New Membership Benefit

The Association of Access Engineering Specialists (AAES) hasannounced that the HFES 200 Committee is the recipient of its 2000 Excellence in Access “Access Advancement” Award. The committee, under the leadership of Paul S. Reed (Lucent Technologies), has completed a draft for canvass review, operating
under the procedures of the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI).

This effort represents the first formal standard for increasing the accessibility of software for users with disabilities. The accessibility document, which is the second part of a multipart standard on human factors engineering of software interfaces, provides design recommendations for features and functions of
computer operating systems, drivers, application services, and applications that increase the accessibility of applications for users with disabilities. Although hardware is not specifically addressed by the design recommendations, the specifications in the standard have been formulated to enable a wide variety of assistive devices to utilize functions that are provided by operating system
and application software.

This award recognizes significant innovative technical contributions to the access engineering profession as evidenced by significantly expanding the body of knowledge for access engineering; meaningfully establishing or expanding an area of the profession; and providing exceptional technical leadership in a major interdisciplinary project.

The goal of the AAES Excellence in Access Awards is to recognize individuals and companies that do an exceptional job of developing products and services that are accessible and usable by consumers with disabilities and to inspire others to do more by using award recipients as role models.