IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2017 - 13

Book Reviews
Sylette Henry-Buckmire

Computer Accessibility Rights
Making Computers Accessible: Disability Rights and Digital Technology.
By Elizabeth R. Petrick, Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2015, 196 pages.

on't look now, but
have you ever noticed
the nibs on the F and
J keys on your com-
puter keyboard? His-
tory of Science scholar Elizabeth
Petrick shifted scholarly interests
from computer science to history
allowing for an interesting discus-
sion between computer technology
and its impact on civil rights and
disability rights. These nibs are,
Petrick explains, "tactile feature(s)
that help people with visual impair-
ments quickly place their fingers on
the correct keys." Throughout the
book - Making Computers Accessible: Disability Rights & Digital
Technology, she identifies the ori-
gins of assistive device "gems" like
these. In this context, assistive de-
vices include any component that is
employed to make task completion
easier. Further, Petrick provides his-
toric perspectives of how computer
technology was developed in the
United States allowing persons with
disabilities (PwD) full participation
in their own lives and in the society.
This political action occurred as a
direct result of disability activism
by disability activists and parents of
disabled people.
Making Computers Accessible
provides significantly more detail
than just assistive technology trivia.
Assistive technology (AT) refers to
any piece of equipment, software,

or product system that is used to
maintain, or improve the functional
capabilities of individuals with dis-
abilities. The graphic on the book's
cover depicts someone using toes to
type on a computer keyboard. The
typing toes elucidate the primary
argument of the text - the connec-
tion between disability rights and
digital technology. Petrick explores
how digital technology has been
adopted by unintended users. These
users include persons for whom
digital technology was not originally
created nor anticipated and hence
provisions were not built into the
technology by developers. Never-
theless, these unintended users,
persons with non-normative bod-
ies, appropriated the technology to
enable their own participation within
wider society. Petrick identifies how
the personal computer (PC) and
the values embedded therein held
potential for an increased level of
participation by disabled people pro-
moting their own wellbeing. Focus-
ing on the role of everyday users
and PwD in particular, she argues
that the existence of accessible PC
and computer technology exists
through PwDs' struggle for disability/
civil rights. This struggle began in
the face of almost non-existent and/
or ineffective legislative frameworks
for protection of PwD and within the
cultural philosophy of the medical
model, espoused by the inventor
Ray Kurzweil, that the non-normative
body requires "fixing." She argues
that greater social interaction occurs

D

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2017.2763439
Date of publication: 5 December 2017

DECEMBER 2017

∕

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

when using the PC and accessible
computer technology.
Hence, further on, Petrick out-
lines in specific detail the strategic
partnerships established between
users, developers, large and small
computer companies, and the vari-
ous alliances. Petrick follows the
Brand family, based in the U.S. over
several years, in particular, their
daughter Shoshana living with cere-
bral palsy. While the case (Chapter 2)
opens with Shoshana and find-
ing appropriate technology for her,
the narrative evolves to the Brands
being instrumental in communi-
cating to other parents and family
members the need to think of their
disabled children growing up to be
independent disabled adults, using
available and accessible computer
technology. Petrick argues that the
technology must exist and users
be made aware of its existence
(through existing social infrastruc-
ture) to render it useful. Addressing
these basic concerns, the Brands
formed the Disabled Children's
Computer Group (DCCG) with other
like-minded families/parents and
subsequently other alliances at the
local and national levels. This author
illustrates Shoshana Brand's devel-
opment from limited fine motor
skills to using different levels of com-
puter technology. She also inserts
basic photographs and/or screen-
shots of switches, and showcases
the movement from command-line
DOS input to graphic user interface,
user-friendly features that would be

13



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