IBM launches new disability services team

IBM's Global Services division has created a team of 40 consultants and 100 IT professionals dedicated to developing and implementing services to make software and hardware accessible to people with disabilities.

Along with the formation of the team, the company is introducing eight new services to help companies and government agencies make computer technology more accessible to people with disabilities, such as sight, hearing and mobility problems, IBM announced Monday.

The services address areas such as tweaking Web sites so their content can be read aloud by voice software and so that their design can be modified and adapted to better accommodate users with sight problems.

The demand for this type of technology is growing as the use of computers spreads and becomes pervasive in most people's lives, and as computer users get older, especially the approximately 76 million baby boomers in the U.S. born between 1946 and 1964, IBM said.

Another factor fueling interest in this type of technology is legislation passed in 1998 by the U.S. Congress requiring federal agencies to make their computers and related electronic services available to people with disabilities.

IBM is already working with the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help them comply with this law, known as the 1998 Amendment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, IBM said. IBM will demonstrate some of its accessibility services and products for the U.S. government this week at the E-Gov 2003 Conference in Washington, D.C.