7
Accessibility in Disability: Revolutionizing Mobile Technology
Nisarg Gandhewar1* and Senthilkumar Mohan2
1Computer Science & Engineering, SBJITMR, Nagpur, India
2School of Information Technology and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India
Abstract
Billions of population all around the world in a wide variety of diverse disabilities and desires, it’s vital to be acquainted with how can we exploit today’s technological advancement for the betterment of our society and overcome the disabilities. A lot of efforts have been made to assist people with disabilities to defeat physical, social, and attitudinal and many other difficulties. To avoid exclusion from many areas of life cutting edge technologies plays a vital role. In the past number of barriers, especially communication ones, may stop people with visionary, hearing, or cognitive disability from getting the messages and knowledge in a natural learning environment in a college or university. However, the situation has changed, there are multiple technological solutions developed to assist young brigade with different disabilities to acquire a proper education and subsequent benefits. Mobile technology not only transformed the process of communication however it also becoming a crucial way of education, business and rehabilitation. Impairment does not denote in capability, functionalities based on accessibility desire, should remain present in currently available mobile apps. Accessibility does not an elective one, but it is essential for many. But sometimes people with disabilities disconnect from their use. Now a day’s multiple app development platforms such as android and ios have accessibility features that assist developers in building apps by using machine learning and deep learning which make the life of people with disabilities more comfortable. Various technological solutions are available in the market but every solution having its pros and cons that need to be analyzed. This analysis can be beneficial to people with disability while selecting a new solution which can address their problem up to a significant level of extent.
Keywords: Cutting edge technologies, mobile technology, machine learning, deep learning, android, iOS
7.1 Introduction
As per United Nations, approximately 15% of the world’s populace, or nearly 1 billion people, live with disabilities [1]. As per report of World Health Organization (WHO), a disabled person is anybody who is having a problem in body function or structure, an activity limitation, has difficulty in executing a task or action; with a participation restriction”. Even though the fact that disability influence roughly one out of every six persons amongst us, many of them having disability stay expelled from getting involved in various societal and economic activities because of many reasons like unavailability of proper physical environment, government services, assistive devices and technologies [2]. Disability is one of the human conditions, at particular moment in our life, each person will be temporarily or enduringly impaired, and also during old age most of person will experience rise in difficulty while functioning. Disability is complex, and the involvement to overcome the drawbacks associated with disability is numerous [3]. The number of populace experiencing any form of disability signifies a major part of the world population, from adults to children. It is also vital to emphasize the fact that a few people are multi-handicapped and have multiple disabilities. According to the WHO, nearly 1.3 billion populace are experiencing some form of visual impairment and blindness. 466 million populace suffer from deafness and hearing loss. About 200 million citizens have an intellectual disability. 75 million populace requires a wheelchair daily [4]. The different types of can affect a person’s ability of hearing, vision, movement, thinking, learning, communication, interpersonal relationships, memory and mental health. Some disabilities are more noticeable openly than others. Moreover, impairment can appear at any stage in a person’s life. Though a person may come across many types of disabilities, mobile technology address the following types of disabilities shown in Figure 7.1
Vision impairment: It refers to an individual who is blind or have partial vision, visually impaired person are either partly sighted, low vision, legally blind, or blind.
Hearing Impairment: It refers to an individual who are hard of hearing and might be using a variety of strategies and devices including speech, reading lips, notes writing, hearing aids, or interpreters for sign language. Cognitive or Intellectual Disability: It refers to people with problem in mental functioning and various aspects like communication, taking care of themselves, and social aspects. These problems will result in a child who learns and develop more slowly compared to a normal child. These people have trouble while learning in school.
Figure 7.1 Types of disabilities.
Physical Disability: It refers to disability that restricts a person’s mobility. Physical impairment can influence the working of limbs or the whole body. Physical impairment can restrict the accessibility of day to day activities. General physical disabilities comprises muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spinal bifida, and heart defects [5, 6].
