Health apps and devices are unimaginable for sighted folks. They’ll observe your health stage, provide help to keep on observe with food regimen and vitamin, join you to communities of different customers, and extra.
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The brand new wave of health wearables and apps are extremely empowering for folks with disabilities, particularly those that are blind or low-vision.
The devoted smartphone apps prime the listing of accessibility choices since they are often made usable by display screen readers, permitting blind customers to navigate the menus and enter their knowledge.
As know-how turns into extra accessible to folks with disabilities, there’s been elevated curiosity in creating well being and health apps, wearables, and different merchandise which can be accessible to all.
Addressing these points is essential so that individuals with all talents can have entry to the identical alternatives for staying wholesome and lively.
Nonetheless, given the wide range of disabilities on the market that affect customers’ talents to work together with know-how independently.
It’s very important for firms making well being tech to know how their merchandise could possibly be utilized by folks with various kinds of disabilities.
Devices like smartwatches are nice for folks with imaginative and prescient impairments as a result of they supply another type of interplay that may in any other case be unavailable to them.
In contrast to smartphones and computer systems the place you may have entry to a display screen reader or braille show. Some smartwatches don’t have these built-in accessibility options.
However should you pair a smartwatch together with your telephone’s voice assistant app (equivalent to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant) you may nonetheless use your watch with out having to depend on visible cues.
Nonetheless, quite a lot of these health functions will not be accessible to blind folks. Some are even inbuilt a method that makes them inconceivable for blind folks to make use of in any respect.
Because the blind group continues to develop in measurement and know-how turns into extra inexpensive, we’re seeing increasingly well being apps pop up which can be made particularly for blind customers.
Adaptive know-how has all the time been very important for bettering the standard of life for the blind.
At this time’s merchandise embody devices equivalent to operating guides, out of doors telephone trackers, and sports activities watches with voice management.
Right here’s a listing of a few of the finest health apps accessible to blind customers and easy methods to get began utilizing them.
1. Fitbit
Most fashionable digital units are suitable with accessibility options like display screen readers, braille shows, and magnification software program.
For instance, the best-selling wearable health gadget Fitbit has a built-in braille show and works with many well-liked display screen readers equivalent to JAWS and ZoomText.
The app for iPhone and Android has glorious help for blind customers together with VoiceOver (for iOS) and TalkBack (for Android).
This app supplies step-by-step directions in case you’re making an attempt to make use of it by yourself by your self. You don’t need to be utterly blind to learn from the well being monitoring providers supplied by health apps and devices.
Many of those merchandise are additionally helpful for individuals who have low imaginative and prescient or are nonetheless studying braille. As a result of they eradicate the necessity to learn conventional train gear that could be tough to function with out sight.
The GPS-tracker watch additionally has a built-in Alexa assistant that may learn these stats aloud everytime you ask it to. A Fitbit not solely tracks these metrics but in addition means that you can ask Alexa to learn them again to you.
That is significantly useful for these with low imaginative and prescient or no imaginative and prescient in any respect. They’ll activate the assistant on the watch by urgent the bodily button for two seconds on the facet of the watch.
To make use of this characteristic, merely say “Alexa, ask Fitbit what number of steps I’ve taken as we speak” or “Ask Fitbit how lengthy I slept final night time.” The solutions will probably be learn aloud by Alexa by the Fitbit watch or tracker.
2. Aaptiv: Audio Health App
Aaptiv is an revolutionary, music-driven health platform that makes high-quality exercise audio accessible to folks with various levels of sight loss.
It contains individualized applications in lots of health classes: operating, energy, biking, yoga, meditation, and extra.
Due to person critiques that describe its ease of use and adaptive performance, Aaptiv is likely one of the extra well-liked apps for people who find themselves blind or low-vision.
Aaptiv permits you to stream and obtain greater than 2,500 trainer-led, music-driven exercises from the comfort of your telephone.
With Aaptiv, you may select from a wide range of totally different exercise courses, starting from 7-minute classes to full-length coaching applications.
Aaptiv’s exercises mix cardio and energy coaching whereas additionally that includes stretching and stretching workout routines to enhance flexibility.
There’s a large number of totally different courses and playlists to select from, and whether or not you’re a newbie or a marathon runner, there are alternatives accessible for everybody.
For the various apps on this listing that assist customers create more healthy lives for themselves. Aaptiv is yet another incredible app so as to add to their roster.
The most important issue dealing with blind individuals who wish to undertake a health routine stays their lack of sight. Most coaches depend on visible cues to information new college students in the fitting course. However how can a blind individual create or get pleasure from an at-home health program with out seeing it?
Aaptiv is a subscription-based service that options audio podcasts created by health professionals and coaches.
These professionals will lead their purchasers by numerous exercises with guided instruction. It’s accessible sufficient to nonetheless be useful if you’d like additional steerage whereas doing one thing like pilates or operating.
3. BlindSquare
Like most people who find themselves blind or visually impaired know, it may be arduous to get round in unfamiliar environments.
In an workplace constructing, a shopping center, or a resort—all locations the place it’s possible you’ll want to search out the restroom or ask easy methods to get to your assembly.
