Redefining Assistive Technology, Accessibility and Disability Based on Recent Technical Advances

Recent advances in information technology, networking and interface research have provided new tools which will allow us to completely redefine the concept of interface. Rather than just being able to use the interface that comes with a product, we can now predict interfaces that adapt themselves to the user, and the ability to use alternate interfaces and devices in lieu of the interface that ships with the product. Also, since accessibility is essentially a human interface issue, the entire area of disability access, including the definition of accessibility and of assistive technology, will need to be rethought as will the strategies that have been used in the past to create access. These concepts will not go away, but their character will change substantially as well as their potential. (C) 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.