Getting access to wireless technology is essential for social and economic participation, which can be particularly challenging for people with disabilities. With millions of populace all around the world and a variety of disabilities and requirement, it’s vital to know how we can utilize current technology to address various disabilities. It’s universally known that there is no scarcity of mobile applications to benefit those with disabilities. Many technological giants like Android and Apple come up with easy to use artificial intelligence-enabled apps for a person with a disability.
7.2 Existing Accessibility Features for Mobile App and Devices
Smart Phones can be made reachable to an individual with different impairment by amalgamating different aspects like operating system, design of hardware and providing precise services and also through installment of third party applications like magnifiers and screen readers that can assist individual to access content and menus. Manufacturer’s display information regarding accessibility enhancing features on their websites mostly. Apps provided by third party like screen readers can often gives a improved experience to users than inbuilt app available in original handset, nowadays number of manufacturers like apple are now offering high quality applications in mobile handsets.
Figure 7.2 Accessibility features for mobile app.
Here we focus on the utility of Smart phones and the accessibility features mention in Figure 7.2 which are necessary to make individual with various types of disabilities accessible to special services that can be offered through mobile phones in order to achieve accessibility and quality of life [6].
7.2.1 Basic Accessibility Features and Services for Visually Impaired
Difficulty: Generally people have no idea regarding which features allows visually impaired person to utilize mobile phones, tablets, computers and other devices. Individual having low vision not able to notice screens therefore not able to utilize smart phone touch screen, contact lists to dial numbers in the address book, send and receive messages, or access the internet. Remedy: visually impaired person rely on computer or mobile phone’s screen reader to make use of it. A screen reader is a kind of software which translates information present on the screen into speech. The latest smart phones come up with screen readers which operates based on your gesture. This permits individual having visual disability to listen to information related to features on their handset through touch, furthermore it let them to drag and tap to manage their actions [6, 7].
In order to facilitate an individual with visual impairment to recognize, realize, navigate, interact with, and contribute to real world various features as shown in Table 7.1 need to be provided in mobile phones. Screen reader plays a very vital role by allowing visually impaired to reads the whole thing shown on the screen and converts it into speech. Whereas zoom enables an individual with low vision to magnify mobile screen to recognize objects. Similarly other accessibility features like Speak screen, Dictation, tactile feedback, Adaptable font sizes, Audible cues, Basic text to speech functionality makes life of visually impaired better.
7.2.2 Basic Accessibility Features and Services for Deaf
Difficulty: Deaf People unable to communicate by phone and interrelate socially because they are not able to listen to the caller or automated electronic messages, like customer care of banks or airline service, additionally they are not able to avail crucial emergency services like call for medical assistance or police.
Table 7.1 Accessibility features for visually impaired.
| Sr. no. | Feature | Remark |
| 1 | Screen Reader | It reads everything showed on the screen and converts into dialogue. Voice Over and TalkBack are the screen-readers on iPhone and Android devices. |
| 2 | Zoom | It’s a magnifier which allows zooming or magnifying screen to an individual with low vision. It works with third party apps and inbuilt apps, making handset fully accessible. |
| 3 | Magnifier | It allows using camera on your phone as a digitally magnifying glass, in order to amplify the size so that we can visualize the things more clearly. |
| 4 | Speak screen | It assists an individual to read emails and book also it helps to read screen when person struggle to read text. |
| 5 | Display accommodations | It provides an option to invert colors, allow grey scale, reducing white point or pickup a range of filters to support a variety of colors for different levels of vision. |
| 6 | Dictation | It provides functionality to convert speech to text; therefore an individual can dictate emails, messages, tweets, facebook posts, and much more without typing it explicitly. |
| 7 | Audible or tactile feedback | It provides audio alert and feedback when button is pressed; received mail or cell phone gets turn on. |
| 8 | Adaptable font sizes | In order to satisfy user needs it helps to increase font size for better visualization. |
| 9 | Audible cues | It generates voice alert for specific services or feature like caller waiting or ending a call, low battery, adjusting the level of volume. |
| 10 | Backlit display | It makes easy to visualize specially in poor lighting, outdoors and indoors conditions. |
| 11 | Basic text to speech functionality | It is helpful while inspecting caller ID and reading text messages [7, 19]. |
Remedy: There are multiple accessibility aspects and services provided by smart phones that makes it feasible to deaf people for making and receiving calls on a handset, ranging from basic aspect such as volume alteration and provision for video relay services [6, 7].
