Several participants in the AccessComputing project, including three AccessComputing Team members, presented at the Technology and Disability in the Developing World conference held at the ÌÇÐÄÔ´´ (UW) this fall. The presentation was coordinated through Change, a UW group that explores how technology can improve the lives of underserved populations in the developing world.
Conference topics included the following:
- Overview of the distribution of people with disabilities and of computer and mobile technologies for people with disabilities in developing countries.
- Discussion of low-cost technologies, universal design possibilities, and the role of advocacy groups in technology adoption.
- Clarification of the basic technological status of people with disabilities around the world in order to see how this topic fits into larger political, social, and research agendas.
- Discussion of essential computer access technologies for people who are blind that included access barriers and potential solutions.
- Discussion of natural signed language as an important and relatively inexpensive strategy for people who are deaf.
- Review of deaf technology around the world, its current usages, and its potential in the developing world.
- High-level overview of current speech-based technologies and interaction methods, and how they may apply to people with motor impairments or in hands-busy situations in the developing world.
- Information regarding how people with disabilities use mobile phones to enhance independence.
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