Can You Change Someone’s World?
by Miki Saxon
For many LIFE has become life, which they choose to live out on a small screen instead of on nature’s infinite stage.
But for some, that small, smooth screen is becoming an onramp to the infinite stage.
Smartphones and tablets, with their flat glass touch screens and nary a texture anywhere, may not seem like the best technological innovation for people who cannot see. But advocates for the blind say the devices could be the biggest assistive aid to come along since Braille was invented in the 1820s.
Not surprisingly, the iPhone is a leader in assistive apps.
One such is VoiceOver, which reads aloud the name of each app as you run your finger over it, just as a visual label shows when you rollover a menu item.
Many developers either don’t think or can’t be bothered to take advantage of the technology by labeling the buttons on their app, which leaves sight-challenged users literally in the dark.
What those developers haven’t figured out is that this is a substantial market—ten million in the US alone and a globally aging population that guarantees it will grow.
Moreover, it’s a highly networked market where anything new and useful is speedily shared.
Even if you are strictly in it for the money enabling your app to take advantage of the assistive technologies built into iOS and Android is smart, since doing so can differentiate you from the pack and help you access valuable media attention.
Writing an app seems to be a right of passage these days even among non-techies for whom it is a hobby and not a job.
So why not write it for a built-in, accessible market and do a bit of good along with the added income?
Flickr image credit: Bonnie Brown
