How Technology Is Making Life Easier For People With Disabilities

Screen Readers and Word Scanners for the Blind

Discuss about the Technological Applications and Disability for Equipment.

Technology has played a big role in making the world a better place for every individual including the disabled. In the past the individuals living with disabilities had been left behind in technological advancement, Reed et al.(2009). The story is very different today. Using technology, the impaired can easily access, understand and interact with others fast and easy. Technology has enabled them to participate equally in the social and economic factors in a society.

In the study case provided by the interview, the individual is blind. This is a hindrance to her in enabling proper communication and relation with the society. However, technology comes in handy in her situation. Technological advancement has led to the invention of gadgets and equipment that have played a major role in making life easy for the disabled.

According to Bauer et al.(2011),The blind people use a screen reader to read or access info in a computer or mobile phone. This feature is available on both the computers and android phone. The screen reader dictates what is on the screen and it is also able to distinctly identify each object on the screen. This element varies from a simple link, a photo, tabulated data, radio and normal buttons. However, the website or applications codes must be inclusive of accessibility of features for the screen reader to work.

The interview also mentioned the use of word scanners; a feature on android phones that enables them to read written information. The scanner, scan s the words and reads them out to the user. Latest android phones and computers have automatic zooms that can zoom up to 200% of the normal appearance. This enables the partially blind to read the words more easily as compared to using spectacles and other visual aids that are expensive to purchase and maintain.

Typing was also a problem to the lame and blind as the normal keyboard is mainly used by the people with no impairments. But technology has not left the impaired behind by offering a solution by making typing easy for the impaired. In the recent past, braille keyboards have been produced by various manufacturers in attempt to help the blind in typing. As in the case study, the interviewee uses a brail keyboard for input. This can be used to feed information to a computer or a mobile phone. Apart from braille keyboard, the normal keyboards have also incorporated the uses of audio input. This is often seen in keyboards on android phones. The user can simply speak out and the message will be automatically typed. Windows has also used this in its search engine to allow one to easily search and find objects in the computer or on the internet.

Braille and Audio Keyboards for Typing

Apart from reading and typing technology has also helped people with disabilities to move around. As in the case of the interviewee who’s blind, google has helped in directing him using voice commands. Google invented goggle maps which has almost directions for all major towns and their environs. Google has features such as voice search which are easy to use. The user can speak the location and google will search and provide a route. It has also options for movement by vehicle, bus or by foot and uses this to estimate the time required for transit. Furthermore, helps them to know where to find public means of transport. The google map offers a lot in a simple and easy manner. Furthermore, it’s a free app which can be easily downloaded from the play store. Ayres et al(2013).

The social life of the people living with disabilities has also been made easy. The social media has become the greatest mode of communication. it is however inaccessible or unworthy for some people with disabilities. Efforts by technologists have however proven that anyone can use them. In the case of the interviewee, her friends are amazed with her fast response to their messages despite her blindness. She uses screen readers to read texts and emails and uses voice command to respond to them. This features are available on almost every device today. The accessibility mode on android phones has proven to be effective as it works best for those who can’t see or type. 

Voice control systems have been developed that enable the users to use voice commands for information to be typed on mobile phones and computer screens. The systems also convert words and texts on screens into speech. This feature reads the texts on the screens aloud and thus come in handy for people with visual impureness. This feature is not only useful to the blind but also a very useful tool to persons with disabilities related to learning, a good example being people suffering from dyslexia. This has enabled many of them to freely express themselves in written format. On the other hand, technology has been used during app development for both phones and computers in an effort to help the visually impaired people to socialize with others using technology. 

Due to the above factors, the disabled can now work and communicate with their fellows or clients. This has reduced dependency of the disabled on others. They can now work on their own and do a number of activities with little or no help from other people. This makes them feel reliable and not just a nuisance to others. Apart from independence, the privacy of the disable has also been reaffirmed. Previously the disabled depended on help from others to read and respond to mails this exposed personal info to others thus denying them privacy. As the interviewee stated, technology has been very effective in providing privacy. She says the blind people without a screen reader, have always needed help from sighted person. This people therefore access their sensitive information from their mobile phones or computer. The impaired also faced financial security breach as they had to share their banking and financial info with others to get help. This means they had access to passwords and security codes. However, technology has come to their rescue by inventing the screen reader which provides privacy.

Assistive Technologies for Movement

Technological products are also affordable. An example is the android smartphone which has flourished in the market as it is cheap, easy to use, efficient and reliable. Apart from that it offers the accessibility feature free after purchase; no subscription or monthly payments are required. Most android apps have the text to speech and vice versa feature which are free and only require a download and you are good to go. Google maps is an example which helps people to move around and locate places of interest. The google group provides a local market for android apps called the play store. From this market the apps can easily be accessed using voice commands. Apart from the android group, the apple group has also taken steps in ensuring the needs of the impaired are met. Apple has created many technological systems for both deaf and the blind people. Apple has recently employed Assistive Touch technology in its gadgets which allows individuals problems related to motor control problems to make use the gadgets in a different manner.

However, there’s a challenge in developing countries since they have minimal to no access to this technology. Most remote areas have no network coverage or power supply. We all know that technology requires power for it to work. Network signals for sending and receiving messages. This inhibits the disabled from accessing this technology help. The areas also are not well represented on navigators or online maps making it hard for them to move around freely on their own. There’s therefore a need to invest and expand technological growth in this areas to help the impaired people living in this areas. 

Conclusion

In accordance to Helal  et al.(2008),Technology has been proven to be handy in the life of a majority of people living with disability. It has provided a normal social life that was almost impossible for them. privacy which was hard to achieve earlier is now achievable as individuals can now her a private and personal life with less interference. affordability of technological gadgets is also an added advantage as they can easily access technological help at a very small cost or nothing at all. There’s therefore need to put in more effort in advancing technology to meet the needs and demands of the impaired individuals.

References

Ayres, K. M., Mechling, L., & Sansosti, F. J. (2013). The use of mobile technologies to assist with life skills/independence of students with moderate/severe intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorders: Considerations for the future of school psychology. Psychology in the Schools, 50(3), 259-271.

Bauer, S. M., Elsaesser, L. J., & Arthanat, S. (2011). Assistive technology device classification based upon the World Health Organization’s, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 6(3), 243-259.

Beach, S., Schulz, R., Downs, J., Matthews, J., Barron, B., & Seelman, K. (2009). Disability, age, and informational privacy attitudes in quality of life technology applications: Results from a national web survey. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 2(1), 5.

Ellis, K., & Kent, M. (2011). Disability and new media. Routledge.

Helal, A., Mokhtari, M., & Abdulrazak, B. (2008). The engineering handbook of smart technology for aging, disability and independence. John Wiley & Sons.

McCann, J., & Bryson, D. (Eds.). (2009). Smart clothes and wearable technology. Elsevier.

Reed, F. D. D., Hyman, S. R., & Hirst, J. M. (2011). Applications of technology to teach social skills to children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5(3), 1003-1010.

Hall, A., Bostanci, A., & Wright, C. F. (2010). Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using cell-free fetal DNA technology: applications and implications. Public Health Genomics, 13(4), 246-255.