When technology demolishes barriers

by Ivano Abbadessa - 2013.05.27

People with visual and auditory disabilities can actively take part in social networking activities online, thanks to the latest technologies. This possibility, however, is still ignored by the majority of the society. That part of public opinion which is baffled – misled by an incorrect way of reporting news in a climate of ‘fake invalids haunt’ – when learning, for instance, that a blind person has a Twitter or Facebook profile, and wonders: “What do they do on social networks?”, “Are they perhaps fake invalids?”



Actually, people with disabilities (real disabilities, obviously) have easier access to technologies and the Internet and share their spare time or professional information on social networks as much as everybody else. Computers and iPhones are now able to provide real-time support to users affected by sensorial disabilities. Support is meant to help them dealing with normal needs, including support to blind people in a supermarket, who need to identify a product content in order to buy it; or support to a student who wants to attend a conference in real time, without waiting for its transcription.



VizWiz. is one of these new systems. A free app available for iPhone created by Jeffrey P. Bigham, from Rochester University, providing real-time support to blind users. Users take a picture at the best of their possibilities, record a relevant question and submit it. According to researchers, this service has currently answered to about 60,000 questions from some 6,000 users. Another smartphone app, Scribe, was created for deaf and hearing-impaired people. In this case, users send an audio file and the programme is able to offer a real-time transcription.



People with disabilities are not in favour of fake invalids – the opposite is true. However, it should be avoided that daily behaviour and activities that people with sensorial disabilities can easily do are ridiculed, especially by media. Real-time IT support can and should be extended to other uses. For instance, through instantaneous language translations. IT, electronic and telecommunication technologies can remove many barriers but public opinion often ignores them, also due to incorrect news reported by the press.