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[Ed.: "EASI Access to Library Automation," a regular feature of Library Hi Tech News, examines new technology, information sources and services, and other news of interest to librarians concerned with providing quality services to their patrons with disabilities. EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information), in affiliation with the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE), is concerned with new and emerging technologies for computer users with disabilities. For the second portion of this month's column, I have invited Curtis Chong, technology director for the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), to write about the NFB's International Braille and Technology Center.]
Access World: A Consumer Reports for AT
David Johnson
Many people have regretted the lack of a Consumer Reports-type source for assistive technology (AT). There are some very good sources of AT product information, several of which have been profiled in this column (Deines-- Jones, 1997), but most of them list product features and/or provide advice on what type of product would be suitable for someone with a given disability. These are useful services, but it would also be great to have an objective source that would evaluate and compare particular models. When I searched in Abledata recently for page turners, for example, I found listings for 29 items; each listing had a product description supplied by the manufacturer, along with contact information. These product descriptions can help you to identify devices worth further investigation, but the descriptions may leave you slightly bewildered if only because there are so many products to choose from.
So why is there not a Consumer Reports for AT? A few years ago, Access to Living carried an article by the project director for Abledata focusing on this question (Halverson, 1997). (The publication of this article in Access to Living was ironic in a way, since Access to Living has itself been described as a Consumer Reports for people with disabilities. However, while Access to Living contains much product information, it does not do comparative product testing.) This author identified three reasons for the lack:
1) too small a market;
2) no good source of funding;
3) fear of liability suits.
Reason (2)...