally recognized, 
uh, 
as the web,
uh, mobile device apps,
installed software, 
including Microsoft Office
and operating systems like Windows, 
uh, could be non-web software and files.
Those are your PDFs that you look at in Adobe, 
and all agency official communications, 
uh, fall under the ICT umbrella.  
So while 
we talked a lot about the ADA,
there's also Section 508, 
and 
these
concepts
fall under 
the rules of accessibility.
If you work for a large government agency
and you save your PDFs, 
uh, as 
printouts, 
it's an easy button to click on
if you're working in Microsoft Word,
but a person using those screen readers 
that we talked about earlier 
will have no access.
Uh,
if it's a 30-page document 
that was printed,
uh, from
Microsoft Word with all the 
accessibility features, 
uh,
all the person is going to hear if they 
use a screen reader is 30 times
the word image.
Uh, and there are ways to fix that.
So these are the things that make 
a document accessible.
Uh, the first 
is using the heading structure 
by the use of styles.
Uh, if, if you have a word processor, 
uh,
nearby or 
on a different screen
or just afterwards, 
uh, and you take a look,
uh, in, in what they call the ribbon, 
the area 
above the, 
the paper, 
but below
the very top of the screen, 
a lot of that real estate 
is taken up by styles 
and a lot of people don't use those styles
because they don't know why.  
So if they wanna make a heading 
on a report 
they usually just make the font 
a little bit bigger and, and bold.
Um, but if they use the heading structure, 
person who uses a screen reader 
can actually read the document 
the same way 
anyone else would, which is to say they 
can skip the parts that aren't 
of any use to them, 
uh, but if you have a long document 
and it's inaccessible 
and there are no heading styles, 
they have to basically listen 
to the whole document 
analog style from start 
to finish until they get to the point 
where they need to.
Uh,
it's a severe inconvenience 
and it usually comes back, 
uh, by HR in the form of an inefficiency 
that they sometimes blamed on the person 
using the screen reader software.
Uh,
which is just, 
just a violation in so many ways.
Uh, the use of list structures
is also somewhat important.
A lot of times though, uh, when we make, 
uh, a bulleted list or a numbered list,
uh, the, 
the software, the word processor 
automatically makes that adjustment 
for us,
unless you're like me when I was younger 
and I, I used hyphens for bullets points, 
and a person using a screen reader, again, 
isn't able to jump around those bullets 
points as easily.
It just says hyphen 
instead of bullet point.
Uh,
the use of alternative text 
is also important.
Anytime,
uh, you have something on the screen 
that is visual, 
uh, 
an illustration, 
a logo, 
maybe not always a logo, 
uh, 
a photograph, 
a graph, 
a pie chart, 
uh, you, you need to include, 
uh, with that a tag, 
uh, that allows a person 
using a screen reader to understand 
the importance of that image, 
uh, a brief description of what it is 
and, 
and maybe why it's important.  
And –
- Hey, Brian, sorry to interrupt again.  
This is Carrie.  
I'm just lettin' you know we're at our 
15-minute mark.  
There's a few questions coming up 
so let me know when you're ready 
to start questions and –
- Uh, I, I think about five more on this 
and then we're ready for questions.
- Perfect, thank you.
- Yep.  
Uh, with data tables 
we wanna be as basic as 
basic as, basic as we possible can 
with data tables.
Uh,
not
using multiple headings, 
not merging cells, no blank cells 
in the middle of the document.
Again, it's, 
it's for the screen reader, 
uh, 
to be able to navigate that table and get 
the same information from it, 
than anyone else would by looking at it. 
Uh, if you incorporate links into your, 
into your messages and your emails,
uh, make sure that they're appropriate 
in that
if it's
a very long email, 
uh, or a very long web link, 
uh,
you, you insert properly as a, 
as a hyperlink 
if, if it's not on a paper document, 
and you make sure it doesn't just say 
click here,
but instead you give a good descriptor 
of what that link will take the person to.
They, 
they don't 
necessarily wanna just have to 
blindly trust you.  
We also wanna be mindful of the use of 
color and color contrast.
Um,
there, there are a lot of people
that are,
that are, uh, colorblind
and, 
and using graphs that are just, 
just, 
you know, this, 
this red represents this thing 
and green represents this other thing,
and to, to a, 
to a person who is colorblind
it's just, 
it's just the same thing, so 
we find alternative ways, different patterns
or different shapes, 
uh, to, to distinguish between the things 
that we need to distinguish.
