Physical Mobilities

What are Physical Mobility Impairments?

Motor disabilities can include weakness, limitations of muscular control (such as involuntary movements, lack of coordination, or paralysis), and limitations of sensation, joint problems, or missing limbs. Some physical disabilities can include pain that impedes movement. These conditions can affect the hands and arms as well as other parts of the body. More information can be found by visiting the W3C website: How People with Disabilities Use the Web.

A physical disability, by itself, does not usually affect a person's ability to perceive information displayed on the computer screen. Access is generally dependent on being able to manipulate the interface. More information can be found by visiting the website Distance Education: Access Guidelines for Students with Disabilities.

Mobility impairments can be caused by a wide range of common illnesses and accidents such as arthritis, stroke, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, loss of limbs or digits, spinal cord injuries, and repetitive stress injury, among others. As a result of these accidents or conditions, individuals might be unable to use (or be without) arms or fingers to interact with their computers using the standard keyboard or mouse. More information can be found by visiting Microsoft's website: Resource Guide for People with Mobility Impairments.

Challenges/Barriers on the Internet

There is a broad range of mobility impairments, ranging from minor conditions that may not affect Internet usage at all to more profound disabilities that restrict voluntary movement almost entirely. Some people with mobility impairments are able to use the keyboard and mouse, although with some difficulty. These individuals may not have fine motor control; so clicking on small links (such as single letters of the alphabet) may be difficult. Others use assistive devices to access the keyboard, such as a mouth stick or a head wand. These methods are slower than those of individuals with full dexterity, but are nevertheless fully functional. Still others are limited to "puff-and-sip" switches (such as those installed on some wheelchairs) or other limited-functionality switches. These devices emulate the functionality of the standard keyboard, to one degree or another, so keyboard access to Web sites is paramount. If a mouse is required to access a certain link or function, that Web page is inaccessible to these individuals.

Because of the extra physical effort that some individuals with mobility impairments must put forth, they may become fatigued quickly. Individuals using a head wand, for example, my tire of making the necessary head movements to press the tab key to navigate from link to link. This is especially true when long lists of links, such as a site's main navigational links, precede the main content of a page. The individual must make the same repetitive head movement 10, 20 or 30 times before arriving at the desired link. One way to avoid causing this kind of fatigue is to provide a way for the end-user to skip over long lists of links. More information can be found by visiting the WebAim website: Introduction to Web Accessibility.

Key Concerns:

Gross motor skills: Difficulty with keyboard strokes (e.g. filling in personal data forms on websites)

Poor stamina: May takes longer to complete most website tasks (reading, navigating, filling out forms)

Fine motor skills: Difficulty with the use of mouse, clicking on links

Poor eye hand coordination: Difficulty with keyboard and mouse

Timed activities: Difficulty with website items that are time dependent.

Solutions/Guidelines

• Provide keyboard access to all toolbars, menus, and dialog boxes (whose functions are not also in the menu).
• Don't interfere with access features built into the operating system (e.g. StickyKeys, SlowKeys, Key Repeating etc.).
• Sites should have short chunks of information.
• Use large clickable areas.
• Create appropriate tab order.
• Limit the use of forms. If you must use them, avoid timed responses and allow for personal information confirmation and verification.
• Provide alternative methods of performing timed tasks.

Resources

Assistive Technology Hardware and Software

People who have mobility impairments may be using some of the following assistive technologies:

• Speech recognition systems, also called voice recognition programs, allow people to give commands and enter data using their voices rather than a mouse or keyboard.
• On-screen keyboard programs provide an image of a standard or modified keyboard on the computer screen. The user selects the keys with a mouse, touch screen, trackball, joystick, switch, or electronic pointing device.
• Keyboard filters include typing aids, such as word prediction utilities and add-on spelling checkers. These products reduce the required number of keystrokes. Keyboard filters enable users to quickly access the letters they need and to avoid inadvertently selecting keys they don't want.
• Touch screens are devices placed on the computer monitor (or built into it) that allow direct selection or activation of the computer by touching the screen.
• Alternative input devices (including alternative keyboards, electronic pointing devices, sip-and-puff systems, wands and sticks, joysticks and trackballs) allow individuals to control their computers through means other than a standard keyboard or pointing device.

Additional resources are described at Ability Hub and Ability Net

Keystroke Alternatives to Using a Mouse

To experience being mouse independent, use the keystroke alternatives suggested by the following resources to navigate a website:

Windows

Lynx

Opera

Additional Resources

W3C - How People with Use the Net

AccessibleWare: Making the Web Accessible

IBM Accessibility Center

Distance Education: Access Guidelines for Students with Disabilities

Oregon State University Web Accessibility Guidelines

WebAim: Introduction to Web Accessibility, Mobility Impairments

Microsoft Accessibility: Resource Guide for People with Mobility Impairments