Taiwan: Disabled Rally for Adequate Facilities
Carrying signs while shouting slogans or using sign language, about 1,000 people — most of them physically challenged — took to the streets in Taipei yesterday to express their anger at what they said was a lack of accessible facilities for disabled people, despite requirements in the law.
From www.taipeitimes.com, November 14, 2011
USA: Disabled Citizens in Oregon Are Voting With iPads
Physically impaired Oregonians are using iPads to vote in today's election after the new system was introduced to help voters who can't fill out traditional forms. Election workers armed with tablets and portable printers will be stopping in parks, nursing homes and community centers in five of the state's counties to assist voters whose limited mobility prevents them from participating through write-in ballots. With the iPad, voters can adjust reading size, font colors and even use a "sip and puff" device that registers breaths as fingertip touches.Physically impaired Oregonians are using iPads to vote in today's election after the new system was introduced to help voters who can't fill out traditional forms. Election workers armed with tablets and portable printers will be stopping in parks, nursing homes and community centers in five of the state's counties to assist voters whose limited mobility prevents them from participating through write-in ballots. With the iPad, voters can adjust reading size, font colors and even use a "sip and puff" device that registers breaths as fingertip touches.
From gizmodo.com, November 09, 2011
TechNews: Best Android Apps and Options for Persons with Disabilities
Android and app developers are becoming more and more sensitive to the special accessibility needs of our friends with disabilities. Apps and mobile operating systems are now designed with these users’ ease of use and convenience in mind.
From www.androidauthority.com, November 08, 2011
TechNews: Handwriting Communication System Could Let the Visually Impaired Feel Their Messages
Researchers at Nagoya Institute of Technology have developed a unique communication system that lets an image or message drawn on a touchscreen be felt by another user in their palm of their hand.
From gizmodo.com, November 08, 2011
USA: Online Learning Provider Makes Learning Accessible to Students with Disabilities
Advanced Academics, a nationally recognized online learning provider, announced today that it has modified more than 100 courses to become compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, making them accessible to hearing and visually impaired students. The organization plans to release 50 additional courses compliant with Section 508 by the end of January 2012. The revised courses have been approved as section 508 compliant by the Digital Learning Department of the Washington state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
From globalaccessibilitynews.com, November 03, 2011
TechNews: Eye-tracking Allows for More Creative Computer-aided Design
Designing with Vision, a system using eye-tracking technology, has been developed by researchers at The Open University and the University of Leeds to give computer-aided design users a more fluid human-machine interface. The software can identify and select shapes of interest automatically within a drawn sketch. The combination of eye-tracking technology and conventional mouse-based input allows initial design sketches to be manipulated and developed according to the user’s subconscious visual cues.
From www.kurzweilai.net, November 02, 2011
Opinion: Breaking the Autism Barriers with Technology
There has been a lot of talk lately about iPads and, to a lesser extend, some other technology that has been vastly improving the treatment methods of autistics all around the world. Yes, Autistics are finding a way to communicate using an iPad. Thanks to the hard work of some very amazing developers, a child, teen or adult with Autism can move a finger around and select emotions, objects, words or even letters on an iPad and express themselves… even though no previous method had worked for that person before.
From www.stuartduncan.name, November 02, 2011
TechNews: Six Smart Kitchen Products to Aid the Visually Impaired
Kitchen is a place where you need to make use of most of your senses like smell, taste, touch and of course sight. But, there are many people in this world who are not blessed with eyesight and are partially or fully visually impaired. Such people have to face hardships in accomplishing every small work or rely on others to help them do the specific work. Working in the kitchen or cooking food is therefore even more difficult a task for such people. To make this task easier for them, many kitchen devices and equipment have been developed. Here we will introduce you to six such smart innovative kitchen products that would make cooking and kitchen work easier for visually impaired people.
From www.designbuzz.com, November 01, 2011
Opinion: Give Deaf People the Chance to Use Video Relay Service
Deaf people need a video relay phone service that translates sign language into speech – but not for just half an hour a month.
From www.guardian.co.uk, November 01, 2011
Postage Stamps to Feature Artists with Autism
The United Nations will honor autism awareness next year with a series of postage stamps designed by individuals with the developmental disability. The stamps are part of an annual effort to highlight causes that are important to the international body, according to David Failor, director of the United Nations Postal Administration, which will issue the first-ever autism awareness stamps in early April.
From www.disabilityscoop.com, November 01, 2011