If you're making a document 
under file, 
uh, it, there is spot that says title 
and if you put the title in the document, 
uh, 
right there, then a person using 
the screen reader, again, 
has better access to the documents. 
Also, we advise the use of plain language.
Uh,
I think it was Twain
who said, 
you know, 
never use a big word when 
a more diminutive one will suffice, 
uh, again, this if for people who, 
you know, they, 
they might not have the educational 
background that we do.
They might not have, 
uh, the intellectual capacities 
that we do,
so, 
uh, whenever possible
have somebody kind of edit your document and say 
that might have been too big a word there.
Uh, we're gonna jump over layout tables 
and columns 
and I'll point out multimedia. 
If you're 
presenting multimedia, 
it always helps 
to have someone doing an audio description
as well as, 
uh, providing transcripts.
Uh,
[laughs]
Siri is going off in the background.
We're gonna jump over that,
and so web users, uh, they, they’ve, 
uh,
there, there's, there's something 
called the W33,
uh, 3C, the worldwide web consortium.
Uh, they actually keep the standards for using the web,
uh, and 
when they asked people, the top 
five things that people said were 
difficult for them were color contrasts,
uh,
the inability to just use their keyboard 
or, or be able to find 
the visual focus indicators.
Now, what that means is that, 
uh, when you press tab around,
uh, your screen, you should have a border 
around the thing that is selected 
that, uh, makes sure that you're – it, 
it's not just bolder, it's not, 
it's not a different color, 
but it actually has a, 
a real border around 
just the thing that's being selected. 
Uh,
Problem No. 3 is missing 
or poor alternative text, 
um, 
or text links that are meaningless, 
or, uh, 
No. 5 when, when, when people 
who are lower vision increase the font,
uh, suddenly all the text looks bad.
Uh,
and when we say 
these things need to be fixed, 
we mean 
don't fix them on a separate page and then
make a link for it in accessible version.
Uh, we, we've established, 
uh, well,
probably about 60 years ago that separate 
but equal is not how we do things.
Also, people who use mobility, uh, 
or people who use mobile phones, 
smartphones, 
um, 
they have accessibility difficulties 
as well 
in that sometimes pinch to zoom 
doesn't work so well, so
a lot of times in your mapping software 
instead of pinch to zoom 
or in addition to, 
you'll see a plus and minus 
to zoom in and zoom out 
and that helps. 
Um,
there
are sometimes announcements 
that are unspoken.
I help a lot of people 
and that's, that's one of the things 
that they say is like
sometimes my phone talks to me 
and I have no idea what it's saying 
or why. 
Uh,
inaccessible menus,
fonts that are bad,
or, 
or any kind of content access 
that requires the use of both hands,
uh, is, is all, 
again ill advised.
So, how do you check accessibility, 
well, you just ask.
Uh, there are trusted testers 
out there in the world.
Um,
and
if your employer did things right, 
about 7 to 10 percent, if not even more 
of your staff will have a disability,
and if they're open about it
and, and willing to talk with candor, 
set up a hotline or a website
and, and they'll tell you
what they find difficult and 
what needs to be fixed.
Uh, if you want, 
you can wear a blindfold and engage 
with your technology.
Uh,
you can always grab a screen reader and 
try to turn it on and use it.
Uh, it's, 
it's difficult for a sighted person, 
uh, but not impossible.
Uh, you can unplug your mouse 
and see how far you can get 
just by using your keyboard 
or you can switch that around and you can 
unplug your keyboard and see 
how much you can do with just your mouse.  
Um, 
and there are extensions and add-ons that 
you can use to check accessibility, 
use them wisely, and take them with 
a, a healthy grain of salt.
Um, 
when you're in webinars and intraoffice chat, 
try to be careful with your choice of font
and font color in your messenger apps.
This actually came from 
the Department of Defense.
Uh, it's 
sometimes hard to read 
magenta text,
uh, in cursive.
Uh, whenever possible we put the spotlight
on the speaker.  I'm pretty sure I'm on 
your screen somewhere.
Include a transcript 
for all of your recordings
and
I take this moment to say thank you 
to my transcriber today.
I use CART.
