Brussels, 30/08/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is seeking to make digital technology more accessible to all. It has just announced that it is to fund a project which aims to make self-service terminals easier for people with disabilities to use. According to an EU study, only 38% of bank cash machines (automated teller machines or ATMs) across the EU provide voice capabilities to customers with disabilities. In the United States, 61% of ATMs use this system, while, in Canada, it is virtually all cash machines. “Public self-service terminals can be found everywhere, and their numbers keep increasing. Yet, many present a challenge for persons with disability or for some elderly persons, denying them the service”, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. As the European Commission's European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 asserts: “accessibility is a precondition for participation in society and in the economy”.
A number of technological solutions currently exist on the market within the European Union to help facilitate the use of digital terminals, such as keypads placed within reach of wheelchair users, Braille labels on the buttons or voice output via a speaker for visually impaired users. However, these essential functions are often simply not available or not activated because the ways of activating them are too complex. The APSIS4All project, to which the European Commission will provide funding of €3.41 million, half the overall budget, sets out to design and validate, in real-life settings, innovative, personalised interfaces that overcome existing accessibility barriers, thereby making life easier for the one in six Europeans who have a disability and the 87 million aged 65 and over. Trials will begin in cash dispensers in Barcelona (Spain) from September 2011 and at ticket vending machines in Paderborn (Germany) from January 2012, and will run for three years. The goal of the project is to propose a standardised framework that could foster further take up of e-accessibility features by the ATM industry and service providers. This could ultimately help make public digital terminals more accessible to a wider range of users, from people who are not familiar with the technology, to people with reading difficulties, and tourists who do not master the local language, the Commission says. The APSI4All will focus on multi-modal interaction and cutting edge technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC) or short range wireless communication. For example, tests could involve a programmed card that contains the user's preferences. When the user brings the card close to the ATM, the machine instantly adapts to the user's needs (possibly even changing the size of the font or choice of language). Other interfaces could include a mobile phone with accessibility features that enables a customer to purchase a ticket online and pay at the machine issuing the ticket using a secure code sent to their phone. (I.L./transl.rt)