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Kes: Ironically, I spent this morning talking to a healthcare consumer group about failures in healthcare, and one of the things I mentioned is that actually, yes, health insurance groups do consider smart home tech, including something as inexpensive as an Alexa, a luxury, and are always turning down requests for these technologies, although the companies themselves do not seem to employ assistive technology professionals who are qualified to conduct evaluations of consumers's needs and make appropriate recommendations.
How Smart Home Tech Is Making Tasks Easier, Improving Accessibility
November 17, 2020
https://www.boia.org/blog/how-smart-home-tech-is-making-tasks-easier-improving-accessibility
As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow, smart devices keep getting smarter. Consumers can now find affordably priced smart speakers, smart locks, video doorbells, and even smart window coverings — and for the
61 million American adults living with disabilities,
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html
smart home devices aren’t mere novelties. IoT tech has significantly improved accessibility by opening up new ways to interact with devices, often at a fraction of the cost of traditional assistive technologies.
And because smart home devices can be programmed to interact and change based on conditions, users have considerable control over the way that they function. Exploring a few real-world applications of smart home technology provides some insight into the way that real people live — and how new technologies can promote accessibility.
Some smart devices tend to follow the principles of accessibility by default
Smart gadgets cut down on labor and make many tasks easier, and because the devices don’t rely on a single set of controls, they can remove some challenges for people with disabilities. People with vision disabilities can use voice commands, while people with speech disabilities can input commands via smartphones, tablets, or other devices
(Google’s Assistant app,
https://www.androidcentral.com/google-assistant-finally-same-phones-and-google-home
...for instance, now provides the same functionality through text as the Google Home, the company’s voice assistant technology).
In the smart home ecosystem, people have options. Tasks can be automated, controlled remotely, or scheduled to the user’s preferences, which opens up thousands of possible accommodations.
That’s important because people don’t follow a script. For a smart home device to be truly "smart," it needs to be adaptive, capable of changing to meet the needs of the consumer. By virtue of their design, smart home devices fulfill many of the
goals of accessibility
https://www.boia.org/blog/what-are-the-four-major-categories-of-accessibility
— they’re operable, adaptive to different types of users, perceivable in their functions, and robust enough to adapt to future technologies.
How Smart Home Tech Is Making Tasks Easier, Improving Accessibility
November 17, 2020
https://www.boia.org/blog/how-smart-home-tech-is-making-tasks-easier-improving-accessibility
As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow, smart devices keep getting smarter. Consumers can now find affordably priced smart speakers, smart locks, video doorbells, and even smart window coverings — and for the
61 million American adults living with disabilities,
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html
smart home devices aren’t mere novelties. IoT tech has significantly improved accessibility by opening up new ways to interact with devices, often at a fraction of the cost of traditional assistive technologies.
And because smart home devices can be programmed to interact and change based on conditions, users have considerable control over the way that they function. Exploring a few real-world applications of smart home technology provides some insight into the way that real people live — and how new technologies can promote accessibility.
Some smart devices tend to follow the principles of accessibility by default
Smart gadgets cut down on labor and make many tasks easier, and because the devices don’t rely on a single set of controls, they can remove some challenges for people with disabilities. People with vision disabilities can use voice commands, while people with speech disabilities can input commands via smartphones, tablets, or other devices
(Google’s Assistant app,
https://www.androidcentral.com/google-assistant-finally-same-phones-and-google-home
...for instance, now provides the same functionality through text as the Google Home, the company’s voice assistant technology).
In the smart home ecosystem, people have options. Tasks can be automated, controlled remotely, or scheduled to the user’s preferences, which opens up thousands of possible accommodations.
That’s important because people don’t follow a script. For a smart home device to be truly "smart," it needs to be adaptive, capable of changing to meet the needs of the consumer. By virtue of their design, smart home devices fulfill many of the
goals of accessibility
https://www.boia.org/blog/what-are-the-four-major-categories-of-accessibility
— they’re operable, adaptive to different types of users, perceivable in their functions, and robust enough to adapt to future technologies.
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