I think back to 2001, I was looking at universities and I went to an event at the University of Essex for their Computer Science program. The presentation was given by one of their lecturers who at the time talked about the hardware which was being used to fly aircraft, and the unreliability of that hardware. It was interesting, and it showcased where we were in terms of technology at that point.
Last weekend I found my Acer Travelmate Tablet PC in a box from circa 2003. It still works, but it weighs a ton, runs Windows XP, has a tiny touchpad, and is cumbersome. That thing was state of the art in 2003! In the same box was my 2006 black MacBook which was a real step up, but looking back, typing this on my 2020 MacBook Pro, enormous!
So you might already be questioning where this is going? Why on earth are we talking about old tech, found in a box? Well, firstly, I have a hard time letting things go, (I still have my 2008 Sony Ericsson P1i phone). Secondly, I have a passion for technology, and how we can make our lives a little easier by using it.
However we look at it, assistive technology, while it has made some advances, has not made the same leaps and bounds that other technology has. That’s not actually always true, in some cases. Let’s take cochlear implants (CIs) for example: a lot of progress has been made, inbuilt bluetooth, inbuilt DM receivers, the ability to talk to each other (when bilaterally implanted), or maybe eye tracking with AAC devices, where we can now allow people to look at a screen to communicate or engage in an activity. However, in the majority of cases we are not innovating at the same speed. We don’t have laptops with inbuilt braille support (think an apple Touch Bar type of inbuilt device), we don’t have all hearing aids on the market with bluetooth and we have companies who charge extra for features which make a product more accessible (let’s take mote for example, who charge more for a transcript of an audio recording).
“Without access to assistive technology, children with disabilities will continue to miss out on their education, continue to be at a greater risk of child labor and continue to be subjected to stigma and discrimination, undermining their confidence and wellbeing.”
World Health Organisation – Almost one billion children and adults with disabilities and older persons in need of assistive technology denied access, according to new report/
This week saw our juniors put on a play, and I got to work with one of our students with a CI doing sound for the play. They were paired to the mixer with a Roger Media Hub and during the intermission enjoying the playlist of songs which was being streamed to them. This had me thinking that there has to be a better way for all of these things to come together, easier audio streaming, better access to visual aids, flexible displays, and more.
I’m given hope by some of the things which are coming such as Bluetooth Auracast:
“While current assistive listening systems, such as inductive loops, have been providing great benefit to people with hearing loss, they suffer from a number of challenges that have limited their deployment, including poor quality, high cost, and lack of privacy. Auracast™ broadcast audio is well positioned to become an advanced, new assistive listening system that will be significantly easier and lower cost to deploy while offering higher audio quality and greater privacy, improving audio accessibility and promoting better living through better hearing.”
Bluetooth SIG – Auracast
However, until we start to innovate more with personal assisitve technology, people will not be able to more widely take advantage of these innovations available to make the spaces that they use and the events that they attend more accessible.
It’s up to the healthcare providers and the companies making and designing these devices to include the features needed to take full advantage of the 2020’s and not the early 2000’s. Why are we still carrying around a Nokia 5100 (which had a dB meter!) when we could have the latest iPhone?
Leave a Reply