Uh,
thank you captioner,
and the sign language interpreters 
I thank you too.
Um, 
they are essential, 
uh, to any public meeting.
It's, it's not, uh,
available on request kind of thing.
They really should be 
just available.
We, we always try to make it so that 
people don't have to take extra steps 
just to get 
the same level playing field
And so with that,
uh, that ends the presentation 
side of things and I understand 
there are some questions.
CARRIE: Yes, hi, thank you so much. 
This is Carrie.  
Thank you, Brian.
- Hi Carrie.
- Um, one of the first questions was 
how have hands free 
hubs and environmental controls evolved?
- Well, uh, 
one of the first ones that I, 
uh, 
personally had to deal with,
uh,
was, it, it's a $10,000.00 unit.
They call it an Excommer or, 
or something like that and it, 
it operates based on a, a,
a switch system so you have to actually 
physically plug in a switch
or sip puff system where you breath in 
or breath out into a thing. 
Um,
and again, super expensive, 
super slow.  
The rate at which you can 
turn on a light involves, 
you know, you have to blow into the thing until the light 
beams down to where, 
uh, 
where the switch is that you 
want to activate, 
then you activate it and it makes 
a very loud audible kachunk sound,
uh, 
when, when the light 
does eventually come on.
Whereas these days, uh, with Wi-Fi and, 
uh, 
a, a device,
and you, you can actually, if, 
if you're worried about, 
you know, 
a large corporation like Google or Amazon 
listening in, you, you can actually use 
a Raspberry Pi. 
Uh, they cost,
uh, 50 to $100.00 to set this thing up.
But you can actually
Uh, you can, um, 
you can program a Raspberry Pi to do 
these, these voice commands for you.
Uh,
it, it wouldn't be able to access it 
with a switch 
but if a person needed to use a switch, 
uh, because their voice fades out on them 
from time to time, 
uh, 
the Iph, uh, the iPods, I, iPads, uh, 
they're very switch accessible these days 
and there are ways,
uh, that, that don't cost 
much extra 
to get, 
um,
a completely accessible home 
using just your voice or a switch 
and some mainstream technology.
- Great, thanks so much for that.  
Um, another question was
is there recommended software 
for people with dyslexia?
- Um, 
well, 
almost all of it.  Uh, 
so universities 
and high schools and, and other, 
uh, educational institutions, 
their accommodations department usually 
has one piece of software, 
uh, and it's usually, uh, it's, it's either 
Read and Write Gold or, um,
Kurzweil 3000.
Those are both, 
uh, there.  
Um, I have been, uh,
in conversations before with the guy 
who made something called Got It.  
He's, um, 
he's very proudly 
a person with dyslexia 
and he, um, 
he designed the software to work exactly, 
uh, the way his brain works.
Um,
and Dragon also works well with dyslexia.
If you get the professional version, 
you can actually have 
most of the text that's on your screen 
read back to you and it even records 
your own voice,
so if you're not sure 
if you made a mistake 
or if Dragon has to learn something new, 
uh, 
you can actually make 
those corrections fairly,
uh, in a straightforward way.
- Thank you, Brian. 
Um, the next question
is, 
um, 
with adaptive technology 
that involves language, 
do they take in to account 
English as second language users also?
- A lot of times yes, 
they do, especially, uh, 
the ones that are 
built in as apps on an iPad, 
uh, so, 
um, 
I happened to be in an assessment once in,
in a small town 
and I, I pulled out an app called 
Proloquo2Go, 
uh, 
and, and was showing it 
to a, an individual 
and his personal support worker 
happened to be there and he's a veteran, 
and he said that's the same app 
that we used, 
uh, to communicate with, uh,
wi, with, uh, people that 
didn't speak English in Afghanistan.  
Uh, so it does take some language 
in to account.
It's just that a, a lot of it is,
is mostly icon based 
and you do kind of have to 
with certain concepts understand 
the culture 
just enough to know what, what the stick figure is doing.
- Excellent information, thank you. 
Um, 
another question was have you ever 
used Dragon, 
um, 
speak for state software programs?
- Um, 
yeah, yeah, 
I, I believe there might be a, 
a person or three at 500 Summer Street 
in Salem
that actually uses Dragon on the regular.  
Um, 
quite a lot of it does work.
