Assistive Technology

The Abilities Expo is coming to Atlanta on February 8-10, 2013 and will provide an opportunity for individuals with disabilities, seniors, veterans and healthcare professionals to get a firsthand look at “new technologies, new possibilities, new solutions and new opportunities to change your life.” The Wireless RERC will have a booth in the Assistive Technology (AT) Pavilion where the current research conducted by the RERC, Shepherd Center’s AT Department and Georgia’s Tools for Life Program will be showcased.

The Wireless RERC has just launched a new survey on hearing technology for people who are hard of hearing. The purpose of this survey is to learn how people who are hard of hearing use their mobile phones, and also to learn about their hearing experiences while attending public meetings and events. The information collected will help our mobile app developers understand your needs. Please try your best to complete all parts of this survey. Your answers are important to us, even if you don't use wireless technology.

September 25, 2012—The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, the Habilitation Benefits Coalition, the Coalition to Preserve Rehabilitation, and the Independence Through Enhancement of Medicare and Medicaid Coalition, released a technical assistance document that aims to be a resource for states in designing essential health benefits packages for “rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices,” as defined by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

September 19, 2012— Google claims to have worked to improve accessibility in Google Docs, Sites, Calendar and mobile apps over the past year. In Google Calendar, there were enhancements in focus handling, keyboard access and navigation. Optical Character Recognition technology was added to Google Drive, which allowed screen readers to read the text in scanned PDFs and images. Related to the Google Apps (Gmail for mobile and Google Drive on iOS and Android), improvements were made to explore-by-touch capabilities and keyboard/trackpad navigability.

The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) announced their 2013 Student Design Competition (SDC). The annual competition provides teams of students with the opportunity to present creative and innovative assistive technology designs that can help people with disabilities function more independently. Students from a variety of disciplines are able to participate, including: mechanical, electrical, biomedical engineering, computer information science, architecture, and physical and occupational therapy.