Tag: Disability

A mobile box turns any space into a classroom. Now a Nigerian-based firm is concentrating on providing IT training to the country’s deaf and hearing-impaired community. A new digital platform will help students with programming or data analysis. All in sign language. With extra video courses teaching Java, SQL and C++. Personalised mentoring programmes ease the transition into professional...

Herbs and spices can aid memory and indigestion. Now, a blind female chef is aiming to make cooking safer for blind or vision-impaired people. In a series of accessible videos, she provides tips, cooks different recipes and introduces helpful tools. Like measuring spoons with tactile raised dots that make it easier to get quantities right. Or a ceramic coin...

The right outfit can help people relax. But comfort is also a must for those who wear prosthetic limbs. Enter a London-based startup which is aiming to ensure artificial and real body parts fit perfectly together. The team’s smart liner stems from a university project and is padded with an elastic silicone insert with embedded air chambers. The insert...

Light switches can be controlled remotely thanks to a ring, while some glasses correct blind spots in wearers’ field of vision. All these innovations mean increased integration for people with specific disabilities. And now a Romanian startup is looking specifically at website access. An app designed for businesses constantly monitors their websites for accessibility issues and makes recommendations -...

New wheelchairs can be controlled by head movements. Now, a Californian startup has developed a wearable ring to operate light switches, fans and air-conditioning units more easily. The ring uses infrared to communicate with an electric switch cover, placed over a rocker switch, at distances of up to 10m. Both ring and switch cover take an hour to charge. Low...

Video calls are easy with special cards. Meaning people who struggle with technology feel less isolated. Now an Australian startup's app is focusing on another group, enabling neurodivergent, chronically sick or disabled people to connect with those in similar situations. The first priority is safety. After entering personal information and interests into their profile (which can be made private)...

Special lenses reduce the likelihood of epileptic attacks. Novel hearing glasses make for more inclusive conversations. Now, a New York-based company has developed smart glasses for vision-impaired people or those with retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration. The trick? Two cameras in the frames record the field of vision, while two inward-facing cameras capture the eye and its movement....

Blind people can now navigate buildings more easily. Still, reading texts in braille requires training and a highly developed sense of touch. According to a Chinese research team, however, this role could soon be performed by a digital pen. The team developed a soft, thin film with an embedded fibre optic sensor, which uses light to feel. Like human...