Today 95% of hard of hearing and deaf individuals utilize a cell phone consistently in developed nations. A lot of applications contribute to eradicate communication problem which hamper the day by day lives of millions of hard of hearing and deaf individuals around the globe. In order to assist an individual with hearing impairment to communicate freely with real world a variety of features as revealed in Table 7.2 need to be offer by smart phones. Accessibility features like Adjustable volume, vibrating alert, Text Teletypewriter, Tactile indicators for the keypad, Mono Audio, Captioning makes life of hearing impaired better.
Table 7.2 Accessibility features for deaf.
| Sr. no. | Feature | Remark |
| 1 | SMS, MMS, and Email | It allows deaf people to make contact through text messages, email, SMS or MMS. |
| 2 | Adjustable volume | It helps to an individual with hearing impairment by improving the hearing aids functionality. |
| 3 | Visual or vibrating alert | This option assists to an individual by informing them about incoming messages, calls and emails. |
| 4 | Text Teletypewriter (TTY) | It’s a specialized device which can be used to send text message over telephone lines. |
| 5 | Call logs | It displays missed calls that have been missed due to lack of vibration or unable to see light on screen. |
| 6 | Tactile indicators for the keypad | It helps to confirm actions being taken by highlighting keypad pressed buttons through lights or vibration. |
| 7 | Mono Audio | It helps deaf people for listening music and making calls easier by transmitting left and right side channel audio content to both ear buds of headphones. |
| 8 | Video conferencing. | It allows deaf people to communicate through face-to-face calling. |
| 9 | Captioning | It helps to understand videos and movies through captioning and subtitles [7, 19]. |
7.2.3 Basic Accessibility Features and Services for Cognitive Disabilities
Difficulty: Person with cognitive impairment finds it difficult to do one or more task which is carried out easily by an average individual. Based on the kind of impairment, an individual can face issue interrelated to analytical skills, memory, reading skills, attention, computational, numerical and reading comprehension and also the communication.
Table 7.3 Accessibility features for cognitive disabilities.
| Sr. no. | Feature | Remark |
| 1 | Built-in calculator and schedule reminders | It helps an individual for remembering future actions and to execute tasks by using inbuilt schedule reminders and calculator through acoustic, visual, and vibrating alerts. |
| 2 | Larger display screens and formatting options | It assists to an individual by providing additional spaces among each word and highlights word in bold. Also it helps to increase brightness which makes easier and pleasurable to read. |
| 3 | Predictive Texting | It assist user while composing message in phone’s text editor by predicting words which makes it easier to compose messages. |
| 4 | Auto-complete and suggestions | It can ease navigation, especially for those who have problems with memory, or for people who find decision making a trigger for anxiety. |
| 5 | Clear interactive elements | All interactive elements like links and buttons are easy to visually distinguish from the content. |
| 6 | Screen Reader | It reads everything displayed on the screen and converts into speech. Voice Over and TalkBack are the screen-readers on iPhone and Android devices [6, 7, 19]. |
Remedy: It’s significant for person with cognitive impairment to have an apparent and easy to use user interface, and consistent UI elements for easier selection of options [7, 8].
