Accessible Technology

On March 9, 2020, Orcam, the Israeli assistive hardware maker that developed the powerful wearable Orcam MyEye, announced the release of Orcam Read, a hand-held alternative for scanning and reading text from nearly any surface.  Launching Orcam Read seven days before the U.S. went into lockdown for COVID-19 was unfortunate, but the reading pen is […]

In the fall 2017 issue of Opportunity I reviewed the breakthrough real-time service offered by Aira Tech, a San Diego venture startup that aims to make life easier for people who are blind. The Aira service pairs users who are blind or visually impaired with vetted, trained “visual interpreters” who are on call 24 hours […]

My December 9, 2020, NIB Connection post introduced BARD Mobile, the talking books smartphone app released by the United States Library of Congress. The excellent BARD Mobile app provides access to the worlds’ largest collection of free talking books for people with print disabilities. In fact, it is my portable go-to for accessing fiction and […]

New assistive technology developed by (clockwise from top left) Raffu Khondaker, Irfan Nafi, Pranav Ravella, and Eugene Choi won first place in the Virginia 8th Congressional District 2020 Congressional App Challenge.

If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the importance of self-sufficiency — or at least learning how we might become more self-sufficient during times of great uncertainty. This is especially true for people with disabilities who sometimes rely on others to be within six feet to assist with a particular task, routine, or […]

For many, the long pandemic of 2020 has resulted in significant Zoom, social media, Netflix, and other remote technology fatigue. For avid readers who are blind or visually impaired, however, the nationwide shutdowns are providing time to rediscover the value of remote access to tens of thousands of best-selling braille and talking books and magazines. […]

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis continues to have tremendous impact on everyone, regardless of ability or disability. For people who are blind, assistive technology is now more critical than ever for staying connected to the world. As we all adjust to social distancing and teleworking, we’ve put together a few resources to help everyone navigate this […]