Connected Technologies Help People with Disabilities Transcend Barriers – Is Unemployment Next?

March 19, 2018 | Susan Diegelman, AAPD Board Member

Over the past few years, the promise of connected technology for people with disabilities has developed into an expectation. Now that the deployment of 5G networks — the next generation of wireless Internet — has truly begun, the Internet will increasingly support more sensors and devices, which will help bring this promise to bear in amazing ways.

We are already seeing connected technologies help people with disabilities accomplish a wide range of essential daily tasks like starting the dishwasher, boarding a city bus, or remembering to take medication on time. And as the new 5G network delivers lower latency and better battery life, devices for independent living will become invaluable tools to enable an even-further expanded range of activity.

As important as these types of 5G-powered devices will be, they only represent a start to the innovative possibilities and problem-solving that high-speed wireless broadband can unlock. Could 5G-connected cars mean a driverless future where blind people can drive independently? Could connected technologies be used to solve complex problems for people with disabilities like unemployment?

Employment, as we know, goes hand-in-hand with independence. Too often people with disabilities who don’t have the assistance they need are put at a disadvantage in the job market. In fact, the National Federation of the Blind estimates that almost 70% of people who are blind or low vision are unemployed. That’s unacceptable. And with new connected technology, we can do more than ever before to chip away at a deficit like that. Can you imagine, a connected technology company directing resources and using novel approaches to tackle this issue?

Now, there’s no need to imagine. Aira, a rapidly growing assistive technology subscription service, has recently announced the Aira Employment Program, a free service for job seekers already subscribed to Aria who are blind or low vision to use as they navigate the employment process. Aira uses smart glasses to stream live video — as well as GPS and web data — to a remote, human agent who then offers real-time, on-demand assistance.

People use Aira not only to complete a variety of daily tasks but to work toward the employment they deserve by searching online job postings, filling out applications, and updating resumes. The service even helps job seekers travel to and from interviews and pick out what to wear, with any cost for service minutes used on these activities covered by Aira.

As the 5G wireless Internet is deployed to more people, assistive technologies will become more integral to addressing boundaries to visual information and transportation. Let’s applaud Aira and encourage more companies like them to invest in the communities they serve.

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Susan Diegelman is Director of Public Affairs at AT&T and Secretary of the AAPD Board of Directors. She works with advocates across all areas of disability to understand how technology can support independent living and improve lives.

My Disability Isn’t A Tragedy

November 3, 2017 | Annika Ariel, 2017 AAPD Summer Intern

Picking up my laundry was only supposed to take three minutes and twenty-three seconds. I had made frantically grabbing my clothes from the dryer and taking them back up to my dorm a science, one that I had mastered in the never-ending pursuit of finishing my readings at a reasonable hour. So when I realized that the laundry room was full of people, my first thought was damn, this is going to take five minutes.

Smiling at the upperclassmen who had apparently taken over the laundry room for the night, I walked out. My only mistake was pausing and checking my phone just as I was out of their view.

“So is she, like, blind?”

“Yeah, think so. I have no idea how she does it. I think I’d kill myself if I were blind.”

“She’s apparently an orientation leader for next year. I wish I knew how she could do that. Can’t exactly ask, though.”

I had upstairs on my Braille notetaker a copy of Emerson’s essay “Experience”, and the first line kept running through my head—“where do we find ourselves?”. At that point, I had been at Amherst a semester and a half. While many accessibility barriers existed and continue to exist at Amherst, this was my first direct experience dealing with the misconceptions of other students. I watched awkwardly as the men, apparently having realized I was standing nearby, walked out of another door.

I found myself thrust out of the comfortable disability bubble I had put myself into. Up until that point, I had believed that ignoring my disability was, somewhat ironically, the best way to educate people. If people just saw that I was a ‘normal’ person who ‘happened’ to be blind, they would eventually be able to look past my blindness. However, I was being forced to realize that this approach was inadequate—if I ignored my blindness as much as possible, people ended up being even more confused and misinformed. Sometimes, this manifested itself as me being told I didn’t ‘seem’ blind or people have lingering questions they were too scared to voice. Simply put, shoving my disability to the side resulted in misconceptions remaining unaddressed.

Coincidentally, that same semester I was enrolled in Amherst’s one class on disability. For the first time in my life, I was reading about the social model of disability. I began viewing my blindness not as a flaw, not as something to be ashamed of, but just as another part of the human experience. By being open about who I was, not only was I more comfortable in my own body, but others around me became more comfortable and knowledgeable about disability. My disability isn’t a tragedy; it’s simply a different way of living.

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Annika Ariel is a 2017 Summer Intern. This summer she interned for Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Connected Technologies Help People with Disabilities Transcend Barriers – Is Unemployment Next?

March 19, 2018 | Susan Diegelman, AAPD Board Member

My Disability Isn’t A Tragedy

November 3, 2017 | Annika Ariel, 2017 AAPD Summer Intern

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