Simulators
Orthopedic Impairments
  • Wear shoes on wrong feet—CP
  • Tape four fingers together—PD
  • Tape fists together—'high guard'
  • Gloves and sticks—rigidity
  • Tie knees together
  • Wheel chair
  • Tie an arm / wrist to your side, do not move or use it
Non-Verbal
  • Tape a post-it, with a large NV, to your lapel so that everyone is aware
Visual Impairments
  • Blind—goggles / sleep masks (please use with a Kleenex between mask and face)
  • Tunnel vision—goggles with funnels
  • Cataracts—goggles with white ‘masking’
  • Macular degenerations—very dense/thick lenses
  • Short sighted—goggles
Hearing Impairments
  • Minimum loss—Foam
  • Red rubber—a bit more hearing loss
  • Orange thick rubber—more loss
  • Moderate—use head-phones
  • MAXIMUM hearing loss—use foam plugs AND head-phones
Cognitive Disabilities
  • Read the material upside down or from the back side—Dyslexic
  • Write with your opposite hand—Dystrophic
Multiple Disabilities
  • Use combination(s) of any of the above
Recommendations / Premises
  • Use high contrast
    • lighter text—black / white
    • stay away from default blue on yellow or red and blue on black
  • Use SIMPLE fonts—sans serifs
    • Arial, Tahoma, Comic Sans, Verdana, Microsoft Sans Serif
    • vs. Times Roman, Bookman
  • Use descriptive text links for each image / figure included in any web site (508 compliance)
  • Use color images / dynamic graphics whenever possible
  • Include an autoloading software component and a read me file for each CD (instructions)
    • use descriptive file names that indicate file / folder contents (NOT numbers or letters)
THINK OF THE USER!