After a plateau in assistive technology development, some innovative technologies are now starting to have an impact, as Can:Do 4 Kids’ assistive adaptive technology specialist ADRIANA SAPIO explains.
We live in a world that is primarily setup for people who have full vision. So, how have people fared during a pandemic led by written or visual media reports and a world going socially tech savvy? It’s an interesting question to pose.
Industry leaders warned that the pre- COVID world was not an accessible one for those with visual impairments. So, imagine navigating the world as a person who is blind or has low vision in the midst of a “social distancing, face-covering” mandate.
People who are vision impaired already experience loneliness at higher levels than the general population. They’re also more likely to suffer from depression and more likely to experience detrimental health outcomes as a result of self-isolation.
Adaptive technology, or the special versions of already existing technologies or tools that provide enhancements or different ways of interacting with the technology, is one way our community supports those who are blind or have low vision.
As orthoptists have more of a medical focus, specifically on diagnosis, treating and managing eye conditions, they frequently refer kids to Can:Do’s allied health professionals for functional support.
This then allows us to take a holistic approach, exploring aspects of the child’s daily interactions with activities and people in their natural environments.
Access to the right technology can make a real difference by increasing opportunities to learn whilst developing independence skills. The assistive adaptive technology service aims to support and meet the needs of the child and family by providing the tools necessary to interact with their surroundings.
Ultimately, the aim is to provide the child with independent and equal access to their visual environment. This means availability of resources and equipment they can trial in all environments they intend to use that aid.
After a couple years of a plateau in assistive technologies, some innovative technologies are now starting to have an impact.
Some things to look out for
Be My Eyes (bemyeyes.com)
Be My Eyes allows blind people to call a pool of volunteers who have signed up as members to help ‘be their eyes’. They use this for daily experiences such as asking what an expiry date is on food. Or, asking to help find something – for example, “I dropped my ‘xx’ can you see where it is for me?” Or, “I’m looking for ‘xx’ in the supermarket, can you tell me which of these it is?”.
DotPad (pad.dotincorp.com)
DotPad teamed with Apple to create a tablet that has 2,400 refreshable pins. It uses AI technology to process visual images and convert them into a tactile format.
I have been able to watch several blind people interact with DotPad and it is so beautiful to see the big smiles on their faces. For the first time they learned what the logos of different apps represented – for example, the mail app is an envelope.
Through DotPad, users are able to draw tactile shapes, read tactile shapes, and gather a visual understanding of representation of stock trends and graphs.
They can also read multi-line refreshable braille, allowing them to skim read and read more fluidly.
Historically, braille users would have only been able to get an understanding of this information via auditory descriptions, which can be quite exhaustive (imagine listening to graph descriptions).
This is likely going to be a game changer, especially in the education and paediatric space.
As we set course to come out of pandemic mode, we hope our community continues to embrace the assistive adaptive technologies available.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adriana Sapio is Can:Do 4 Kids’ assistive adaptive technology specialist and a senior occupational therapist with a Graduate Certificate in Education (vision impairment). Can:Do 4Kids is South Australia’s oldest charitable service provider, offering vital therapy and support to children and young people who are blind, low vision, deaf or hard of hearing.
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