[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #728: Assistive technology is making significant strides in the mobile world

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OPLIN 4Cast #728: Assistive technology is making significant strides in the
mobile world
December 9th, 2020

[image: Hand holding a cell phone with the message Do You Need Assistance?]
Last week, the nonprofit Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
held Sight Tech Global <https://sighttechglobal.com/>, the first of a
planned annual virtual conference that looks at how AI-based technologies
are changing accessibility for blind people and those with low vision. The
event was free, and you can watch session recordings
<https://sighttechglobal.com/agenda/> from the two-day conference. Perhaps
coincidentally, Apple and Google have recently announced new projects and
improvements designed to assist people with disabilities in intriguing new
ways.

   -
   - Google’s Project Guideline uses AI to help low-vision users navigate
   running courses
   <https://venturebeat.com/2020/11/19/googles-project-guideline-uses-ai-to-help-low-vision-users-navigate-running-courses/>
   [*VentureBeat*] "Google’s Guideline app works without an internet
   connection and requires only a guideline painted on a pedestrian path.
   Users wear an Android phone around the waist using the aforementioned
   harness; the Guideline app runs a machine learning model that looks for the
   painted line and identifies it. Then, the app approximates the user’s
   position and delivers audio feedback via bone-conducting headphones to help
   keep them on the guideline."
   - iPhones can now automatically recognize and label buttons and UI
   features for blind users
   <https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/03/iphones-can-now-automatically-recognize-and-label-buttons-and-ui-features-for-blind-users/>
   [*TechCrunch*] "It was done by taking thousands of screenshots of
   popular apps and games, then manually labeling them as one of several
   standard [user interface] elements. This labeled data was fed to the
   machine learning system, which soon became proficient at picking out those
   same elements on its own."
   - Android's secret voice control superpowers
   <https://www.computerworld.com/article/3597573/android-voice-control.html>
   [*Computerworld*] "Voice Access empowers you to do virtually *anything* you
   could do by touching your screen simply by speaking, including some things
   that make dictating text much easier and more practical."
   - Google Look to Speak lets you use your eyes to select and speak phrases
   <https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/8/22160011/google-look-to-speak-eye-tracking-android-disability>
   [*The Verge*] "The Android app is designed to make communication easier
   for people with motor and speech impairments."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Bouck, Emily C., et al. “Virtual Manipulatives as Assistive Technology
   to Support Students with Disabilities with Mathematics
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=144918912&site=ehost-live>
   .” *Preventing School Failure*, vol. 64, no. 4, Oct. 2020, pp. 281–289.
   - Carolan, Jane. “Why We Need to Champion Assistive Technology for
   People with Autism
   <https://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=109563254&site=pov-live>
   .” *Learning Disability Today*, vol. 15, no. 5, Sept. 2015, p. 31.
   - Caruso, Catherine. “Grandma’s Robot Helper
   <https://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sch&AN=123611367&site=scirc-live>
   .” *Scientific American*, vol. 317, no. 1, July 2017, p. 24.

------------------------------
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