Accessibility, Windows and icons

In the same week that Microsoft announced they are reducing the price of Windows Vista by 40%, I came across this report which takes a look at the differences in the accessibility options of Windows XP and Windows Vista.

The article by Magnifiers.org starts by mentioning a Forrester Research report commissioned by Microsoft in 2003 which found that:

One quarter [of users included in the study] had a visual impairment, nearly the same percentage had dexterity difficulties, and one fifth had hearing problems. [And therefore that] ...nearly two thirds of the survey sample would be likely to benefit from accessibility technology in one way or another. The real eye-opener was that the survey sample consisted entirely of 18- to 64-year-olds.

The good news is this equates to a lot of positive publicity for the need and demand for accessible websites and computer applications.

>>> As a Microsoft Vista user myself, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find so many options available to users. I have tried using them to try to get a better understanding of both the tools available, the advantages they offer and difficulties encountered when using the computer. However, I'll let you read the article for yourselves and come back to my experiments another day.

Peter Verhoeven of Magnifiers.org considered the changes to be a positive move forward and an extension of the previous toolkit.

Peter goes on to mention that one of the most eye-catching changes is that the icon of a wheelchair used to represent accessibility options on Windows XP has been changed to one of a round button with arrows on Windows Vista (see picture).

What I found interesting about this is that the wheelchair icon is still found many sites today, in fact I'd say it's becoming more and more common.

I would think this could be on account of google using it on their gmail sign-up page, as so many people look to google for examples of usable design and best practice.

However,

1. the wheelchair gives a fairly limited perception - to say the least - of the users who need or are more comfortable using accessibility tools.
   The report mentioned above gives evidence of this as all the difficulties and disabilities mentioned do not imply the users were wheelchair bound, and that accessibility needs are varied.
2. The icon may confuse, discourage or even offend users from using that option who could benefit from it.
3. What does it suggest? What tool or feature could it represent?! In the case of the gmail sign-up page, it provides the acoustic version of the captcha. However, if I couldn't make out the captcha or had the images

Conclusions

• It's great that Vista, with so many more accessibility options than Windows XP, has been reduced in price.


• Hopefully the change in perception of the accessibility market resulting from the Forrester Research report and Microsoft's efforts will encourage more people to concentrate more of their resources in that area.


• And finally, let's hope that goes hand in hand with a little more imagination and appropriacy when it comes to designing icons!