Usability in public services and border control new technologies and challenges for people with disability

Abstract

The paper starts with a brief overview of the scale of disability and associated challenges and puts them in the context of the public policy on disability. It then analyses the usability challenges in public services and border control, including the issues of accessibility, safety and communication. These need to be addressed in future policy proposals, to provide the best assistance by new technologies to elderly people and people with disabilities, avoiding creating new barriers due to incorrect or incomplete initial conception. With increasing flux of novel security technology in mass transportation systems, and particularly the use of biometric identification in airports, the challenge of usability is recognized. This paper analyses these issues in the context of users with disability in an idealized process of Simplifying Passenger Travel (SPT). © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.