Here are the ways AI is helping to improve accessibility

Smart home speakers and voice assistants Smart home speakers like Google Home, Amazon’s Echo series, and Apple’s HomePod have given digital voice assistants a new lease on life — and they aren’t just a lazy way to queue up your favorite podcasts. For people with certain disabilities, they’re a godsend. … Speech-to-text and text-to-speech Smart

There’s Always Something to be Done: Liz Henry on Being Disabled in Tech

… Liz is currently the release manager for Mozilla, and has worked in two eras of tech: the 1990s and the mid-2000s to the present. She learned her computer skills from tinkering with computers from a young age, and having the freedom to experiment. In addition to her work in open source software, Liz is

Emerging tech aims to improve life for handicapped

Emerging technology is giving new hope for the handicapped, and harnessing brainwaves for the physically disabled and helping the visually impaired with “artificial vision” are just the start. … Many systems showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are aimed at improving quality of life for people with disabilities. BrainRobotics, a Massachusetts-based startup,

Australia’s first disability-focused tech accelerator launched | Media Access Australia

Australia’s first disability-focused impact accelerator, Remarkable, held its official launch event on 31 March at the University of Sydney. The Remarkable Accelerator program aims to work with inclusive start-up companies by using technology in innovative ways to improve the lives of people with disabilities. Remarkable, a division of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and powered by

The New Old: High-Tech and Design for Aging | Re/code

… While Silicon Valley excels in creating technology that engages younger consumers and makes business practices more efficient, there is a growing opportunity for technologists to apply their skill sets to redefine how people age. Take, for example, the current trend of aging in place. Smart technology has started transforming homes, infiltrating everything from our

How Our CSS Framework Helps Enforce Accessibility | eBay Tech Blog

An extremely well written detailed in-depth article.. nice to see. A user interface control not only needs to look like a certain control, it must be described as that control too. Take for example a button, one of the simplest of controls. There are many ways you can create something that looks like a button, but unless you

Styling Forms Accessibly | UX Booth

I was waiting at a bus stop when I realized that the person next to me was using sign language over FaceTime on her phone. I had never thought about how video calling benefitted communication for hearing-impaired people. There is so much that accessibility enables. As a UX developer, I try to incorporate accessibility needs

The Future of Assistive Tech Is Simple | Al Jazeera America

…the brightest future of assistive technology — a catchall term for any hardware or software used to “increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities,” according to the Assistive Technology Industry Association — will not be found in such marvelous manifestations. Rather, it will be in the application of everyday technology to enhance accessibility

People With Disabilities Still an Afterthought in Tech Design

Progress over the past 25 years has made computing more accessible to people with disabilities. But from design to finish, accessibility is still an afterthought in the race to technological innovation. — Despite breakthroughs in robotics, speech recognition, eye-motion sensors, virtual reality and many other areas, the general design approach to new products still excludes people