Cognitive impairment is a collection of disabilities, conditions or issues that can go from mellow to extreme. Related indications can include: short/long haul memory troubles; regular tactile over-burden; consideration shortfall issues; slow preparing speeds; issues with critical thinking; education difficulties. Pictures, symbols and realistic substance can truly assist a client with an intellectual hindrance. Many applications with variety of features enlisted in Table 7.3 serve to eliminate interaction problem which hinder the daily activities of cognitively impaired around the world. Suggestions and auto-complete usefulness can be unbelievably valuable. Suggestions can ease route, particularly for the individuals who battle with memory, or for individuals who discover dynamic a trigger for nervousness. Auto-complete can likewise be immensely valuable for those with troubles with education and spelling. Accessibility features like schedule reminders, larger display screens and formatting options, predictive texting, auto complete and suggestions, clear interactive elements makes life of cognitive impaired better and easy.
7.2.4 Basic Accessibility Features and Services for Physically Disabled
Difficulty: It will be very difficult for an individual who is not able to make use of their hands or move their arms fingers effortlessly to physically navigate or press buttons on hand set because of impairment.
Solution: There are multiple accessibility solutions and services provided by smart phones that makes it feasible to physically disabled people to dial and attain calls on a cell phone, like voice recognition [7, 9].
Many of us are physically disabled eventually in our lives. A kid, an individual with a wrecked leg, a parent with a pram, an old individual, and so forth are totally handicapped somehow. The individuals who stay sound and physically fit for their entire lives are not many. Taking everything into account, it is significant that it should be sans obstruction and adjusted to satisfy the necessities surprisingly similarly. Truly, the requirements of the incapacitated match with the necessities of the lion’s share, and all individuals are calm with them. Accordingly, getting ready for the dominant part suggests making arrangements for individuals with shifting capacities and inabilities. In order to ease physically disabled individual to carry out day to day task and contribute to real world a variety of features as shown in Table 7.4 need to be provided in mobile phones. Accessibility features are intended to assist individuals with handicaps use innovation all the more without any problem. For instance, a text-to-speech highlight may recite text so anyone can hear for individuals with restricted vision, while a speech-recognition permits clients with restricted versatility to control the PC with their voice. Accessibility features like voice recognition, auto text, sensitive touch screen, spoken feedback, select to speak, Voice commands helps physically disabled a lot.
Table 7.4 Accessibility features for physically disabled.
| Sr. no. | Feature | Remark |
| 1 | Voice recognition | It helps physically disabled people through voice instructions for accessing computers and cell phones for making calls, scripting and sending SMS, compose documents, opening and closing applications. |
| 2 | Auto Text | It helps to replace the specific text with preloaded texts to decrease the number of keystrokes required to prepare the message. |
| 3 | Sensitive Touch Screen | Smart Phones with sensitive touch screen assist an individual with actions limited to their fingers and answer the call by pressing any key. |
| 4 | Spoken feedback | The TalkBack function uses touch and spoken feedback to interact with their device. |
| 5 | Select to speak | It confines the spoken feedback function to only individually selected items on the screen. |
| 6 | Voice commands | It permits an individual to control their devices through spoken commands [6, 7, 19]. |
7.3 Services Offered by Wireless Service Provider
Few services provided by WSP (wireless service provider) such as Digital libraries for visual, GPS (global positioning system), relay services, living with independent, Emergency phone services, customer service as shown in Figure 7.3.
Figure 7.3 Various services offered by the wireless service provider.
7.3.1 Digital Libraries for Visual
During the downloading or finding the eBooks on the internet visually challenged users having the issue. The current/next generation mobiles with most valued features can overcome the challenges faced by the users. The users can able to access the book by using a screen reader along with talking features. This feature useful for them to read the books anywhere and at anytime without any issues. The features can download eBooks via the internet by using smart phones with many ways for visually disabled users. In advanced countries like Japan introduced smart phones for visually challenged users in the classroom to perform recording for taking class notes and work [7].
7.3.2 GPS
GPS plays a major role in the navigation of streets and overcome the barrier of information for visually disabled users. The smart phone with GPS built-in technology along with Google Maps freely available for all the users. Information is shown in the map which is accessible over the screen and performs reading based on that visually impaired.
