A man with hearing loss
This month, Google introduced a new accessibility app which has the potential to change the way that deaf and hearing-impaired individuals communicate with those around them. Live Transcribe uses cloud-based speech recognition to display spoken words on a phone screen in real-time. Prior to this innovation, captioning technology typically required the use of a human…

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A man using an exoskeleton to walk
Augmentative technology, at least according to the North American definition of the word, is technology that is designed to augment the lives of able-bodied individuals. Of course, this technology is often adopted by assistive technology (AT) users, and when that happens, the technology would then be considered AT, as AT is defined as “any item,…

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Students and their teacher using tablets and laptops in the classroom
Edmondo is a free app for teachers, students, and administrators that has been designed to centralize and digitize homework, communications, and classroom resources. The app allows teachers to create and upload quizzes, lessons, and resources to a virtual classroom which can then be accessed by students. With a userbase of nearly 100 million, and a…

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A blind man using a smartphone
Today we’re going to look at an app that’s designed to narrate the outside world to individuals with low or no vision. This free app provides accurate audio descriptions of the outside world, using an abundance of features to simulate sight, backed by human-like intelligence. The idea for the app is simple; point your camera…

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A blind man using a smartphone
Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind or low-vision users to sighted volunteers who offer visual assistance in real-time using video conferencing technology. The app is designed to be straightforward in its functionality, as well as being easily accessible for low or no-vision users. When starting the app for the first time,…

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