It’s crazy how many things we take for granted and how we’re never satisfied with what we actually have. You watch someone do an extreme marathon and feel envy that you can’t do it while completely disregarding the fact that some people struggle to get to the bathroom due to their disability.
Fortunately, today, people with disabilities have medical aids, prosthetics, sensors, color-enabling glasses, advanced hearing aids, and many other devices to help them out. Still, not everyone can access/afford them. What everyone can afford, on the other hand, is a smartphone. With the right app, this can be enough to make a massive change in one’s quality of life. With that in mind, here are the top five must-have apps for people with disabilities.
1. Communication apps
The first significant app group you need to consider is communication augmentation apps. People with hearing disabilities are no longer confined to texting. With the right call captioning apps, you can communicate much more effectively. All you have to do is look up the best phone call captioning apps and choose the one that feels the best.
Text to speech and speech to text are quite effective for people with various disabilities. In fact, voice-recognition technology has advanced so far that it accurately recognizes words depending on the context and geo-location. Even speech impediments will no longer be a massive problem.
Picture symbols are amazing for people with dyslexia and learning disabilities. It helps with the cognitive aspect of phone use, a massive quality-of-life improvement. If anything, it can completely revolutionize your app use altogether.
2. Visual assistance apps
Another major group worth addressing is visual assistance. First, you have screen reader apps, which can either read out the displayed text or even present it in Braille output. There are so many such apps, and they can really unlock a whole new area of phone use.
If you have low vision, many magnification apps are out there to help you. Instead of carrying a magnifying glass around, you can use your phone camera to try and see things more clearly. These apps are available both on iOS and Android.
People who struggle with color blindness might greatly benefit from color identification apps. These platforms work in real-time and have incredible accuracy. While, with glasses like EnChroma, this matter can be resolved more efficiently, the truth is that everyone has a smartphone.
Navigation apps can make a huge difference depending on how good their voice-navigation feature gets. It’s not just about uttering a direction; wayfinding is different when your vision is impaired. This is why getting a specialized app may make a difference.
3. Mobility disability assistance
Even some of the simplest tasks can be difficult when you have a disability. For instance, refueling your car. While some disabilities may allow you to drive, refueling may still be problematic. With the help of the right app, you can find out if you’ll get assistance at the given station, even before you arrive there. In other words, it can put only the stations where you’re guaranteed to receive assistance on your map. Sure, solar power and electric cars may soon change this, but for now, it’s something to look out for.
Some people with mobility disabilities have trouble driving. For them, an app like Uber or Lyft may be detrimental to being able to travel. Ride-sharing apps are also an amazing way of getting around and socializing with people.
If you want to modify your home environment to suit your needs, you may need a home accessibility app. These are similar to home design apps, with the difference being that they’re primarily designed to help people with disabilities.
Exercise and fitness are even more important if you have a disability. You need to strengthen the rest of your body while fighting an uphill battle. Some apps specialize in these routines. Also, by using an app, you’ll do all of this more systemically.
4. Assistance for people on the autism spectrum
People on the autism spectrum have much trouble fitting in. While raising awareness and growing as a society is the best way to tackle this issue, it’s far from the most realistic. Therefore, adopting apps that can help people on the spectrum with some social cues, organization, and day-to-day management might be infinitely more useful.
For instance, visual support and scheduling apps can ensure that a person on a spectrum has an edge in at least one crucial aspect of social interactions.
Another great idea is social skills and emotional regulation apps. With the help of these apps, you can give people on the spectrum a chance to exercise their social skills in real-world social scenarios. This way, they can take a different approach to learning to recognize emotions.
Lastly, depending on where they are on the spectrum, some people with autism may have trouble with their basic daily routines. This way, their cooking, learning, and money management will be automated and made more accessible.
5. Emergency assistance apps
Lastly, when you have a disability, you’re more likely to find yourself in a situation where you need assistance. In this scenario, you need your red button to press. Many such ads allow you an alternative way to start an emergency alert.
Apart from this, some apps can be made to check in on you occasionally and send someone to your location if you fail to respond. The thing is that they have a GPS tracker and a notification system, and they may personally alert you when something goes awry.
These apps have everything, from your blood type to your allergies. It’s useful far beyond someone with disabilities. These apps are generally great for solo travelers and people who live alone.
Wrap up
In the end, living with a disability is always an uphill battle. Still, if an app can help you communicate more effectively, adapt to a greater degree, travel more efficiently, and get assistance when needed, it would be worth it. People with disabilities have a harder time, even when it comes to things like fueling their vehicles or traveling. This is why, with the right app, the brunt of their problem could be alleviated.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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