ABLES (Accessibility Brought to Low-vision and Elderly Sectors)

The Accessibility Breakthrough for Low-vision and Elderly Sectors (ABLES) Project will
undertake research into identifying the technology problems that must be resolved before
accessibility software that addresses the vision and print impairments can be readily deployed
on mobile and consumer devices. Mainstream computer devices are difficult to use by
someone who is not technically proficient and who has accessibility needs. Therefore a new
generation of accessibility capability is required for mobile and consumer devices.
The objectives of the ABLES project are to:
a) Establish the constraints on the form and features required of mobile and consumer devices
so that a generic accessibility software application can provide the required support for vision
and print impaired users;
b) Investigate the problems of creating a solution for a wide range of mobile and consumer
devices, including Set-top Boxes and Smart Televisions;
c) Address the problems of making a web browsing experience as easy as possible for
someone with restricted vision and where the features in web pages do not facilitate
accessibility;
d) Establish the range of service and business models that could be suited to creating a
sustainable market with a particular focus on support for elderly readers of digital books.
Successful research into, and deployment of, vision and print impairment accessibility
software on mobile and consumer devices will:
a) Ensure that people with vision and print impairments will not become digitally
disenfranchised in a world in which digital access to information will dominate;
b) Enable providers of print-based content delivery devices to include this new accessibility
software in their device and so ensure that the devices are accessibility-enabled.
The key deliverable from this six-month research project is the evaluation of the new
accessibility enabled, mobile-device hosted applications in a Proof of Concept demonstrator
using Windows-based tablet devices.