As technology evolves, mobile apps for people with disabilities are improving the lives of users both at home and at work. Different mobile apps will work better than others depending on an individual’s disability. Below, we outline various apps that assist people with hearing loss, visual impairments, mobility impairments, and learning disabilities.
Mobile Apps for People with Disabilities
Hearing Loss
For people with hearing loss, mobile apps have been created to:
- Amplify sounds and offer features similar to a hearing aid
- For example, workers can use apps to amplify sound during a meeting or a phone call
- Develop skills to communicate in sign language
- Receive phone calls by displaying subtitles in real-time
Visual Impairment
For people with visual impairments, mobile apps have been developed to:
- Provide assistance through live video chats to help with everyday tasks
- For instance, reading instructions or navigating surroundings
- Use text-to-speech (TTS) technology that reads digital text aloud
- For example, these apps can read in various pitches and languages
- Indicate and speak the names of colours live using Augmented Reality (AR)
- Import and/or translate print to Braille
- Teach users how to read Braille
Mobility Impairment
People with mobility impairments can use mobile apps that give individuals the ability to search, rate, and mark all accessible places around the world.
In effect, these types of apps give workers with mobility impairments the opportunity to choose potential meeting locations that are accessible to them. If an area is not completely accessible, an individual can plan accordingly or reschedule with ease.
Learning Disabilities
Lastly, individuals who have disabilities that affect their ability to process verbal information can use mobile apps with tap-to-talk technology. Tap-to-talk technology assists with:
- Improving communication
- For instance, users can tap on an image or select a series of words to communicate
- Strengthening writing skills
- Such as sentence formation, grammar, and error-free text
Other mobile apps that assist people with learning disabilities use a form of technology similar to an intelligent personal assistance such as Siri or Google Assistant. Users speak to their mobile devices and have the ability to:
- Have documents and emails read back to ensure there are no errors
- Edit and send emails
These are only a few descriptions of mobile apps that can assist individuals with disabilities in the workplace. The possibilities are endless. New technologies and apps are created every day. So, be sure to check out all the assistance application possibilities on your mobile device.