Workplace Resources

The Electronic Curb-cut Effect

Many technologies originally developed to support people with disabilities eventually become mainstream technologies used by a broad range of people. In the same way as curb-cuts installed to make sidewalk crossings accessible to people who use wheelchairs also benefit parents pushing strollers, skateboarders, older people, etc., technologies designed to create more accessibility for people with disabilities often have benefits for people with disabilities.

Steve Jacobs of the IDEAL Group describes the process of assistive technologies becoming mainstream as the electronic curb-cut effect. The electronic curb-cut effect is considerably more wide-spread than might be commonly thought. A few examples of electronic curb-cut effects that Jacobs cites include:

• The transistor : Developed in 1947, the transistor’s initial application was to manufacture small hearing aids. When it was later applied to mainstream devices (e.g., radios) in the 1950s and 1960s, the transistor fueled a revolution in the electronics industry.
• E-mail : Developed in 1972 by people with hearing impairments and now used by millions of people all over the world as an essential communication tool.
• Television captioning system : Developed in 1979 for people who are deaf but is now used extensively as a communication tool in any noisy place (airports, bars, etc.).
• Automatic telephone dialer : Developed in 1982 so that people who are blind could dial the telephone, it is now a common feature on most telephones.
• Accessible bank machines : In 2001 bank machines accessible to sight-impaired and print-impaired people were made available and are proving to be useful to a large number of people, including the growing number of aging Canadians.
• Simplified English : Originally developed to make text more easily understood by people who have learning disabilities and has recently been discovered to be useful tool for communicating with the more than 325 million internet users who do not speak English as their first language.