Assistive technology is a label that encompasses a wide range of products that help disabled, neuro-diverse, and injured people overcome their challenges to work, compute, study, and create.
The last couple of years have been exciting in the world of assistive technology, as artificial intelligence (AI) has made huge strides in improving what disabled people can do. Here are several areas that have experienced great improvement, including some specific highlights.
Speech Recognition: Thanks to AI, voice assistants and language processing have greatly improved for all users. Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri have made great improvement in recognizing accents and different speech timbres. There have also been improvements in accommodating people who have speech impairments, and can only make sounds, as well.
It follows that controlling your computer with your voice has never been easier or as dynamic. With the help of AI, regular end users without coding knowledge can write custom commands to make dictation tools like Dragon do more than ever before to control their computer and devices. Also, there are also newer applications and programs like Cephable coming out that allow you to control your computer or devices with your voice (or movements/gestures), making it easier to program your computer or device to control your apps.
Translation: Not specific to assistive technology (i.e. for disabled or injured users) but also very exciting is the development of “real-time” dictation and translation services. This type of advanced computing would be impossible without AI. Some examples of software that can do this are OpenAI Whisper, Apple’s iOS, and the latest Windows release. There are many apps that are promising to convert audio/written text to sign language as well, which is a great development for deaf users.
Screen Readers: Screen readers provide an alternative way for users to access digital content, and in addition to low vision users, these are useful to those living on the autism spectrum. AI allows for more complex web applications, and for users to more easily control and interact with what is on their screen as AI vastly expands the potential commands at the disposal of the user.
Summarization technologies: For learning-disabled students, having articles summarized by AI can be hugely helpful. For those who have dyslexia, an attention deficit disorder, or cognitive issues as a result of a traumatic brain injury, AI can greatly enhance the process of absorbing new material by breaking it into sections and summarizations.
Along these same lines, chatbots and autonomous agents are also a logical extension of AI technology that will certainly help many users and businesses, but also be used by disabled, injured, and neurodiverse users. Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic’s Claude both recently announced new releases that allow people to program their own chatbots.
Wearable Technology and Image recognition
Those who operate with low vision are the beneficiaries of artificial intelligence’s vast improvements in image recognition technology. Now, more than ever before, people with low or no vision can move throughout the world more easily than ever before, interacting safely and independently with what is around them. An example of a program that makes great use of AI is Seeing AI, which is an app that recognizes and describes objects out loud to the user.
According to Dr. Wolynski, Chief Technology Officer at the Lighthouse Guild, AI will allow smart glasses and other wearable devices to surpass their conventional visual support role, evolving into more comprehensive and interactive sensory tools. This evolution is especially impactful for the blind and low-vision community, promising wearables like Envision Glasses that continue to improve their interactive elements to allow users to achieve greater independence.
Flexibility and Personalization of All Applications
Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that all of these tools are more programmable and customizable than ever before. Thanks to the rapid processing speed of modern devices (combined with the intelligence of AI), devices like smart phones and wearable items can actively process their surroundings and report back to the user in real time.
So, features like facial recognition can be set up for a user specific friend and family group. And, specific dictation phrases and needs can be programmed and customized to match the limited gestures and sounds that a user can make.
Artificial Intelligence is Creating a Better World for Disabled People
The 21st century has already delivered a lot of assistive technology to the disabled community, and so much of it has come in the last 24 months! While we can always do better in our mission to help those with disabilities comfortably work, live, and interact with others, AI companies are making tremendous strides in accessibility products and software.
About the Author
Doug Lear is an Assistive Technology Specialist at Northwest Ergonomics, which is located throughout Oregon, Washington, and the Pacific Northwest. Although Doug has worked for over 20 years in vocational rehabilitation, his passion lies in Assistive Technology. Doug enjoys working with technology, but most of all, he enjoys helping people.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
