The past few years have seen a number of technological breakthroughs targeting disabled consumers. Apple, for example, is incorporating technologies such as voice recognition and screen readers, which can synthesize text into speech, into all of their products, rather than offering them as add-ons.
Applications such as GoTalk NOW and TapSpeak Sequence allow users to combine text, pictures and symbols with audio programs that put voice to thoughts and ideas. Someone who can’t speak clearly can touch a picture of a hand, then a book, and the tablet will say: “Please pass me the book.”
Blind people can take notes using voice-recognition programs, and listen to emails or “read” a website with screen readers. People with attention deficit disorder can use apps that remind them to stay focused by announcing appointments with lights and sounds. And those with spinal cord injuries share tips on forums such as apparelyzed.com for how to go hands-free on digital tablets using mouth sticks like those mounted on wheelchairs.
“High-tech advances are starting to help level the playing field, opening the door for so many people,” said Therese Willkomm of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.