Role of AI for disabled persons

As the name suggests, Artificial Intelligence is the technology that holds the door to automate our human tasks such as voice recognition, visual perception, speech, decision-making in several tasks, etc. It is a boon in today’s time that holds the capacity to change lives.

AI has been opening doors in our lives to make it easier and more manageable for people with disabilities. AI has gripped itself in the lives of the specially impaired by leading to inventions of tools such as Alexa, Siri, Look to Speak, accessiBe, Voiceitt, etc. These tools not only help in physical accessibility but also independence for these people.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that exhibits acts of intelligence demonstrated by humans and animals in the form of machines that help in performing tasks to make life around us easier and efficient.

Intelligence is of four types:

· Theory of Mind

· Limited Memory

· Self-Awareness

· Reactive Machines

How is AI prevalent in society for the disabled?

According to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly one billion people in the world have disabilities. Some of these people are so critically disabled that the world itself becomes an accessibility barrier for them. As the times have progressed so has the technology and AI can be seen as a big example of this. AI technologies have shown promise in providing solutions to these accessibility barriers.

Computer vision might help the visually impaired people in seeing the world a little better, people with limited mobility might find help by using the ever-progressing robotic systems and, translation and speech recognition technologies might help the people who are hard of hearing by providing them with live captioning tools.

There have been many inventions that have already made a big difference in the lives of people all over the world. Many organizations have devoted their time and resources to finding better solutions to problems faced by specially-abled people to reduce the accessibility barriers and make the world a better and easier place for them to live.

Technologists can be helped significantly by considering the disabled user’s needs which can help them identify deep-rooted challenges whose solutions can improve the state of AI for all users; however, ethical challenges such as errors, confidentiality, inclusiveness, the definition of expectations, simulated data, acceptability, and bias must be taken into account.

Some impressive products for disabled people

Here are some technologies that have helped change the lives of disabled people:

· Voiceitt: This is an app that is dedicated to people with speaking impediments. This app creates a text output or audio by using machine learning techniques by picking up the unique speech patterns of the user, recognizing the mispronunciations, and rectifying them.

· Lumos: This is an AI tool created by Facebook that can help people more or less “see” again. This tool helps people with visual impairments to get the crux of the image by explaining the image in the user’s device. By this, people no longer have to hear “Photo” by “Lisa Dua” by a screen reader.

· OrCam: This is an AI-based software created by a company based in Jerusalem. This device is a handheld tool that can read the screens or entire pages of text from any digital surface or printed material like the newspaper, books, smartphones, etc.

· accessiBe: This is a platform specially dedicated to people who suffer from epilepsy and are prone to seizures due to animations and blinking lights. This application enables these people to disable certain animations in the form of videos and GIFs so that they can easily browse the web. This is a web-based application and is easily accessible.

Many such tools and technologies have come into existence in the new era and are continuing to come forward. In fact, this is just the beginning of an artificially intelligent world. We are only just realizing our potential and working towards a better future for us and those with disabilities.

‘AI for Accessibility’ by Microsoft

AI for Accessibility is a five-year program initiated by Microsoft which aims to make the world a more accessible place for people with impediments and provide AI solutions for various kinds of disabilities by putting AI in the hands of capable developers. An investment of US$25 million has been made for this project alone.

This program focuses on influencing technology to ensure independence and inclusion for people with disabilities in the four areas of society: community, home, education, and employment. For example, Microsoft’s Windows Hello uses a biometric login that includes fingerprint, face, or iris recognition — which may work for those with physical disabilities or dyslexia who have trouble remembering their passwords.

Significant changes by AI

AI has shown its impact in many ways:

· Human Connection and Communication: AI-assisted technologies, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, have made it possible for individuals with limited mobility to easily access information. Voice technology has made it possible for people with speech impediments to speaking clearly and confidently. The app can also be used to help individuals with speech impairments communicate with each other. For instance, it can turn speech patterns into fluent phrases.

· Independence at home: Through basic voice orders, Smart Home Technology has permitted the people to convey what they need and solicitation the data they are looking for. With this, they can handle practically every part of their home from turning on/off lights, changing the temperature to winding down the oven, and playing music. Example: Amazon Alexa, Smart Doorbell, Smart Curtains, etc.

· Increase in Accessibility: Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility program utilizes the capability of Artificial Intelligence to foster answers for some physical and intellectual difficulties that handicapped people face at work and in day-to-day activities to advance social incorporation for them. Microsoft’s drive expects to expand autonomy and usefulness for impaired individuals in business, communication, and day-to-day existence.

Conclusion

The Artificial Intelligence we see today is just the beginning of innovation so diverse and impactful that it might even remove the factor of discomfort for people with disabilities in the times to come. By having a client-focused methodology, artificial intelligence technologies utilize comprehensive plans to imagine arrangements that best address the issues of individuals with disabilities. Companies like Microsoft and Google are constantly working non-stop to achieve this goal. To be sure, AI innovation empowers them to acquire independence whether these people are at home partaking in a film with captions or at work reading an available record making the world more open and comprehensive to them.