How Tech is Increasing Accessibility

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As society becomes increasingly aware of the needs of disabled individuals, technology is providing many solutions that allow them to participate more fully in activities and to live more independently. Below are just a few of the ways that technology is changing lives by making the home and the rest of the world more accessible for everyone.

House Cleaning

Cleaning can become a big issue for those who are disabled. While having cleaning help can be one solution, this can get expensive, may not happen often enough, and can feel intrusive for some people. Even if you do have someone who comes in and cleans regularly, you don't necessarily want to wait until it's their day again to deal with a mess. Smart vacuums can be operated with the push of a button or even voice commands. If it's yard work you need, there are smart lawnmowers and sprinklers that determine when your grass needs to be watered.

Home Lifts

Sometimes, the best solutions are somewhat old-fashioned ones. If you live in a home with more than one floor and you no longer have the mobility you once did, you might wonder if your only option is to have to move. You might not be aware that you could have a home lift installed. It is possible to put one in most types of multi-storied structures. You don't need to live in a large house for this to be possible. You can take a look at a domestic lifts site to find out more about the cost, construction and what types might be available.

Online Conferences, Classes, Meetups and More

Online education has been booming for a while, but organizations began to explore the potential more fully for holding talks, lectures, and even entire events, such as conventions, conferences, and seminars, fully online when a pandemic made large in-person gatherings difficult. While accessibility was not necessarily the driver of these events originally, it quickly became apparent that keeping them at least partly online made them far more accessible to a wider variety of people than had ever been possible before. Even as people increasingly return to gathering in person, most organizations have seen the value of hybrid events, and these are likely to continue in the future.

Accessible Smart Home

Smart technology is one of the consumer trends paving the way for easier living as of late. It has also made many things in the home far easier to operate. You may be able to set many things throughout your home to respond to voice commands if you have poor vision or find it difficult to operate small knobs or switches.

This could mean that you can search streaming services for music and movies, turn lights on and off and manage the temperature in your home all through simply speaking. With electric blinds, you won't have to struggle with dragging curtains open and closed. Some security cameras or video doorbells also include two-way audio, so if it takes you a while to get to the door, you can communicate with the person waiting there via your phone.