Thursday, September 13, 2018

Technology helping people with diabilities


https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2018/09/10/technology-improves-people-disabilities-firms-respond-moral-legal-demands/835232002/

The article discusses how new tech products are making life easier for people with disabilities.  The article mentions a Douglas Wakefield, a 76 years old blind person who is learning to write apps for the iPhone. He uses Microsoft’s Seeing AI app in his iPhone to distinguish one grocery from another. He can watch Netflix with audio descriptions together with his wife who is also blind. Some of his most useful tech devices include Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod which he can tell to switch on household lights by voice. Inclusion of these features encouraged by tech companies’ desire to inclusiveness and their need to follow legal and market requirements. The article mentions that companies need to adhere to state and federal laws such as the 1990 Americans Disabilities Act and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act “which requires the federal government to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.”


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