Annual RESNA Assistive Technology Conference

The Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) holds an annual conference with a variety of workshops, exhibits, and sessions focused on assistive technology for people with disabilities. This year’s conference will be held on June 22-24 in Bellevue, WA.

The conference features many different events that appeal to a variety of audiences: students, entrepreneurs, people with disabilities, and the general public. The exhibit hall featuring recently developed assistive technology products will be free to the public.

People with disabilities can use the conference to get an up-close look at new products they could benefit from and even have the chance to try them out. For people interested in designing and developing assistive technology, this conference is the perfect opportunity to get expert feedback on new ideas through the Developer’s Forum.

The RESNA conference helps to spread the word about the importance of assistive technology and has the potential to be a driving force behind its continued development. The conference acts as a breeding ground for the development of new and better technologies, bringing seasoned experts and new talent together under one roof.

For more information on the conference or to register to attend, visit the RESNA 2013 Conference site.

TapTapSee – Camera App for the Blind!

TapTapSee is a camera app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, designed specifically for the blind and visually impaired – and it’s free! With TapTapSee, the user simply takes a picture of anything he or she needs to identify and the app speaks the identification (with the VoiceOver setting turned on).

This app can improve the quality and ease of everyday living for the blind and visually impaired community. TapTapSee has a use in every aspect of a visually impaired person’s life. At home, TapTapSee can help with picking out clothes that match as it identifies color. At work, TapTapSee can help with locating files that could otherwise not be read.

One of the best features of TapTapSee is its ability to recognize and identify U.S. currency. Unlike many foreign currencies, U.S. bills are all the same size making it difficult for a blind person to differentiate between them. With TapTapSee a blind user can quickly and easily identify the bill he or she needs to use.

Download it from the App Store today and TapTapSee for yourself!

Google Launches Interpreter App for Google+ Hangouts

Google recently released a wave of accessibility features for Chrome, Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Hangouts. The new features for Chrome, Drive, and Gmail focus on accessibility for low-vision and blind users to make navigating them easier with screen reading software. For Google+ Hangouts, Google released a Sign Language Interpreter App to allow deaf and hard of hearing users to more easily benefit from the use of an interpreter during a Hangout session.

Google+ Hangouts allow multiple users to video chat at the same time, regardless of where the users are located. With the Sign Language Interpreter App, a deaf or hard of hearing person can invite an interpreter to join the Hangout to interpret for him or her. With the App installed, the deaf user will always see the interpreter in the top right corner of his or her screen and, when the interpreter speaks for him or her, the interpreter becomes the focus for everyone else in the Hangout. The interpreter can then easily translate the conversation in both directions, while only being the focus when he or she needs to speak.

Video conferencing is a popular way for businesses to meet with partners and clients without having to spend too much on travel expenses. Google+ Hangouts are a convenient way to meet with international clients, as well as local contacts or employees who are unable to be physically present in the office. With the addition of the Sign Language Interpreter App, Google+ Hangouts are an effective way for both physically disabled and deaf employees to be involved in a company’s meetings.

Social Media: The Move Toward Greater Accessibility

In a technology-based society, social media is proving to be the future of marketing and business communication. Social media technology such as networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, blogs, and wikis are being used to interact with existing customers, attract new customers, make professional connections, and learn about the environment a business is operating in. Social media is not always accessible to people with disabilities, however, making it difficult for these people to get involved in the social media revolution.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) is launching an initiative to reform social media and improve its accessibility for the one billion disabled people worldwide. Social media accessibility is critical for equal opportunity within the workplace and during the job search.

If a company’s marketing efforts are based in social media, a disabled employee may not be able to work in the marketing department due to inaccessible social media platforms. If a company is posting job listings to social media platforms in formats that are inaccessible for screen readers, a visually impaired person will be unable to get the necessary information to apply for the position.

Social media is critical to the future of business communication and the initiative to make social media more widely accessible will enhance the overall value of social media communications!

For more information on the accessible social media initiative, check out the full article from The Business of Federal Technology.