Um, I know that,
uh, my, my 
colleague, Alisha, 
uh, has, has 
gone quite a ways, uh, with discussing 
the, with the developers of ORCA, 
uh, to make their, 
um, 
system a whole lot more accessible, 
not just for Dragon but for screen reader 
users and everyone else.  
Um,
it's possible 
to use Dragon and sometimes there, 
it just requires a few extra steps, 
uh, 
which again, you shouldn't have to but
there it is.
- Thanks, Brian.  
Uh, we have 
one more question about, um, ways that 
Access Technologies 
could help with migraines.
- Um, 
well, 
if someone came to me with migraines, 
uh, I would 
probably recommend a few different
apps for the phone.  
A lot of them don't cost anything extra.  
They're put out by,
uh, the VA hospitals, 
uh, for, for a variety of other reasons, 
but you can always keep track of 
the things that trigger 
those migraines 
and, 
uh, 
and, and the things that might have come 
around that help those migraines go away.  
I, I get them myself.
- I’m sorry to interrupt.  
It was about, uh, visual migraines.  
I'm sorry I wasn't ****.
- Oh, visual migraine, oh, okay.  
Um, 
yeah, I think to understand a little bit 
further as to wh, what those would do 
to a person, 
uh, as far as, 
uh, 
does, does it basically make them need 
a screen reader to read out loud for them,
um, 
and, and that's built into 
your smartphones these days.
- So I'm just gonna suggest 
that, um, our, our 
attendee, Deborah, who's asking 
the question could use your –
- Mm hmm.
- um, contact information that's 
on the screen, uh, to, 
- Yep.
- to get more information about that,
and –
- Yeah.
- um, Amy Dease, did you have, um, 
a question that you wanted to ask? 
You can unmute your mic.
Okay, 
I'm not sure that 
she's still there.  
So it looks like that'sall the questions 
that we have right now.
- Great.
- Um, 
thank you so much guys.
If you can stay on for just a moment.
We're gonna put the poll up
and 
you could please take a few minutes 
to answer these questions, 
um,
really appreciate your feedback, 
and thank you again for attending.
We had up to 221 people 
here with us today.
- Wow.
ANGELA: Hi everyone, this is Angela, 
and for No. 1, um, 
it looks like we have it, 
um, 
the topic is for the topic 
that we had today, so that's, um, 
assistive technologies, 
and so if you could just
when you're re, wording – 
I'm sorry, 
when you're reading that 
just keep that in mind 
and not the COVID-19 response.
- Sorry about that.
- Um, 
that's okay, Carrie.  
We have all these polls for our webinars.  
They're getting crisscrossed.  
Um, 
so No. 1 just says this webinar 
increased my knowledge 
about effective communication 
and assistive technology.  
Do that,
and then the second one is please 
indicate your level of agreement 
with the following. 
I am satisfied with this webinar 
and for both of those, the choices are 
strongly agree, agree, disagree, 
or strongly disagree.
And for the third question and 
the last one we just wanna get a 
sense of who's all joining us 
and so you can mark more than one.
Um, 
person with a disability or family member, 
personal assistant, 
maybe you represent a disability agency, 
state employee, county employee, 
post-secondary student or teacher, 
or other,
and we appreciate, 
um,
you participating in the poll and I wanna 
thank again everyone for joining.  
Uh, Carrie, thank you so much for your, 
uh, hosting. 
I really appreciate that.
And we'll hopefully see everyone 
next week.
- Thank you.
- Gonna give a few more seconds here 
with the polling. 
We got 97 percent. 
100 percent.
- Yeah.
- All right, I'm gonna end.
- Okay, Carrie,
just keep it up 1 second.
- Yep.
Okay, 
just a second here.
Can you see it?
- Yep.
- Okay.
- Yeah, 'cause I'm a host, 
so I think I go through –
okay, I got it.  Thank you, Carrie.
- That’s the first one, 
okay.  I'm gonna – 
and the second one.
Oh, let me get that one again.
Okay.
And here we are No. 3.
Whoa, there's a lot.
[laughing]
And again this is being recorded 
so we can always come back 
and check on this.
Thank you all for participating. 
There's 58 people left.
Appreciate your patience so much 
and thank you to our interpreters 
and CART provider.
- Thanks Carrie.  
I'm gonna head off to another meeting.
- All right.  
Everybody have a great day.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, bye bye.