GPS technology permits users to perform:
- • Helpful to decide on travel and selection of the mode of transport available to users.
- • Provide information about landmarks, nearby places which help them confirm the right direction of travel.
- • During walking guidance about their destinations, path with direction.
7.3.3 Relay Services
Relay services are classified into four categories namely captioned speech relay services, Speech to speech relay services, Text relay services, and video relay services. These services are provided by human beings to conduct tasks like translation in mobile devices.
7.3.4 Living With Independent
Wireless technologies are easy to access and provide instantaneous access to physically challenged people. These people can use the services in various ways to make their lives more independent for daily routine activities. The main objective is to make the person feel comfortable and not depending on others help for services like home automation, internet browsing, reading Ebooks, text to speech, speech to text activities, emergency support, etc [7].
7.3.5 Emergency Phone Services
During the emergency the person with disabilities is able to make calls to a nearby person to get help. This has becomes very important and lifesaving. However limiting a person’s capacity to communicate vital information to others is made possible by phone services.
- • Listen to the message/call which fails to request assistance.
- • Visually challenged person cannot give the exact location where the emergency help is needed.
7.3.6 Customer Service
Customer service is a significant part of many services offered by the service providers. Helping the visually challenged people on time without any interrupt becomes challenging and essential services. Some of the services offered orange, AT &T, NTT DoCoMo, and become success [7].
7.4 Mobile Apps for People With Disabilities
Mobile Apps acts as an interface to access various services in our day to day life for a bigger part of humankind and populace with impairment are not an exception. From the insignificant to the vital, mobile apps are serving to the requirements of people all around the world in the most dissimilar scenarios in a moment in history when almost any person, even in the extreme remote places, have access to any type of mobile device. This section list different mobile app with their features as shown in Figure 7.4 for visually disabled, speech and hearing impaired, physically disabled, and person with cognitive disabilities [19].
There are many applications as listed in Table 7.5 explicitly intended to assist individuals with visual weaknesses carry on with their best lives. Numerous mobile applications expect to help the outwardly impeded and daze distinguish fundamental items utilizing their cell phones. From perceiving colors, to perusing taxi meters and store registers, charging prepaid scratch cards and distinguishing money bills and checks it in a hurry by coordinating the versatile camera towards the chose thing. The apps like Be My Eyes, Voice Dream Reader, Learn Braille Alphabet, Light Detector, Voice Brief, List Recorder, Perfect Keyboard, Super Vision, NotNav GPS, LookTel etc makes a life of visually impaired better and easier.
As per the National Deaf Association, around 18 million individuals are estimated to be deaf especially in India. Hard of hearing individuals don’t have that numerous choices for speaking with a hearing individual. Deaf individuals can undoubtedly comprehend a lot what other hard of hearing individuals are stating, yet experience issues while speaking with the individuals who can hear. A sign language can assists hard of hearing and quiet individuals to converse with each other becomes unable with regards to correspondence between others. An app like WhatsApp and others as listed in Table 7.6 has become a significant instrument of correspondence for the hard of hearing. A variety of apps like uSound, Marlee Signs, Spread the Sign, Voice Dream Reader, P3 mobile, HearYouNow, Sign Smith ASL, Dragon Dictation, Roger Voice acts as a bridge to interact with normal individual.
Figure 7.4 Mobile apps for person with disability.
Table 7.5 Apps for visually impaired.
