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https://github.com/open-aac/aac_shim

Wire you web site or web app up for alternative access methods
https://github.com/open-aac/aac_shim

aac disabilities html5

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Wire you web site or web app up for alternative access methods

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README 

        
# AAC Shim



AAC Shim is a simple helper method for helping web apps that want to support being

embedded inside an AAC system.



[Check out the demos here](https://tools.openaac.org/demo.html)



## What is AAC?

AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. It's a broad term that includes

anything that supplements or replaces verbal communication, but many people use it 

to specifically refer to speech-generating tools that run on a computer or tablet. If

someone can't speak or struggles to speak on their own, whether because of a disability,

surgery or temporary issue, they can tap out messages and hit a button to have a device

speak for them. It's actually super cool.



If the individual is literate and has good control of their hands they could just

type out their messages with a keyboard. But for a lot of communicators that's asking

too much, so they can instead use buttons with pictures or common phrases to make

things easier or faster. Again, super cool.



You probably envisioned someone tapping away on a tablet during that description of

AAC, but that's actually only one method of access. Some users can't move their hands 

that well or at all, but they can still blink, or swallow, or move their eyes, or trigger

a single muscle, or even just initiate some brain activity. Any of those actions can 

be picked up by a range of different devices and interpreted as a selection by the

user. If you aren't freaking out right now about how amazing technology is then you should

probably give yourself a minute to do so.



But if you're a web developer, you're also thinking about how insanely painful it would

be to have to support all of those different selection techniques. The good (scary?) news is 

that someone is probably actually already using alternative access tools to navigate your

site. A lot of the hardware actually comes with mouse emulators and such so you don't have to do

a whole lot other than, you know, support accessibility standards.



## Why AAC-Enable my Page?

Some users have high enough functionality that they can navigate between web sites,

load apps, minimize windows, etc. But for some users, their primary access method is

their AAC interface. If they want to, say, control their smart home, or play an educational

game, or read a book, or Skype with their friends, they do it all from within their

AAC interface. Traditionally all that functionality had to be hard-coded into the 

AAC app itself, but if you've ever tracked the moving target of a modern web API then

you know how sucky that prospect sounds.



So! Instead we're pushing a new strategy, where web apps can build in their own support

for AAC users and (along with some offline caching) more extensibly offer support for

individuals who use their AAC system as the primary channel to the online world.



Honestly most of the first-generation of AAC-enabled web apps will probably be written

as shims of their own, simplified interfaces to more complicated systems like SmartThings,

Facebook, YouTube, GoodReads, Fandango, etc. But that's ok, we still want to make those 

easier to build so we can help people out!



## How to Use AAC Shim

Include the shim in your page, then



```javascript

aac_shim.status(function(result) {

  if(result.status == 'ready') {

    aac_shim.map_to_mouse_events();

  }

});

```



^ That's the easiest level of integration. It will take any "hover" events, whether they're 

done by a mouse or eye tracker or head mouse or whatever, and trigger them as standard

`mousemove` events. It'll also map any taps, touches, clicks, or other selections to

standard `click` events for you.



Different AAC systems may work differently, so make sure to wait for a status response of

`ready` before making any other calls to AAC Shim.



### Defining Targets

Targets are regions on the screen that you want to make accessible to the user. The user

can always hover or click anywhere in your frame and you can receive the event, but you

can also define specific regional targets. Here's why you would do that:



Having the whole frame as a large region for selection is nice and flexible, but it can

make it harder for the user to know what they're supposed to do. Some users only have

enough control to essentially hit a single button, so the AAC interface may "scan" through

all the available targets, drawing a highlighted box around each target, one at a time.

Or if the user is driving the mouse cursor via eye gaze or head movements, often selection

occurs by "holding still" or "dwelling" on the same spot for a period of time. Defining 

targets helps the system know the user is dwelling on a target even if there's some

movement.



Anyway, here's how to define targets:



```javascript

aac_shim.add_target({

  id: 'my_target' // if you don't define one, the shim will for you

  left: 50, // pixels

  top: 50, // or you set as a percent "10%"

  width: 150,

  height: 150,

  prompt: "bacon", // this is an auditory prompt given to users with vision or processing issues

  

}, function(result) {

  // called whenever the target is selected

});

```



You can also `clear_target` to clear one at a time, by id, or `clear_targets` to clear them

all at once.



## Wish List

If you're looking for a light project that would be of value to AAC users, here's a 

wish list of small web apps that could be written and wired up with AAC shim. In general,

for these kinds of apps it would be best to have a few relatively large buttons for

user control.



- Photo/video-taking tool

- Joke of the day

- YouTube favorites list

- Dice roller

- Spinner



## License



Licensed under the MIT License.