Vital Signs Camera App
emote monitoring and telehealthcare are topics that often get raised when people discuss the future of the Aging In Place movement, and this app from Phillips may be a sign of things to come. The Vital Signs Camerauses the standard camera in your iPad or iPhone to monitor both your heart rate and breathing rate. […]
RNIB Gets Tough With bmibaby Over Accessibility
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIBP) has sued the UK airline, bimbaby, over the accessibility of its website. People using screen readers or non-mouse navigation were unable to buy plane tickets online, and were instead directed towards buying tickets by phone, at times paying fees to do so. Customers were also concerned that […]
Sprint Mobile Accessibility App
Sprint has worked with the developer Code Factory to develop the Mobile Accessibility app geared toward the visually impaired. The application focuses on providing audio feedback to navigate the phone. In addition to other feature. the phone reads back text in response to where the user touches the screen. This app utilizes the consumer’s abilities […]
Accessibility features need support, too
A few years ago, Apple Inc. captured yet another huge slice of the consumer market by releasing a new iPhone that was, out of the box, completely accessible to blind and low-vision users. The triumph was stunning on several fronts. First, while blind and low-vision people were texting and sending email using other cellphones, it […]
Navatar: Navigating Users With Little to No Sight in Indoor Spaces
Human Computer Interaction researcher Elke Folmer, based out of the University of Nevada, Reno, has developed an interior navigation system for people with little or no sight. Instead of relying on expensive sensing equipment or augmentations to the building in which the device is used, Navatar uses accelerometers, a low cost technology available in smartphones. […]
Assistive Listening Calculator – Free Mobile App For iPhone and iPad Eases Installation of Assistive Listening Systems
The ADA Compliance Assistive Listening Calculator is a free mobile program for the iPhone and iPad from Listen Technologies. The company describes it as “a complete tool-set for understanding and calculating facility requirements to meet the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design.” The app includes a calculator, e-mail capability, helpful ADA information links, product assistance and […]
Issues using the Walmart and John Lewis websites with the Jaws screen reader
This video from Ability Net explores the problems that keyboard users and screen reader users can face when attempting to navigate through an inaccessible website. Issues such as non-descriptive link titles, skipping over links, and no visual differentiation marking which link is currently selected can make navigation impossible for many users
Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) w/captions and description
Raising the Floor, a consortium of academic, industry, and non-governmental organizations and individuals are working to develop what they call the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure, a cloud-based personalized interface system that could change the landscape of assistive technologies. The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) would allow people who cannot use the standard interfaces on devices […]
Emotiv
The Emotiv headset is a personal computer interface that works by detecting facial expressions and electric signals produced by the brain. Some of the applications currently compatible with the Emotiv include games that give players the fantasy of having supernatural powers and an onscreen keyboard that allows people with locked-in syndrome to communicate. Eventually the […]
Communicating Across a Life Span: Universal Design in Print and Web-based Communication
Universal design is an important concept in effective communication. Signage, for example, addresses people’s diverse abilities when it includes easy-to-recognize graphics, large print, raised or Braille lettering, and color combinations that people can see. “If a design works well for a person with a disability,” says Fletcher, “it probably works better for everybody.”