Information from the INDATA Project is now available via podcast! Every Friday, the INDATA Project will release two podcasts featuring new assistive technology projects. The podcasts are available for viewing on the INDATA Project website and on iTunes. The “Assistive Technology Update” is a fast-paced weekly update for AT professionals and enthusiasts. The “Accessibility Minute” is designed for all listeners to provide assistive technology tips and tricks.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of apps for the iPhone and other IOS devices. With so many options to choose from it can be difficult to pick which really do their job. The game gets trickier when you are a person living with a disability. The following list is a compilation of apps that are useful from areas like deaf and hard of hearing to cognitive issues to food allergies.
iComm-Free (iPhone)
Designed by a father with a disabled daughter, this app is ideal for both young children who can’t yet speak and children with disabilities. The child can choose what they need by looking at a set of images, for example if a child is hungry they can choose a banana.
Parking Mobility-Free (iPhone)
This app makes finding disabled parking places so much easier! By using the iPhones GPS capabilities, the app can clue you into the closest available spot. The more you use it and and update it, the more it helps others because you can mark accessible parking sports that are not currently on the map. You can also report violations of disabled parking abusers.
Sign Smith ASL Essential-$.99 (iPhone)
There are multiple versions of this app, the $.99 version offers over 100 signs for ASL words that you can use to learn sign language. Each word is accompanied by an animated person showing how to complete the sign movement. The Lite version is free and offers 20 words and the Ultimate version offers 1200 words for $4.99.
This app, while still in the early stages translates a hearing person’s voice into text during a phone call. Deaftel users can read and respond to the message with their keyboard. An animated figure informs users informs the recipient has picked up the phone and ended the call. Stay tuned, this app is sure to evolve with time!
Tap Tap- $2.99 (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad)
The app is designed to produce alerts when loud noises are made around the phone. The phone will begin to vibrate and flash alerts if there has been a loud noise or someone speaks in your direction. This app could be useful because it would help a user identify a knock at the door, an alarm sounding or that they are being addressed.
SoundAMP Lite-Free (iPhone, iTouch)
This little app does big things. Voted a top five medical app in 2010, it turns your iPhone into a listening device. It’s discrete and easy to use, simply plug in your buds to hear your friend, a lecture or your favorite radio station.
Food Additives 2-$3.99 (iPhone)
For some, consuming certain additives can be extremely hazardous and since so many foods these days have additives, it’s critical to know what is safe to eat. The app features a database of 450+ food additives and foods that contain them which is entirely self contained, which means no internet connection is needed to use it.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Reference-$.99 (iPhone)
When the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 it gave all Americans the same rights, regardless of disabilities. The law, although helpful, is complex. If you’re frequently in positions where you need to cite the law or want to have a handy way to reference it, this app will help. It’s formatted into sections, just like the real bill, and includes several FAQs.
To view even more helpful apps make sure to check out atla.org and silvercross.com.
A recent White House report indicated that while only 17% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, rural residents account for 44% of the military. These rural veterans and military officers are returning to their ranches, farms and rural communities with disabilities such as post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) and brain injuries at high rates.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and currently serving 24 states nationwide, AgrAbility seeks to eliminate (or minimize) obstacles that inhibit success in production agriculture or agriculture related occupations. However, soldiers today are facing more obstacles after returning home because of the injuries they sustained abroad. Farming, as hard as it was before, is now even more difficult to do for veterans coming home.
Organizations, like AgrAbility, are working to raise public awareness about returning our soldiers back to some semblance of normal life after returning home with a disability. Whether it be a traumatic brain injury, cognitive difficulties or for example, Indiana AgrAbility, on which our very own Wade Wingler is an advisory council member, is partnering with the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Indianapolis to develop a workshop for veterans, VA workers and other professionals on opportunities in agriculture and the benefits of horticulture therapy for returning veterans. Steve Swain, the rurual rehabilitation specialist with Breaking New Ground/Indiana AgrAbility, said he has worked with several military veterans with disabilities and offered to share the following story of one such opportunity:
“One of those veterans was disabled during a parachute accident when his spinal cord exploded causing paralysis. Mr. Swain was asked to assist the veteran in determining possible employment options. In a meeting at his home, options were discussed which included raising produce on his property, a woodworking business, a hands-on engineering design business, and gunsmithing. The discussion also included what he liked to do; what he didn’t like to do; the support he had among family and friends; what resources were available both financial and in-kind; what potential assistive technology was available for him in each endeavor. Mr. Swain later followed up with the veteran and found that he had gone thru a number of difficulties but had come thru them and started a woodworking business which operated out of his home. With the determination shown, this veteran will continue to make progress and operate a successful business which will allow him to support his family.”
In order to successfully transition a veteran back into a civilian life, AgrAbility has created a toolkit of sorts, called Agricultural Tools, Equipment, and Buildings for Farmers and Ranchers with Physical Disabilities or, for short, The Toolbox, filled with information and resources that is now available online. Users can “explore” and “search” the online toolbox to discover supplier information, photos and video clips for certain products.
Today, Wade kicks off a two part series about the accessibility of the Amazon Kindle. From text to speech and color contrast options, Wade dives into what makes these digital texts unique and more accessible for those with mobility issues and/or visual impairments.
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Information from the INDATA Project is now available via podcast! Every Friday, the INDATA Project will release two podcasts featuring new assistive technology projects. The podcasts are available for viewing on the INDATA Project website and on iTunes. The “Assistive Technology Update” is a fast-paced weekly update for AT professionals and enthusiasts. The “Accessibility Minute” is designed for all listeners to provide assistive technology tips and tricks.



