Presentation
DH1 - Beyond Braille – Modern Assistive Technology for the Visually Impaired in At-Home Healthcare Products
DescriptionThis poster will cover current accessibility technology that should be considered in the development of healthcare products to ensure inclusivity of the visually impaired. This research is based off a year long project with the NIH RADx group that had the initiative to make at-home Covid tests more accessible to low vision and blind populations. The findings for this poster come from three iterative formative studies with blind and low vision users who had ranges of tech savviness and blind and low vision subject matter experts.
Currently many healthcare companies jump to the solution that they can just add braille to product packaging and accessibility has been addressed. However, a glaring misconception about braille is that all of the low vision and blind population can read braille. Less than 10% of the blind population knows braille and fully fluent braille readers are typically those who have been blind since birth. The assumption that braille makes a product accessible excludes the majority of the blind and low vision population - those who become blind later in life.
There are a variety of modern accessibility tools that are more widely used than braille. These tools include screen readers that are available as part of the operating systems on smartphones, downloadable applications such as Be My Eyes and Eyera that connect a user with a volunteer or a service worker who will view a product through the phone camera to assist the user, and physical digital accessibility tools such as the Reizen Talking Label Wand that narrates items, and digital magnifiers.
This poster will cover findings and pros / cons about these accessibility tools and how products should be developed to be compatible with these tools. The main takeaway from this research is that we as professionals in the field need a thorough understanding of assistive devices / technology and how the visually impaired population uses them so we can advocate for tangible ways to make products more accessible.
Currently many healthcare companies jump to the solution that they can just add braille to product packaging and accessibility has been addressed. However, a glaring misconception about braille is that all of the low vision and blind population can read braille. Less than 10% of the blind population knows braille and fully fluent braille readers are typically those who have been blind since birth. The assumption that braille makes a product accessible excludes the majority of the blind and low vision population - those who become blind later in life.
There are a variety of modern accessibility tools that are more widely used than braille. These tools include screen readers that are available as part of the operating systems on smartphones, downloadable applications such as Be My Eyes and Eyera that connect a user with a volunteer or a service worker who will view a product through the phone camera to assist the user, and physical digital accessibility tools such as the Reizen Talking Label Wand that narrates items, and digital magnifiers.
This poster will cover findings and pros / cons about these accessibility tools and how products should be developed to be compatible with these tools. The main takeaway from this research is that we as professionals in the field need a thorough understanding of assistive devices / technology and how the visually impaired population uses them so we can advocate for tangible ways to make products more accessible.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeMonday, March 254:45pm - 6:15pm CDT
LocationSalon C
Digital Health
Simulation and Education
Hospital Environments
Medical and Drug Delivery Devices
Patient Safety Research and Initiatives