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products geared to making the lives of the disabled more accessible

Student-Developed Smart Glove Boosts Braille Accessibility and Literacy

By Isabela Wilson

Two Cornell students have created BrailleWear, a smart glove that aims to improve accessibility and increase braille literacy rates among the visually impaired.

BrailleWear was co-founded by information science student Kushagra Jain ’23 and Nolan School of Hotel Administration student Lyon Li ’23 in 2022. The duo founded BrailleWear under their company ORama AI to develop and manufacture a smart glove that would enable the visually impaired to read braille while also learning how to understand braille code in the process.

TransLink Testing App-Based Accessibility Tool for Individuals with Sight Loss

Kenneth Chan
Jan 9 2023

Metro Vancouver’s public transit authority is looking to further improve the accessibility and usability of the network for people with sight loss.

TransLink is set to test the new use of NaviLens, a smartphone app-based tool, for providing passengers with navigational audio and sensory cues to identify their bus stop and the exact point of pick-up. As well, the app provides real-time bus arrival times and service alerts and identifies relevant facilities at a location, such as elevators.

NaviLens is a proven accessibility tool used on other public transit systems in various capacities, such as in New York City, Liverpool, and Madrid.

The Latest Android Update Is Bad News for Accessibility Users

Change prompts a ‘devastated’ columnist to search the internet for workarounds by Brianna Albers | December 19, 2022

I could tell it was going to be a bad day.

I woke up to an overdraft notice from my bank, which is never a good sign. Then I realized something was wrong with my phone. I’d updated it the day before, but hadn’t used it since then, so the changes took me by surprise.

Years ago, when I first switched from Apple to Android, my reasoning was simple: Android offered accessibility features that Apple did not. For almost a decade, I’d made do with the “assistive touch” feature available on the iPhone, but as my SMA progressed, I found myself needing things that Apple didn’t offer.

Local Diabetic With Vision Loss Pushing for Legislated Accessibility on All Medical Equipment

Author of the article:Dave Battagello
Publishing date:Nov 22, 2022

Slowly making progress on getting changes secured with manufacturers on insulin pumps to accommodate those with vision loss, a local man is among those now focused on seeing new federal legislation put in place so all medical equipment must pass accessibility tests.

Ryan Hooey, 36, of Tecumseh has been dealing with diabetes since childhood and lost his eyesight almost overnight because of the disease roughly 10 years ago due to diabetic retinopathy.

Canada has one of the highest rates of retinopathy – 25.1 per cent of people living with diabetes – which is the leading cause of sight loss in working-age adults. An estimated 750,000 Canadians live with the condition.

Program Aims to Make Treatment More Accessible for Diabetes Patients

By: Keely McCormick
Posted Nov 23, 2022

CLEARWATER, Fla. – A Clearwater man with diabetes is spreading the word about a program that is making life easier for him: an at-home patient monitoring system powered by CopilotIQ.

David Coarsen has been living with diabetes for two years. He said the shift to virtual care saves him time and effort.

“It was just more convenient having things coming to me all the time rather than me going out somewhere to see a doctor,” Coarsen said.

CopilotIQ ships all the tools needed to test blood sugar levels to the patient’s doorstep. They then use a cellular-powered device that sends the patient’s readings back to the medical team.

This Blind Man has Been Fighting for Years to Get ‘Talking Prescriptions’ at His Local Pharmacy

After hearing from Go Public, Rexall says it will provide audio drug labels on ‘case by case basis’ Carolyn Dunn, CBC News
Posted: Oct 31, 2022

Dean Steacy has been fighting for five years to get his local Rexall drugstore to adopt “talking prescription label” technology.

The Gatineau, Que., man has been blind for 17 years, takes insulin and up to 10 pills daily for diabetes and related conditions.

He sometimes has to rely on others to help him manage his medications. The lack of independence “kind of takes away part of your dignity,” he told Go Public.

Technology Can’t Solve the Problems Ableism Creates

by Cricket Xiao Jiu Bidleman
Braille Monitor March 2022

“Did you read that story in the Stanford Report about the affordable “smart cane” that uses robotics? Wasn’t it cool?”

Whenever articles about disability technology come out, I’m asked for my thoughts and feelings on the innovation at hand. People expect me, a blind person, to share their excitement. Most find my frustration and lack of enthusiasm perplexing. They don’t understand that, in the midst of the excitement that comes with applying technology to the disability community, the true harm, ableism, is often overlooked.

Glove Translates Sign Language in Real-time

July 6 2020

BIOENGINEERS have built a glove able to translate sign language to speech in real-time.

The cutting-edge glove features thin, stretchable sensors running to the fingertips. These sensors can detect motions and finger placement through electrically conducting yarns. Those sensors are then connected to a tiny circuit board ” approximately the size of a coin worn on users’ wrists.

When people move their hands and fingers to form ‘words’, the glove translates the individual letters, numbers, words and phrases into audible language.

Innovative Masks to Help Persons with Visual Impairment

Middle East, News
April 24 2020

ISRAEL: For the hearing impaired, this is no easy task, as it adds an extra layer of difficulty to their ability to communicate, often times with various service providers such as doctors and nurses. As face masks have become an inseparable part of the lives of millions of Israelis there are those who may have more trouble with the new law requiring to wear them.

“Masks of this type improve the accessibility and communication of handicapped people who use lip reading, as well as people with an intellectual disability,” said Yuval Wagner, CEO of the “Access Israel.”

The BlindShell: An Accessible Cell Phone with Real Buttons

by Curtis Chong
Braille Monitor March 2020

From the Editor: Many of us have had an electronic partner that stays with us almost all the time. It is a smart phone. But many blind people have felt left out in this world of accessible phones, because they lack the interest or the dexterity to use a touchscreen. They want buttons, and they want menus they can hear and use to accomplish some of the tasks that their smart phone buddies using touch screens have.

Curtis Chong offers what may be a good solution. His credentials to evaluate and explain technology are well known to readers of the Braille Monitor, so let us go directly into his article: