Tag Archives: smartphone Apps

5 apps for people with disabilities

It’s no mystery that smartphones have completely changed the way we view our everyday activities. Whether we are communicating with loved ones across the country or snapping photos of our pets, our various devices are rarely ever more than an arm’s reach away. For people with disabilities, these devices have improved accessibility in areas that extend past communication methods. From emergency assistance access to applications that boost independence, here are a few of the most useful apps for people with disabilities:

1. Color Identifier uses your device’s camera to detect colors in order to assist those with visual impairments. The intuitive app will quickly identify the color, speak and display its unique name and provide the color’s HEX value.

2. HearYouNow allows people with limited hearing abilities to increase the volume of sounds around them. Using a pair of headphones, users can have presentations, TV shows or even just the sounds inside their home relayed to their smartphones in real-time.

3. Medication Reminder is an easy to use app that prompts users to take their medications as prescribed to them. Simply set the time you wake up, as well as the time you generally go to bed and how many doses you are required to take in a day, and the app will calculate your medication intervals and send you reminders.

4. Built in accessibility features such as enlarged text, voice-to-text and an on-screen control panel that eliminates the use of small, sometimes hard to operate buttons have given individuals with disabilities options on how to use their phones in the most comfortable ways.

5. Having an emergency information card directly on your smartphone can make a world of difference during trying times. The ICE Standard app lets you fill in important information about yourself that may be necessary in emergency situations. Details like allergies, emergency contacts and medical conditions may be added and pulled up during an event in which you may be unable to relay those facts.

With technology moving forward at a faster pace each day, the world of accessibility boosting applications continues to grow.

Essential iPhone Apps For People With Disabilities

Phone apps have revolutionized the way we go about our everyday lives. Need directions? Looking for great Mexican food? Want to know the weather? As they say in the Apple commercials, there’s an app for that. Developers have created over 500,000 apps for the iPhone alone, as well as countless others for Android and Blackberry devices. Below is a list of iPhone apps specifically designed for people with disabilities to help make their day-to-day lives easier.

Parking Mobility – Report disabled parking violations to your city in less than 2 minutes. When you see a vehicle parked illegally, simply launch the app, take 3 photos and submit. The city is notified and they ticket the vehicle. You can also share, find and suggest disabled parking locations anywhere in the world. Simply tap the map pin and you can quickly see that parking location’s details including number of spots, rear or side accessibility, cost etc.

A Special Phone – This app was produced specifically for people with disabilities in order to make calling friends, family and loved ones fast and easy. To make a call, simply open the app, type in the number on the magnified keypad and shake the phone or press call. For speed dialing, users can save up to 6 contacts, which can be reached through shaking the phone once for Contact 1, twice for Contact 2 etc. The phone states the contact’s name and the phone dials automatically. It also has the capability to recognize voice commands in different languages and dialects.

Help Me Now! GPS Phone Tracker – This app is great to have if you ever get lost or need help in an emergency. The GPS tracking device will send a message to your selected contacts telling them your location.

Physiotherapy Exercises – This free app is great for anyone living with a spinal cord injury who wants to stay physically fit. There are over 600 exercises available and the user can search the app based on a particular exercise or their level of injury/personal condition.

iAdvocate – This app helps parents share and develop specific learning strategies for children with learning disabilities. The parents can then work collaboratively with the child’s school and teachers to improve their overall education experience while making sure the child’s needs are met.