Research Symposium: Gregg Vanderheiden
"Underestimating the Barriers Posed by Cognition and Digital Literacy"
From our recent work, it appears that we in accessibility/inclusion have been underestimating the challenge of cognitive disabilities — and digital literacy. We have always thought it was really tough, but recent work has caused us to reassess both the size of the problem and the growing impact. We now think it is a much wider problem than we understood, and one that goes beyond those we have thought of as having cognitive disabilities. I will be discussing the concept of Technology Quotient (TQ) as well as approaches we are exploring to address access by people with cognitive disabilities and low digital literacy today, tomorrow, and for next-next generation technologies — including a grand challenge on this for the field.
Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden is the director and founder of Trace R&D Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has worked in technology and disability for just shy of 50 years and was a pioneer in Augmentative Communication (a term he coined in the 1970’s) and in cross-disability access to ICT. His work is found in every Windows and Macintosh computer, iOS and Android phone or tablet, U.S. Automated Postal Stations, Amtrak ticket machines and many other products you encounter daily. Most of the initial access features in both Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac operating systems came from work of his research group.
Dr. Vanderheiden created the first accessibility guidelines for computers and software (‘85), consumer products (‘91) and the web (’95) — and co-chaired both WCAG 1.0 and 2.0 working groups. He has worked with over 50 companies and numerous consumer groups and government advisory & planning committees, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), the United States Access Board and The White House. He has received over 35 awards for his work. Dr Vanderheiden holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Technology in Communication and Child Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
To Attend: Please email Mallory Shaw to RSVP: mdshaw87@uw.edu