Category: accessible Devices
With advances in technology occuring on a daily basis, many devices have been created that make most people's lives easier. The problem, they lack full accessibility. Which devices in your own life would you like to be made accessible or more accessible and what would need to be done. Also, what steps do you think need to be done to convince the manufacturer to implement these suggestions?
I think those automatic checkout lines, the ones you see at Wal-Mart, can be made more accessible. It already talks the shopper thru each step of checkout, but I've heard (and I don't think it's fully accessible that a blind person could use it independently). If anyone has tried using those totally independently and it can be done, I'd be honestly interested to know though. *smile* But yeah, I think it'd be cool for those to be fully useable by blind people since they already talk you thru most of the checkout process already.
I also think all cell phones, on-screen TV menus, PDA's/music players, and other electronics, should have built-in accessibility. They can have a button or button combo/sequence to toggle on and off a feature such as the speech. I love that Apple has thought to include speach in their products, but for now, we only have the option of that and a limited number of phones/PDA that either have incomplete accessibility or where we have to pay extra on top of the product to get speech on our device.
Someone's gonna laugh at this, I'm sure, but...
They should make an audible pregnancy test. It be too expensive to make them all accessible, but something has togive! It was so embarrassing for me to have to goto the doctor & take one; not only that but it took time & was costly to them & me. Otherwise, I've asked a sighted family member & they'd always act strangely & I've gotten many a false result because theycan'tseethescreen very well. So for sighted people pregnancy tests are small & awkward. If a girl is late for her period, she shouldn't have to wait a week to get in to the doctor, make reservations with paratransit, & all the other crap that goes with such a simple task as finding out the big reason behind a missed period. Sighted people have the option of going to a supermarket/drugstore/dollar store/whatever & picking one up & goingin to the rest room to take it. Just sayin'.
I think home appliances such as stoves and ovens and washers and dryers should have buttons instead of flat screens or dials.
As far as how to convince manufacturers, remind them that almost every day on the news we are reminded about the population is aging. It's not just congenital blind people who need accessability, it's the baby boomers who are getting up in years and losing their vision. Tell these manufacturers that they too will be old and blind some day.
someone mentioned this before, but I'd love to have the on screen menus on tvs accessible. it is annoying to have to call directv and pay 5 dollars to get a pay per view movie because i can't pick one on screen which only costs three dollars. Yes, I should be reported to amnesty international for unnecessary torture of money, i hold to it very tightly. Yes, it's not that big of a deal but it's annoying non the less.
one more item, i'd love to have two things. a pocked sized can reader and a color identifier that actually works.
@Post4: That does sound good, and yeah, it doesn't seem right for a blind person to go thru all that just to get a pregnancy test done when a sighted person could just use it privately and quickly.
@Post5: That does sound convincing enough about the aging population. It seems like they've somewhat thought of this for diabetes at least, as some of the glucose monitors do speak the readings. So someone there, either the manufacturers or the people who thought to advertise them to the average consumer probably figured that blindness is a possibility with diabetes. Since someone thought of that part, I think they should also think of the possibility of becoming disabled thru other conditions or accidents. I know the primary goal is to totally recover from any injuries from such events, but some people don't. I wonder if parents of disabled children think or talk about this very topic that we are discussing here. I think it would also help to ask if any individuals of a manufacturing team have family/relatives with a disability. Mainstream products with built-in accessibility would likely be much less expensive than the specialized ones that do the same thing, and because of that, more money for the manufacturers and whoever sells their products would probably be coming in.
Another think that could be brought up for manufacturers is that it can be a convenience for accessibility features to be built-in. Besides possibly getting more money thru being accessible to more people, people without the conditions those features were originally meant for could also benefit from them. Some good examples are the curb cuts and the buttons to open a door. Having speech on or easily accessible on a device/product might mean that a sighted person could use their product without having to look at it, for example like they have with the driving mode on the LG phone I have.
I had thought of something else. Right now, they only have certain programs with audio description, and are only required to have so many hours/programs with it. I think there should be more programs/movies with audio description, and of course this can be an optional feature like it already is. Either that, or they should make the TV scripts available to us to follow along with the show we're watching, since the scripts mention visual events as well as what is said by characters. (They do have some websites with TV scripts but you have to really look for them, and they are either very limited or inaccessible.)
Great suggestions, each and every one. The solutions are such great ideas. I know that to some extent the accessibility onscreen menus will have to be addressed through a recent executive initiative. Thank you so far for sharing your opinions with me and I look forward to reading more of them. I never thought of the need for an audible pregnancy strip reader or making them tactile, but that would be something that would have a mass market. Vecky and Leilani, you have indeed fleshed out the steps that will sell manufacturers on the benefits of accessible applications. Once again, I look forward to more of your device improvements and suggestions on how to make it happen.
