How Tech for the Disabled Is Going Mainstream

In the article "How Tech for the Disabled Is Going Mainstream", Reena Jana examines how designs that were meant for the handicapped often lead to products for the masses.

Apple is a particular company that is widely celebrated for making devices that are easy to use and are elegantly designed. But what most people don't know is that a lot of the features that we look at as innovative and new, aren't really new at all. Many features had been created years before the hit the market for the masses but the target audience were disabled people. Many of us are so used to having some form of voice activating feature on our cell phones but most don't realize is that feature was originally created for blind people. The idea of "mainstreaming" tools for the disabled is spreading. There are a wide variety of tools that were intentionally created for disabled people that are now a convenience for the masses. Things like voice command technology on a computer for people who can't type, to a newer product of the Kindle e-reader, to voice activation in cars. And for those where voice activation won't work, Mattel is even creating a game for paraplegics that is controlled by players brainwaves.

Mainstreaming has a long history dating all the way back to Thomas Edison who created the phonograph so blind people could hear book recordings. Something nowadays that is innovative and technological that people probably use everyday without even realizing it is predictive text software that finish people's words in a text, email or search engine. One of Apple's latest products that involves this advanced technology to fit the needs of the disabled and the wants of the masses is the newest iPod shuffle. While it is too small for a video screen to display the song information, it has software it it that can say out loud what song is playing. This could be an added bonus for customers of the masses and a staple for blind people who want to listen to music and decide before it starts playing whether they want to listen to that song or not. Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president for iPod and iPhone marketing states, "Some customers need assistive technologies, and other people want convenience. We try to solve prblems for the disabled community, then we drive the solutions into the mainstream, to let everyone take advantage of them."

While the latest trend in innovative technology was a demand for devices that could speak and be spoken to, there is soon to be an even bigger demand for mind control technology that will allow the user to do something hands-free. Not only would this be a tremendous milestone for people that are paralyzed, but the masses are going to love this care-free way of doing something thus putting in the convenience factor again. Since Mattel has a game coming out soon that involves mind controls, they can bet that many other people will want to get their hands on this technology and it will become the basis for a line of mind-controlled physical games which would open up a whole new category for just the toy industry alone. Tim Bajarin, president of technology consultancy Creative Strategies says, "It's smart, because there is an aging population that will need easier-to-use tech. It's even smarter to follow Apple;s lead and then call these features out and get people's attention. Then it becomes a competitive advantage."

While my major is in elementary education, I am going to have a variety of students in my classroom of all different learning levels and with all kinds of disabilities that I have to be prepared for. I'm going to have to plan my lessons and the overall setup of my classroom to accommodate everyone to make sure they have an equal chance at getting an education. In my science methods course, our professor was just teaching us about this very concept. They were calling it UDL, universal design for learning. Using this concept in technology is going to be very helpful for many people when used properly just as UDL in the classroom would be too.