| Sr. no. | Mobile app | Platform | Feature |
| 1. | Be My Eyes | iOS | It helps blind people with everyday tasks like navigation. |
| 2. | Voice Dream Reader | iOS, Android | It provides text to speech feature for blind people. |
| 3. | Learn Braille Alphabet | iOS, Android | It allows people to learn how to speak and listen. |
| 4. | Light Detector | iOS | It helps to transform any form of light to sound, also can point out where the light source is. |
| 5. | Voice Brief | iOS(paid) | It allows us to read a range of notification from your phone like calendar, Facebook, Twitter, weather, etc. |
| 6. | List Recorder | Android | It allows us to create a to-do list, also helps to store information in audio format. |
| 7. | Perfect Keyboard | Android | It offers a keyboard design with adjustment, which permits increase in height of key, size of text and space between rows for easier visualization. |
| 8. | SuperVision | Android, iOS | It assists to maintain clarity in text and image at high levels; also it allows using a smart phone camera to zoom in the desired part of documents, books, and images. |
| 9. | NotNav GPS | Android | It’s a special kind of app which is developed by the blind to assist blind person while walking. It also helps to announce user’s direction, nearby cross streets and nearest street address. |
| 10. | LookTel | Android | It instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination of it [10, 13, 18]. |
Table 7.6 Apps for the speech and hearing impaired.
| Sr. no. | Mobile app | Platform | Feature |
| 1. | uSound | iOS, Android | It offers different sound quality and volume in a certain environment. |
| 2. | Marlee Signs | iOS | It helps to learn American sign language, it allows typing some word and it will display how to utter that word with help of sign language. |
| 3. | Spread the Sign | iOS, Android | It offers the biggest dictionaries of sign language in app market with around 300000 sign available. |
| 4. | Voice Dream Reader | iOS, Android | It allows reading screen with ears. |
| 5. | P3 mobile | iOS, Android | It enables you to make a video call, it’s easy to use sleek interface. |
| 6. | HearYouNow | iOS | It helps to understand the conversation clearly by amplifying the sound around you. |
| 7. | Sign Smith ASL | Android | It offers near about 1200 sign. It’s a better app to learn sign language. |
| 8. |
Dragon Dictation | iOS | It offers speech to text facility with remarkable accuracy and it is easy to use. |
| 9. | Roger Voice | Android | It helps to translate what a person speaks on the phone into text on the user’s screen, also it facilitates one or both of the parties who can’t hear to make calls [11, 14]. |
For individuals with actual incapacities, getting around in their regular daily existences can be very troublesome. Undoubtedly, for wheelchair clients a ton of obstructions can transform their outing into a horrible like checks that aren’t brought down or structures with restricted doors. They need to discover business places, parking spaces or even bathrooms that are effectively available for them. In the United States, there are roughly 2.7 million individuals who utilize a wheelchair. How might they explore their way in the city and completely appreciate it? Fortunately, cell phones and applications specifically have improved their lives as it’s the situation for hard of hearing and almost deaf individuals. A few applications as enlisted in Table 7.7 are accessible that help them be more self-sufficient and more tranquil in their excursions. Some were even made particularly for individuals with helpless ability or with diminished utilization of their upper appendages so they can utilize their telephones with no battle. A variety of apps like Wheelmap, It’s Accessible, Wheelmate, Inclusive Britain, Assistive Touch, Google Assistant, Mouse4all Switch assist physically disabled lot to carry out their daily task.
Cognitive impairment is the point at which an individual experiences difficulty in recalling, learning new things, thinking, or settling on choices that influence their regular day to day existence. Psychological disability goes from gentle to extreme. With gentle impedance, individuals may start to see changes in intellectual capacities, yet have the option to do their regular exercises. Serious degrees of debilitation can prompt losing the capacity to comprehend the significance or significance of something and the capacity to talk or compose, bringing about the powerlessness to live autonomously. Now a day’s more and more technology giants coming with innovative apps as listed in Table 7.8 to aid individual with cognitive disabilities and providing lot of accessibility features which makes life of such individual easy.
7.5 Technology Giants Providing Services
Technology giants keep on growing to satisfy humans with disabilities. Few companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have developed accessibility features, particularly to the physically challenged human beings.
