This study used survey methodology to investigate the experience of acquiring assistive technology, from learning about products, to purchasing and paying for them, to evaluating how well they perform. It examined both the challenges faced and the factors that may help people acquire products. The participants were 251 adults with vision and hearing impairments, recruited from across Canada. The results revealed that the high cost of products and lack of funding for assistive technology were the main barriers faced by respondents. Intermediaries, such as community organizations and health care providers, were found to be important facilitators of access to assistive technology. Financial support to cover product costs increased respondents’ access to higher cost items. While the majority of respondents were quite or very satisfied with their products, hearing product consumers were less satisfied than vision product consumers, yet were likely to have paid more for their products.

This research project is focused on understanding the current needs of blind users in the context of browsing on the internet. The research methods used have an inclusive design approach. The outcome was intended for both for the blind and normally sighted.  At the broadest level, this project is about reducing cognitive effort in human to computer interaction. At the next level it is about browsing the internet. Everyone using a computer and surfing the web at some point goes through the mental task of comparing between alternative choices. Examining today’s obstacles for the blind, what aspects of the experience could we improve? Could we design a better cognitive browsing experience for all users focusing on nonvisual aspects of the user experience? What would it look like, how would it behave and what characteristics would it carry?  The Semantic Scroller is a concept that could be implemented today but actually presupposes the use of some new HTML specifications specifically the adoption of “open” semantic tags. Unlike existing semantic tags like <nav> and <article> which are too context specific, an open framework would enable coders include contextual semantic descriptions where ever necessary.