The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there are an estimated 1.3 billion individuals worldwide who “experience significant disability,” which is a staggering 16% of the worldwide inhabitants. According to the Government of India figures, 2.68 crore Indians are disabled. It is a identified undeniable fact that individuals with a incapacity (PWDs) face heightened discrimination and hardships, whether or not it’s motion, entry to assets, some as fundamental as schooling. There is a obtrusive hole together with urgent points, however know-how right here is taking part in a small but essential position to help individuals with incapacity lead a better life.
And on the International Day of Disabled Persons, which is noticed on December 3 yearly, allow us to take a look at a number of ways in which know-how is aiding individuals with a incapacity in its personal method:

For better mobility

NeoMotion is an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras-incubated startup that provides options for wheelchairs to travel longer distances. It does that with an add-on mobility gadget that attaches externally to a guide wheelchair, changing it into an outside mobility gadget.

It has two parts. The NeoFly is a custom-made wheelchair, which is made after a medical evaluation of the particular person, to supply appropriate posture and becoming. Then there’s the NeoBolt, which is the clip-on gadget that enables the wheelchair to be transformed right into a scooter of-sorts that may be pushed on roads, providing better motion to the mobility disabled.

Giving a shout out to NeoMotion, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal mentioned in a publish on X in August that the corporate has over 160 differently-abled supply brokers who ship orders on particular automobiles.

“Proud to mention that @zomato is now 160+ differently-abled delivery partners strong who have delivered ~39,000 orders. Our target – onboard 300 partners by Dec ’23. Sharing
images from our recent onboarding drive in Chennai. Shoutout to @neomotionlive and @HIDGlobal,”
he wrote.

Last 12 months, MOBIS, the worldwide auto parts main, additionally partnered with NeoMotion to supply personalised motorised wheelchairs to 500 individuals. MOBIS undertook this venture underneath its CSR initiative.

For the listening to impaired

The easy act of speaking with others generally is a problem for the listening to and speech impaired. This can have a significant affect on schooling, employment alternatives and the general high quality of life.

BleeTech is an Indian startup, which “offers design and technology based solutions for the deaf community. One of their products is the BleeTV Library, which allows deaf children access to a plethora of information in the Indian Sign Language (ISL). Then there are BleeBooks that have “stories and activities for deaf kids”.

Also, there are a number of apps catering to the deaf neighborhood, similar to Ava. A transcription software, it transcribes reside the phrases of a bunch of individuals. For this, every particular person within the group has to put in the app, and with using a microphone, the dialog is transcribed. Ava will be actually useful for the listening to impaired or these with partial listening to, who in any other case must depend upon lip studying, or different means, to comply with the dialog.

For tremors

Tremors could make the easy act of holding a spoon and consuming extraordinarily tough for these with Parkinson’s illness. Hence, in 2013, Lift Labs, a US-based firm based by University of Michigan PhD scholar Anupam Pathak, got here up with spoons which might be designed to counteract the tremors. It does it by first detecting the tremors with an accelerometer, after which responding with an actuator.

Google acquired the corporate in 2014 and launched its personal spoons the identical 12 months.

Making Braille accessible

An organization that’s making studying Braille accessible is Thinkerbell Labs with its flagship product Annie, a self studying Braille literacy gadget that ” teaches a toddler the way to learn, write and kind in Braille”. It consists of ” tactile {hardware} modules tailor-made to show, coupled with a mushy human voice guiding college students by way of classes eliminates the necessity for handholding and fixed supervision,” the corporate says. “Annie evaluates answers given by the students instantly and gives smart corrective feedback,” it provides.
Not solely that, know-how has additionally revolutionised what a easy watch can do. However, it nonetheless isn’t inclusive sufficient, particularly for these blind.

Enter —Dot, a Braille smartwatch for these with blindness. It permits one to entry all of the smartphone options with a easy act of contact, with braille. It will also be linked to the smartphone, and one can examine the one who has referred to as. It can be geared up with different smartphone options that one can entry with Braille.