Table 7.7 Apps for physically disabled.
| Sr. no. | Mobile app | Platform | Feature |
| 1. | Wheelmap | iOS, Android | It helps to an individual for finding places around you where wheelchair can be accessible. Here you can also put in mark for accessible places. |
| 2. | It’s Accessible | iOS | It allows sharing places like restaurants where physically disabled can visit with ease. |
| 3. | Wheelmate | iOS, Android | It helps to locate wheelchair-accessible toilets and parking spaces. It includes 30000 locations with 45 countries. |
| 4. |
Inclusive Britain | iOS | It offers visual routes for all locations which makes it easier to find the place. |
| 5. | Tecla Access | Android | It offers tools required to access and use cell phones without picking up your device. |
| 6. |
Assistive Touch | iOS, Android | It provides virtual buttons which permits individual to navigate a handset without touching it. |
| 7. | FuelService | iOS, Android | It assists disabled drivers for searching and getting support for refueling their vehicles. |
| 8. |
Assistant | Android | It allows users to carry out numerous tasks without touching phone like making calls, opening apps and sending messages. |
| 9. | Google Map | Android | It helps an individual for moving around more efficiently who have trouble in moving, It can also display the accessible outline of a city with availability of both wheelchair ramps and elevators. |
| 10. |
Mouse4all Switch | Android | It helps to get pleasure from mobile technology, via controlling a pointer of mouse through one or two switches [12, 15, 17]. |
Table 7.8 Apps for cognitive disabilities.
| Sr. no. | Mobile app | Platform | Feature |
| 1. | Miracle Modus | iOS, Android | It helps to decrease the intensity of sensory overload by make use of shapes, soft sounds and hypnotic colors. |
| 2. | Tap To Talk | iOS | In order to make communication simple it helps to convert the phone into an augmentative and alternative communication device. |
| 3. | Book Creator | iOS | It helps to create their own stories, support creativity. |
| 4. | Avaz | iOS | It will be helpful for those who face difficulty while talking or who are nonverbal. |
| 5. | Look at me | Android | It helps to improve facial recognition and make contact with others efficiently. |
| 6. |
Stepping Stones | iOS, Android | It assists individual by creating visual guides who remind them of or assist them to recognize routine task like making toast or doing the washing. |
| 7. | JABtalk | Android | It helps to transform any Android device into an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)device. |
| 8. | Cough Drop | Android | It uses Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to hear the voice of any user having problems in their voice. |
| 9. | ModMath | Android | It offers pencil-free virtual graph paper which is perfect for an individual who struggle to read their own handwriting. |
| 10. | Autism Core Skills | Android | It provides various levels of academic learning, starting from sorting shapes and objects to basic spelling of words [7, 13, 15]. |
All Android mobiles with suite designed for them to perform accessibility to the screen reading those visually impaired. The first smart phone iPhone introduced features accessibility for them like Homekit, voice-over, and few of them. Artificial Intelligence-based technologies developed by Microsoft and Google. The various sectors with positive technical support provide a solution for the people. For Visually challenged people Microsoft launched a free app with AI support which results in more than 1 lakh downloaded in a short period. Microsoft developed “Be My Eyes” which is very useful for blind users. Google developed with AI for image recognition by Google Lens which is useful and gives assistance in Google Homes [7, 19].
7.5.1 Japan: NTT DoCoMo
In developed countries like Japan’s rapid growth of mobile and its technologies over the last decade, according to the research survey, more than 70 % of people in the population lie I the range of 20 to 50 during the year 2004. NTT DoCoMo market shares more than 50% which is identified based on that potential to attract new customers. Based on the studies and evaluation this company identified a lack of assistance and accessibility for elderly persons. The company started developing based on the findings to adapt the design for the universal purpose of all operations and its development across the various divisions. Developing the handsets with various impairments accessible plays a major role which is offered to the customer with various disabilities [19].
7.6 Challenges and Opportunities for Technology Giants to Provide Product & Service
This section highlights the challenges and opportunities for different technology giants while providing accessible products and services for persons with disabilities like visually impaired, speech and hearing impaired, physically disabled, and persons with cognitive disabilities.
