The proliferation of cheap, powerful, easy-to-use computing technology has wrought such substantive changes in society that some observers compare our era with that of the Industrial Revolution. Only a few years ago, the computer 'edge,' was enjoyed only by a small, mathematically-inclined elite. Now it is the standard.

But try to imagine the frustration of writing a term paper when the very act of typing is agonizing to the point of distraction. Imagine writing a financial spreadsheet whose credits and debits appear blurry and indistinct on the monitor, so that you can't tell whether it balances or not. Imagine struggling with any Microsoft Windows application when you can't manipulate a mouse adequately.

Clearly, one group has not enjoyed full participation and access to the information technology revolution: the disabled.

But that's quickly changing at UB, thanks to the combined expertise of three administrative departments. The cooperative contribution of three unique problem-solving approaches, informed by three fields of expertise, has created a prototype site at 30 Capen Hall which extends the capabilities of UB's distributed accessible computing sites.

Intended to be a user site rather than a training location, 30 Capen houses a special Braille printer which converts documents written on standard word processing programs to Braille. A Tele-Sensory V-Tek visualizer, which resembles a microfiche reader but operates with a camera rather than a projection lens, allows users to study enlarged on-screen images of documents or three-dimensional objects. A special optical scanner allows users to scan text, which may then be enlarged or read back to them.

The Office of Disability Services (ODS) initiated the project early last summer. ODS Director James Gruber explains that his office's mission is guided by landmark anti-discrimination legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991.

ODS advocates for the disabled, implements anti-discrimination initiatives, and enforces compliance with New York State anti-discrimination statutes. Because New York's statutes are more stringent than their federal counterparts, they take precedence and govern UB's policies.

ODS's role in the adaptive computing site project was all but inevitable. As the campus community has become increasingly reliant upon computing technology, disabled members of the university community could reasonably expect full and equal participation.

Once grant funding had been secured, the project was set to go.

Katie Beaver, representing the Center for Assistive Technology (CAT), contributed technical expertise in the areas of evaluations and recommendations. Although each person with a disability has different requirements, the team has tried to implement equipment with a variety of different accommodations to meet a majority of users' needs.

CAT is an affiliate of UB's Occupational Therapy department, and works closely with the community agencies Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) and the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped (CBVH). Its mission is to help students from UB and the community at large to achieve their educational goals, and thereafter to achieve their post-graduate career goals. CAT serves the entire Western New York region.

For the adaptive technologies initiative, Beaver helped match the technology to the task, and recommended the appropriate computer systems, technology, and training. Beaver's component of the initiative has been supplemented by the involvement of the SA-sponsored disabled student union, the Independents. Once the system was configured, the Independents have provided ongoing peer training, and help to monitor the system to ensure that it is functioning optimally.

Once the technology was selected, Jay Leavitt and Kelli Scott of CIT began the technical implementation of ordering, installing, configuring, and maintaining both software and hardware. Leavitt, who has actively worked to implement technical services for disabled users since 1988, but has been a proponent of disabled users' rights for much longer, is sensitive not only to disabled users' technical requirements, but also to their emotional and educational needs.

"We decided to depart from what other schools had done. Generally, they'd set up labs devoted to computer access for students with disabilities, which meant that they were isolated. I wanted these in the same locations as everybody else, so that they could get the same level of support as everybody else. We have consultants at all the sites. We also have some 24-hour sites. If we had set up a lab just devoted to them, it would have more limited hours."

Leavitt is especially proud of the involvement of the Independents for providing peer training. "The advantage of this cannot be understated. There was a survey many years ago by Harris, and they took kids of student age who were known to have disabilities. Sixty-five percent of them would not admit that they had disabilities, even though they were known to have disabilities. So the problem of getting these people to affiliate with ODS to get services was a real challenge.

