2007 PhD Thesis Final Revised.pdf - Curtin University

the company had recently provided educational opportunities to blind and vision
impaired people. The Hewlett-Packard representative stated that the company had
focused on accessible hardware design and the IBM representatives reported that the
company had developed a number of assistive technology products for blind and
vision impaired users.
It became evident through the interviews, that the focus of these corporations
differed. All representatives agreed that, due to the visual nature of computing, the
difficulties faced by people with vision disabilities far outweighed that of many other
disability groups. However, representatives of these companies confirmed that they
perceived it was part of their role to provide that equality. Yet none of the
corporations’ policies indicated any recognition of the existence of the disability
divide. The key that explained the difference between the perceived reality by the
corporations’ representatives and the daily lives of blind and vision impaired people
clearly rested in the lack of direct consultation with blind and vision impaired people.
When asked about how the companies found out about the needs of blind and vision
impaired people, the answers included internal projects, meetings and conferences.
At no point did any representative acknowledge direct contact with blind and vision
impaired organisations or groups of blind and vision impaired people.
Clearly, the personal interviews demonstrate that the provision of information
technology is not effective for people with disabilities due to a lack of awareness, In
order to address the final research question and find potential resolutions to the
disability divide, it was important that the voice of the people concerned had an
opportunity to explain their perspective. Therefore, the best way to find this
information was to explore the computing and Internet-related experiences directly
from people who were blind or vision impaired. The survey results essentially joined
the issues of society, technology, government and corporate bodies together and
formed a complete disability divide picture. This also allowed for the formation of
potential solutions.
Firstly, the data demonstrated that people with disabilities had a high level of
computing and Internet expertise. The perceived reluctance in using computers and
the Internet was due to specific barriers which were preventing access. People with
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