TransAccess: Enabling the Disabled

Kay Baca, an order coordinator for Hewlett-Packard, feared it was the end of her livelihood.

After developing carpal tunnel syndrome that drastically reduced her work hours, Baca's doctor performed surgery on her wrists and advised her not to type more than three hours a day.

"I had the feeling my job was over," Baca said.

But Baca found the Silicon Valley non-profit group TransAccess (formerly DPI), which aims to help people with disabilities find -- or keep -- tech jobs.

"[TransAccess] helped me look [at access technology] as 'an exciting new thing,' rather than 'this is the best it's going to get,'" she said. "I couldn't believe how much was available; they knew it all."

CTS and repetitive stress injuries have become epidemic in the high-tech world, and Baca has become one of 54 million Americans with disabilities. The irony is that technological developments can enable a good portion of disabled people to work.

TransAccess hopes to pinch the gap between those who want to work and the jobs available. Last year alone, about 110 people in the Bay Area went to TransAccess' computer lab and mobile access lab for equipment to help them adapt to their work or find better jobs.

TransAccess works with people whose disabilities range from RSI to quadriplegia or total paralysis of the body from the neck down.

"Most people don't realize the high level of work people can do with just their eyes, an eyebrow twitch, or a free finger," TransAccess director Maria Nicolacoudis said.

Educating people with disabilities and their potential employers is one of Nicolacoudis' and TransAccess' missions, and the impetus behind Employment Access '99, a conference focusing on employment issues for people with disabilities.

Nicolacoudis' organization helps people with physical, sensory, or mental disabilities uncover the myriad tools available to help them use computers, enter the field of computing, and market their skills.

TransAccess introduced Baca to Dragon Systems' voice recognition software, which performs computer commands, including transforming speech into text. "I'm not very computer literate," Baca said, "and [TransAccess] took all the anxiety away. They came to my office, set up the software and the hardware, and then watched me work to make sure I wasn't having any problems."

The physically-challenged community is hungry for the opportunity to work. According to the National Organization on Disability's Louie Harris report, people with disabilities are the largest minority in America. They're twice as likely not to have earned a high school diploma, and they have lower levels of education and job training across the board.

Only 29 percent of people with disabilities work, as compared to 79 percent of people without disabilities. And of the unemployed disabled, seven out of 10 say they would prefer to be working.

TransAccess' computer lab features about 100 adaptive devices that can enable users with minor or major disabilities to work. TransAccess also deploys a mobile unit that brings tools to people's homes or offices to give them the opportunity to test them.

Jane Tong, program manager for TransAccess' Computer Access Technology Lab, is giving a tour of the computer lab featuring about 100 adaptive devices for users with minor or major disabilities. This laboratory, and a sister mobile unit that brings these tools onsite to people's homes or offices, gives users the unique opportunity to test hard-to-find and expensive items before they buy.

"Many people don't know about access technology, that it exists or how to get it, and most solutions cost less than $100," said Tong.

One of her clients who has cerebral palsy, for example, purchased a $15 typing stick that attaches to her clenched hand, and she can now type, use email, and surf the Net.

TransAccess' access lab contains an impressive display of keyboards and mouses. Keyboards come with big keys, small keys, keys that are raised and flat, spaced wide apart or tightly together. Special keyboards for typing with one hand are also available.

Mouses come in a comparable array of styles. There are sensitive, easy-clicking mouses; and foot-powered mouses that move the pointer with the right foot, and click with the left. People who have no mobility in their arms and legs can work with a head mouse, which functions via a reflective sticker on the forehead.

For the visually impaired, TransAccess supplies JAWS, a screen-reading program, and ZoomText, a tool to magnify monitor text up to 16-times normal size.

People with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy often have limited manual dexterity, and these clients benefit from TransAccess' alternative peripherals and staff of computer-savvy occupational therapists.

The birth of TransAccess is itself a Silicon Valley success story. Started as Disabled Programmers, Inc. in 1980 by Thomas Puorro -- a former IBM executive whose son suffered permanent injuries after an accident -- the organization was originally a school for computer programmers with disabilities.

Now called TransAccess, the agency carries the same mission: preparing people with disabilities for competitive employment in high-tech, whether it's by using both hands, a one-handed keyboard, or a twitch of the eye.