It may be inconceivable to determine the place you’re with out strolling right into a wall or being instructed by somebody who has no enterprise realizing the place you’re going.
The BlindSquare app for Android and Apple telephones solves that downside with GPS and different location-based providers.
This can be a GPS app that helps you discover your method round unfamiliar locations by making use of audio cues and text-to-speech know-how.
It makes use of Google Maps and works with voice instructions. So, it’s simple to make use of even should you’re not conversant in the streets of your metropolis.
It additionally has a useful characteristic the place it tells you when a crosswalk is developing, which may be very useful should you’re crossing streets whereas strolling round city.
Analyzing GPS coordinates in addition to Wi-Fi alerts from close by mobile towers, BlindSquare can find you inside about 5 meters (16 ft) or much less wherever on the planet the place there are mobile phone towers or Wi-Fi alerts that it might probably latch onto.
It then gathers details about the encompassing atmosphere from FourSquare—the database wherein folks world wide give details about their location—and calculates what well-known landmarks are closest to your location.
Dad and mom may also use parental management apps with GPS-tracking options to keep watch over their youngsters’s actions.
The applying speaks out the data it gathers in an easy-to-understand voice. BlindSquare has some distinctive algorithms in that solely related data is given, making it simpler for customers to adapt to their environment.
Along with its general accuracy, BlindSquare has a variety of different options that make it stand out from comparable functions.
It could possibly communicate instructions in real-time, permitting the person to maintain his or her eyes on their path. It additionally speaks details about companies in a extra human method, giving companies names moderately than GPS coordinates and giving fairly sized items of knowledge as an alternative of lengthy blocks of textual content.
4. Seeing AI
Seeing AI, an app developed by Microsoft is a free app accessible on iOS and Android telephones. The app goals to help the blind in navigating their environment in order that they’ll go about their every day lives independently.
The app makes use of synthetic intelligence to establish objects and inform customers what they’re and the place they’re situated in relation to the person.
All one wants is a telephone and headphones with a built-in mic. The first method the app works is by recording audio as you stroll round your environment.
The app will then describe what’s round you in real-time. So long as the person retains speaking whereas recording audio, there’s no restrict to how far they’ll discover or how briskly they’ll stroll.
All of the person has to do is level the smartphone’s digital camera at one thing. The app will learn the textual content on the display screen, describe it, and even learn out data from Wikipedia.
The app is free to make use of and may be downloaded from the Apple Retailer with a guide that explains easy methods to use it.
Along with text-to-speech performance, Seeing AI may help customers who’re visually impaired discover their method round by describing objects of their environment and even figuring out forex, which is extraordinarily useful if you’re procuring or paying for issues.
Finally, Seeing AI is an unimaginable device that each visually impaired or blind individual ought to add to their telephone. It could possibly assist them navigate their world higher, and probably scale back the quantity of help they want from family and friends.
The app is definitely not good. Nevertheless it takes a bit of extra effort and time to make nice strides on this subsequent stage of synthetic intelligence.
Similar to Google’s Go victory exhibits that AI can beat the very best people in technique video games, Seeing AI exhibits that AI has entered a brand new section of growth with apps that may detect, acknowledge and describe scenes round you in real-time. It’s unimaginable to assume simply how far we now have come up to now 12 months alone.
5. BrailleBuzz
BrailleBuzz is an academic, interactive toy that teaches braille literacy and phonics to youngsters with visible impairments.
The person selects a letter on the toy’s huge “keyboard” and BrailleBuzz speaks the braille letter, makes it audibly click on, reads the phrase aloud, and even exhibits the corresponding braille phrase on its display screen.
Despite the fact that the gadget isn’t designed for blind adults who wish to study braille, it has just a few options that make it related for them too.
For instance, should you select a phrase that doesn’t exist in braille (or that you simply haven’t but discovered), the machine will learn the phrase aloud, so that you get on the spot suggestions in your spelling accuracy.
It may also be utilized by sighted folks to learn to learn fundamental phrases in braille with out making errors.
The wonderful thing about BrailleBuzz is that it doesn’t use any type of digital know-how. It’s completely analog—and it’s very sturdy and simple to wash. The battery lasts a very long time.
The sport is meant to assist with early literacy abilities and encourage younger learners to observe braille characters and phonics.
I believe BrailleBuzz represents an essential step in accessible literacy. Having a bodily object that permits younger youngsters to have enjoyable with their alphabet feels proper.
Its design emphasizes expertise over know-how, and that may solely assist youngsters study by play.
Conclusion
Understand that the marketplace for know-how geared towards the visually impaired is a comparatively untapped market.
The progress we’ve seen on this space is definitely promising, however there’s nonetheless room to develop. As shopper know-how turns into extra strong, it’s seemingly that extra builders will flip their consideration to this area of interest. We’ll see extra artistic concepts buzzing round within the years to return.
The long run is promising for the blind, as firms like Fitbit are implementing new options to raised accommodate their wants.
Quickly sufficient, the blind will be capable of select helpful health apps that meet their distinctive wants, really feel safe realizing that the apps are correct, and even obtain suggestions about their efficiency straight by Alexa.