7.6.1 Higher Illiteracy Rate
According to the Economic Times survey carried out in the last month of 2019, amongst individuals with disabilities with age of 7 years and above, 52.2 percent were educated and 47.8 were still illiterate, amongst individuals with disabilities age of 15 years and above, only 19.3% had the maximum educational level as secondary and above. Literacy plays a vital role in accessing the products and services provided by many technology giants. The illiteracy rate creates challenges as well as opportunities for technology giants to launch a new product and offer service to a person with disability [16].
7.6.2 Reach out to Customers With Disabilities
People living with disabilities signify target populace, that in several cases is not represented to universal marketing campaigns or they don’t think that the pros encouraged by such campaigns satisfy their requirements. This produces challenges as well as opportunities for technology giants to reach a person with a disability.
7.6.3 Higher Cost of Mobile Phones With Accessibility Features
Many assistive apps work only in high end smart phones whose cost is not affordable to several users, particularly in developing nations, the long term prospect of more powerful, cheaper smart phones creates challenge and opportunities for many companies to offer accessibility service and product to an individual with disabilities around the globe.
7.6.4 Increasing Percentage of Disability
As per United Nations, near about 15% of the world’s populace, or nearly 1 billion people, live with disabilities, this will create challenges and opportunities for many companies to offer accessibility services and products to an individual with disabilities around the globe.
7.6.5 Unavailability of Assistive Technology in Regional Languages
In various countries, facilities like the text to speech or voice recognition are not offered in local languages. Especially in India, multiple regional languages are used by persons with disabilities; therefore it creates challenges and opportunities for many technology giants to offer accessibility service to an individual with disabilities around the globe [16].
7.6.6 Lack of Knowledge Concerning Assistive Solutions
In many countries various service providers offering multiple solutions but knowledge about these assistive services is missing or remains low among disabled person [7].
7.7 Good Practices for Spreading Awareness
Creating consciousness about the requirement for assimilating accessibility features into cell phone and various services for an individual with impairments amongst a variety of stakeholders, like policymakers, device manufacturers, developer’s, service providing firms and standards setting organizations, will assist to promote active initiative and normal accessibility.
- • Conducting communal awareness activities like installing information kiosks and traveling exhibits.
- • Working with technology providers and research labs to develop universally accessible products.
- • Engaging media outreach activities through advertisements and public service broadcasting that emphasizes easily used services and mobile products for a physically disabled person.
- • Publish survey and reports related to the use of cell phones by an individual with disabilities.
- • The government can offer monetary incentives, subsidies, and tax benefits to smaller network operators and manufacturers for adopting accessibility in services and products for disabled persons [7].
- • The government can offer partnerships to companies for research and development of products and services with accessibility features.
- • Governments can provide support for pilot programs through funding, partnerships, or universal service fund.
- • Organizing campaigns through disabled persons to promote accessibility features among the physically disabled person.
- • Encourage a review of existing easy to use mobile phones and services presented by different providers.
- • Promote top handset manufacturers to propose existing easy to use products already marketed around the globe.
- • Endorse opportunities to speed up the development of voice recognition and text to speech interfaces if not offered in local languages.
- • Establish a practice to get feedback and recommendations on potential mobile accessibility gaps, and keep an eye on improvement made in filing these gaps by linking with different associations having individuals with many types of disabilities [7].
7.8 Conclusion
Disability is one of the key public health issues especially in developing countries like India. Accessibility is not an elective one, but it is essential for many. But sometimes people with disabilities disconnect from their use. Mobile technology has not simply transformed the pattern of communication but is also becoming an essential way for education, business and rehabilitation by providing different accessibility features for mobile app and devices. A variety of wireless service providers offer lucrative services that make life easy for a disabled person. Multiple app development platforms such as android and ios offer multiple apps that have various accessibility features that assist physically disabled to carry out multiple tasks. Implementation of good practices helps to improve the lives of the physically disabled person. Still, there are lot many challenges and opportunities are available to technology providers to serve a physically disabled person by offering innovative apps and wireless devices as a technological solution.
References
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