WHITE PAPER

I’ve been in the self-service kiosk industry for nearly 15 years and completed hundreds of kiosk projects. The first kiosk project I was involved with was funded by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) right after the Northridge earthquake in 1994. In those days a state-of-the art kiosk used an IBM 286 with the largest available hard drive – 4GB. If you wanted rich media content with video, you had to master large laser discs; quite an expensive proposition when you want to change or modify content. This was the pre-Internet era when a dedicated T-1 line cost $2,200 per month. Back in 1994, access to kiosks was not really considered with any project. No real surprise, since regulations often occur after something is developed or demand creates equal access rules. Sure ADA was law, but hardly anyone knew how to decipher it.

Today it is a much different story. The advances in technology are evident with that same hard drive (memory) being easily found in a camera card or USB micro drive. Multiple kiosks are found in nearly every grocery store for various types of applications. It’s true for regulations as well. The American Disabilities Act (ADA) is in full force with a number of rules applying to kiosks.

ADA History
Signed into law by President Bush on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is undeniably the most comprehensive formulation of disability rights in the history of the United States or of any other nation. More than fifty (50) million Americans have some kind of physical, sensory, cognitive, or mental disability. . . continued  

  

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