"A lot of students fear that this might end up on their transcripts, and that if they try to go for a job later, that this might disqualify them, particularly if they have a hidden disability," said Leavitt. "They would rather compete on their own merits rather then something artificial. So they don't want to have to 'sign up' if it's not required. Unfortunately, a lot of students get into trouble academically because they want to do it in the highest degree on their own, without any accommodation. Because the Independents are a student group-their peers-there are no records kept, so it's essentially a private matter."

"Not only did we eliminate the idea of segregation, but we said that anybody at the university may use this equipment," Leavitt continued, although disabled students are given priority. "There's a good reason for this. You not only have the kids who don't want to declare that they're disabled, but their disability could also be invisible. For example, they could have a reading disability, such as dyslexia. Anybody can sit down, so they can sit down at the terminal without declaring themselves to be disabled."

At UB, close to 400 students report some form of disability, according to Toni Schunke of the Office of Disability Services. Of these students, fully 25 percent have a reading disability, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or attention deficit disorder (ADD)-examples of the 'hidden' or 'invisible' disabilities mentioned by Leavitt.

Leavitt looks forward to the future of adaptive technology, which he has actually seen in a prototype demonstration: direct interface of brainwaves to machine.

There are currently eight accessible computing sites, and one on the way. They are located at 30 Capen Hall, the Independents office at 142 Student Union, Bell Hall, Diefendorf Hall, Baldy Hall, Clemens Hall, and 212 Capen Hall. The Ellicott Complex satellite site at Red Jacket is already functional, and the one at the South Campus dorm Clement Hall will be soon. All of these sites offer a variety of adaptive computing equipment, software, network access, and support services. All software and network access capabilities are continually updated to remain current with the state of the art.

ODS is particularly hopeful that faculty will take advantage of 30 Capen as a testing location to help meet the needs of their disabled students. If grant funding continues, and Gruber expects that it will, additional sites will be constructed in the future.

Despite the hard work that all three departments have invested in the project, the acid test remains whether it meets students'- the end users'- needs. Has it made conditions better for them?

"A lot better," said Ange Coniglio, a recent graduate of UB's English department, and an avid user of the new technologies. "In general, when I sit and take an exam in a classroom, in a 50-minute class, I'm more concerned with my handwriting skills than I am with the questions, because I'm not as good with a pen in my hand as I am with a keyboard. (At the 30 Capen site) I can concentrate 100 percent on the task at hand and be more into the work I'm doing, rather than trying not to drop my pencil, or worrying that the teacher can't read my handwriting."

SIDEBAR:

Following are descriptions of the accessibility software available at the eight accessible computing sites, resident on the 'campus backbone' LAN. MS-DOS versions of all programs are available now, and Microsoft Windows versions are coming on-line now through the beginning of next semester. All of these applications run simultaneously with other software.

HandiKey and HandiShift (augment tactile skills). These innovations allow users to depress keys sequentially rather than all at once, helping them to execute dexterity-intensive commands, like the illustrious 'Control-Alt-Delete.' At some locations, sticky 'track balls' will replace mice, significantly enhancing users' control over pointer and cursor placement. According to Leavitt, the next upgrade of UNIX will also include sticky-key and sticky-mouse capabilities.

HandiWord (word prediction software). Along the bottom of the screen, it displays a menu of frequently-used words, indexed by number. The menus appear as the user enters the first letters of the intended word. If the software correctly anticipates 'Did_' from the user's inputted 'D,' she selects 'Did_' by number, resulting in a net savings of two keystrokes. Over the course of a document, the average number of keystrokes is reduced by half. The software is customizable, so it gets better and better at predicting an individual's prose the more it is used.

Magic and ZoomText (screen enlargers). These applications magnify the entire screen from two to eight times. They allow the user to smoothly pan across a vastly increased field of view (especially when the software is used in conjunction with a 20-inch monitor, as at many of the sites).

Vocalize (voice simulator). This software reads text aloud using a synthesized human voice. Users may listen to text that they have written as well as text that they have scanned, as from a textbook, newspaper or telephone directory.