Assistive Technology News

By John M. Williams

Dallas, PA -- Denis Anson, M.S., O.T.R., director of research and development for the Assistive Technology Research Institute (ATRI) at Misericordia University, has been a construction worker, researcher and professor, occupational therapist and inventor. Each career has propelled him a step closer to achieving his altruistic goal.
 
          “My goal is to change the world and make our environment accessible to everyone through objective standards that are easily determined through a series of yes-no, pass-fail answers that just about anyone can employ,’’ Anson says proudly. 

          In pursuing his goal, Anson created the Americans with Disabilities Act -- Compliance Assessment Toolkit (ADA-CAT) to measure whether public facilities are in compliance with the federal law. He saw the need in 2002 while teaching occupational therapy students to conduct environmental assessments. The students voiced these concerns:

            1.      There wasn’t any available searchable knowledge base that accepted keywords and retrieved subsets of the ADA legislation.

           2.      There wasn’t any dedicated measurement tools to simplify site measurements.

          Anson, a self-educated programmer, took up the challenge, and with assistance from the ACCESS and UDITEACH Projects at the University of Wisconsin, the ADA-CAT™ progressed from concept to commercial product. His rudimentary, hand-built prototypes were developed further with the assistance of design engineers at Pride Mobility Corporation in Exeter, Pennsylvania. Anson says, “That during testing students without advanced training can obtain reliable results.”

          Anson believes that since the ADA guidelines were written by engineers, they aren’t easy for non-engineers to comprehend.  He is confident that his tool kit invention will make guideline requirements easier to evaluate. Anson states, “By utilizing the toolkit, it is easy to determine if a doorway or light switch or a handicap accessible ramp meet federal guidelines.” 

          Specifically, the ADA-CAT™ is a screening tool that allows people without advanced technical training to assess the architectural barriers of the built environment. The heart of ADA-CAT™ is the integration of tools, tasks and instructional support that is delivered through http://ADA-CAT.misericordia.edu/.  ADA-CAT™ owners can use the website to plan and later complete an evaluation. The website prompts you to enter disabilities such as low vision or wheeled mobility, and then prompts you to enter architectural features such as bathroom, elevator or kitchen. The website dynamically associates the proper checklists. Because Internet browsing is available on portable devices, an evaluation can be completed and data recorded during a walking inspection without the purchase of a dedicated touch screen system.

          The kit is composed of the standards and measurement kit. The standards define the characteristics of an accessible and usable environment and feature a scoring system that produces a numerical score for accessibility and usability compliance.

          The measurement kit is a set of 11 instruments developed to allow individuals to determine whether or not features of the environment meet the standards of the ADA and audits, like a turning radius for a wheel chair or height requirements for outlets, grab bars and shower seats.

          The first part of the tool-kit is the physical items: the Story Stick, Magic Slope Block, MultiTool, Door Force Tool, Font Guide, Key Torque Tool, sound and light meters and a measuring tape.

         The Door Force Tool measures how much effort is required to turn a key in a door lock. The Key Torque Tool assesses how easy it is to turn a key for those with hand use difficulties. The Font Guide is for assessing signage. Many sign makers are unsure of the ADA guidelines and how to figure them out and this tool makes it easy. The MultiTool helps one figure things out such as is the fire extinguisher out too far from the wall or does the height of the water from a fountain measure up to standards.

          Slopes are specified by the ADA in grade ratios such as 1:12 or 1:48. Those with limited facility in math may find assessing slopes difficult.  The Magic Slope Block takes the difficulty out of the process by providing a simple pass-fail test for all ADA-mandated slopes. In addition, it tests the maximum gaps between an elevator and the floor of a building or the maximum allowable gap in a grating that is part of an accessible path.

          The ADA standards for accessible signage are very complex, and are described in terms of ratios between the height and width of letters. The ratios are complex enough that many sign makers cannot reliably interpret them. The ADA-CAT Font Guide helps determine whether signage is accessible. Although the allowable sizes are hard to figure without a tool, Anson says, "The Font Guide allows an assessor to test whether the letter height, width, spacing and line-spacing meet the ADA guidelines, without performing any mathematical calculations. All the calculations are done by the tool in one, simple adjustment.”

           Anson states potential users of the kit are a wide range of professionals including educators, allied health professionals, faculty and compliance managers, people managing outdoor public parks, and recreational spaces, private home owners, disability support groups, and elderly people.

          The kit costs $649 and has been brought to market by the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Institute of Ohio and Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization. That cost includes one-year access to the web site which is maintained by Misericordia University. After the purchase year, or for those who have not purchased the toolkit, a subscription to the Web site service costs $70 annually.