I just thought of another thing. Maybe some audible sounds for games such as ski ball or other games like that. It would be useful in games where the amount of tickets you win depends on how high the game scores/points are. A sighted person could look and tell me, but it would be cool for me to know myself so they don't have to stand there with me if they didn't want to and can go and play their games while I play mine. *smile*
Another good idea. These theme parks are supposed to be family oriented and what fun is it for blind people if they can't, without sighted assistance, enjoy some of the offerings. There is one more thing I would like to see being made more accessible. this is similar to the suggestion to make automated checkout lines accessible. Many stores are installing at their checkout lines those touch screen enabled card and check readers so that the clerk doesn't have to do anything anymore. The problem, blind people have a difficult time using them. If made more tactile and had a way to turn on a verbal discription for the instructions, that would be a long overdue improvement.
They have some with tactile keypads so that you at least wouldn't have to tell anyone your card number, but not all places have them. Even then, I agree that it would still be helpful if they had either some kind of sound indications or talking prompts to get you thru the entire payment process without sighted assistance. If they did that, it probably wouldn't matter if the machine was a touch-screen or not since either way it could be set to have audio prompts guiding the person thru it.
on the touch screen versions, they would also have to have a way to tell you where you are touching before activating and since that could compromise the privacy of pin numbers, that could present a challenge. Even so, there are ways that could be around this, anaudio jack and headphones available upon request, saying number instead of an actual number, or a template where the numbers really are. Thanks for posting about the games you would like to see made more accessible, it reminded me of an Arcade manager that was going to modify a pin ball machine so I could play it, giving me something to do as well, rather than just stand around while my friends played or them having to help me if I wanted to play.
I think cable boxes and satellite receivers should have text-to-speech available for menus and so you can be able to navigate the on-screen program guide and independently order pay-per-view and free on-demand programs without being computer dependent. Same goes for any menus at all that come with such devices, such as set-up menus, etc. Could be easily done using something like the Vocalizer voices or Acapella or any of the speech synths based on human voices.
I am trying to find an accessiblemicrowave... and can find NOTHING! I know there used to be a couple models out there, but where they are and how to get them... I have NO clue
Try cook magic. saw one through walmart.com.
I too would like to see more accessible cable and satellite boxes, especially since discriptive audeo is becoming more available and you can't even access that without sight.
The menus and digital displays on satellite radios should be made accessible as well.
Agreed, but all radios should be, even those in cars since bline people often do ride in cars and have to operate the radio and heting and air conditioning. Also, for the microwave, the sister brand Hamilton Beach TEMO. is the other one found.
Missile thrusters, weapons guidance systems, etc. Shouldn't be that difficult with modern GPS. With enough beers, and some of them Streams or breezes or whatever all of them are called, wonder what could happen? Go look at Ariadne GPS - it uses a server but still you can drag your finger around and look at coordinates. Get lit and have a look. I have just enough judgment left not to post my entire list of alternative assistive devices, lest they violate terms of service, but you all have a good imagination and things to expand it with.
apparently there is a new program for the tevo on direct tv. it sounds most interesting.
Funny leoGuardian. Thanks Turricane for that post. I am hoping that through these ideas, suggestions on how to make them happen, and even solutions that we don't know about, we can bring us all a little closer to getting what we need to live our lives as well as we can.
I wanted the cook magic from wal mart, however, they were all bought out by some access technology company that then raised the price by two hundred dollars. With many of the devices above, implamenting accessibility, especially via speech output, would not be expensive. Those days are long gone. Same goes for touch screen feedback/control. If Apple can do it, then there is no reason why these other companies can't do it for a less complicated interface. I too would like to see accessible automated checkouts as well as accessible ticket/checkin machines at the airport. I hate wasting x amount of time trying to alert an employee that i exist and I would like to check in for my flight... Finally, I would like to see credit card machines, like the ones you find in most taxis these days, accessible.
I agree, and more availability of talking atm's. They don't have to say numbers as you push them but some kind of mark so you find them will be just fine.
With the android platform becoming more accessible every day, our choices for Mobile phones/cell phones, is widening. If anyone is interested in hearing about Android accessibility, check out:
http://www.blindtechsupport.net
actually most ATMs in the US talk now. The catch is that you need to have your own pair of headphones. It's not a big deal, until you get to the ATM and realize you forgot them! And yes, while the android platform is becoming more accessible, it is nowhere as secure as IOS is.
you will still be surprised how many are not. especially the ones I would trust. True quite a few are, more in certain cities than in others. I agree about forgetting your head phones, I think a pair of built-in over-the ear variety would be good. Android isn't any less secure than IOS, If you are refering to the approval process to get things in the itunes store and apple's attempt to deny third party stores from forming where Android market isn't as secure, that is different than the operating system. Still for many, the android platform is the most available platform, or cheapest to get and fund for the two years required to get an iPhone.