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If you design technology with people with disabilities in mind, you’ll better design technology for everyone.
That was the sentiment at Google as it opened its first UK research and development center dedicated to creating tech to help people with disabilities.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and the disability charity Everyone Can have worked with Google to develop the center in London. It is the company’s first accessibility-focused site outside the US.
BBC technology reporter Paul Carter said the tech being developed by Google has “the potential to be significant” for people with disabilities.
“Technology now touches many aspects of everyone’s daily life, but for people with disabilities it can literally change lives,” he said.
“There’s a saying in the disability community – ‘There’s nothing about us without us’ – and it’s great to see one of the major tech players taking that ethos and making room to design products and services that work for them, and not just people with disabilities. Not just for.”
Google has several research teams working on things like artificial intelligence, and a number of engineers tasked with looking at “supercharging” accessible tech, making it more mainstream.
For example, subtitling technology, which was originally introduced to assist deaf and hard of hearing television viewers, has had a positive impact on the public in general and has become useful to the public.
Rachel Blakely, who is deaf, said she struggled with lip reading as a child, but subtitles changed everything.
“Mainstream entertainment took on a new meaning for me when I was a teenager and captions started becoming standard for television broadcasts,” said the 35-year-old.
“Captions communicate not only what is being said but also any useful background sounds that help to enhance the plot, such as [dramatic music] To build tension, or a [loud explosion] Off camera that helps explain why the main character looks a little worried,” she said.
Christopher Patno from Google’s inclusion team said: “When people have equal access to information and opportunities, everyone wins – but we know that people’s needs are constantly changing, throughout their lives or throughout their day.
“We know we have a lot of work to do,” he said.
Difficulty understanding speech
Project Relate is a Google app, launching in beta in the UK, that helps people whose speech is difficult to interpret.
The app learns how to better recognize the speech patterns of those who may struggle – such as those with muscular dystrophy – and helps them communicate more easily.
It does this by transcribing speech to text in real time, repeating someone’s voice in synthesized voice, and talking to voice assistants.
Yvonne Johnson, 55, who has slurred speech, helped Google with the project.
“I’m getting a better understanding — not only from unfamiliar listeners but also from my husband — of the difference between a meaningful conversation and someone just nodding their heads,” she said.
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