New Age Apps For Differently-Abled Indians.
Governments everywhere can no longer overlook the hundreds of millions of people with disabilities who are denied access to health, rehabilitation, support, education, and employment—and never get the chance to shine. Stephen Hawking
Our Census Statistics state that 2.21 % of the total Indian population suffer from some or the other form of disability. You can be differently abled by birth, accident or fall prey to some tragic incident.
But does that mean that you get limited by physical, financial and attitudinal barriers in our Indian society?
The Government has recently launched the Accessible India campaign. We are finally in an Era marking Inclusive development. Instead of being stigmatized or ignored, we can now use various technical aids, medication and services that are made for and by the differently abled.
#1) BillionAbles is a social start-up by Sameer Garg who suffered a spinal injury around two decades ago. It is “India’s first Access Guide for persons with special needs” where their website lists over 1000 disabled friendly places across India, covering over 150 verified listings. There are List and map view filter based searches.
#2) Inclov (or Inclusive love) is a mobile matchmaking app started by Kalyani Khona and Shankar Srinivasan. There are 19000 registered Indian users (where men form the chunk at 80%).You can find love based on age, location, disability or medication. There is an In-app chat feature as well. An added bonus is that you can change the font sizes and colour themes in the app to your liking. Visually impaired users can talk back and use a screen reader too.
This is helpful since 30% of the blind population of the world is living in India.
#3) Lechal Shoes by Krispian Lawrence (Duc ere Technologies) are interactive haptic footwear. Though originally targeted for the visually impaired, these smart shoes can be used by all. They are designed to give you detailed route guidance through simple foot vibrations and patterns. Lechal (meaning take me along) insoles or buckles can help you navigate even when in a foreign location. The shoes are GPS and blue tooth enabled and can be a blessing for the differently abled who want to be independent.
#4) Bleetech Innovations is a start-up working for the deaf by providing tech and human centric design driven solutions. The sense of touch and vision are used for audio alerts. This covers (a)Bleewatch (a smart watch for the hearing impaired), (b)Askblee (a WhatsApp group answering all questions in Indian Sign language) and (c)BleeTV. The founders are Nupura Kirloskar and Janhavi Joshi, Industrial designers from Mumbai.
There are also #5) private WhatsApp groups, like the one for women with prosthetic legs that helps one navigate everyday challenges as well as the #6) MobiKwik mobile wallet for the visually impaired (launched in 2015). Developers and Companies have now launched innovative products that are using Assistive Technology to help those with disabilities.
After all, even those with physical, mental or health disorders deserve a shot at happiness like the rest of us.
Let us pledge to make the notion of disability disappear.
Our Census Statistics state that 2.21 % of the total Indian population suffer from some or the other form of disability. You can be differently abled by birth, accident or fall prey to some tragic incident.
But does that mean that you get limited by physical, financial and attitudinal barriers in our Indian society?
The Government has recently launched the Accessible India campaign. We are finally in an Era marking Inclusive development. Instead of being stigmatized or ignored, we can now use various technical aids, medication and services that are made for and by the differently abled.
#1) BillionAbles is a social start-up by Sameer Garg who suffered a spinal injury around two decades ago. It is “India’s first Access Guide for persons with special needs” where their website lists over 1000 disabled friendly places across India, covering over 150 verified listings. There are List and map view filter based searches.
#2) Inclov (or Inclusive love) is a mobile matchmaking app started by Kalyani Khona and Shankar Srinivasan. There are 19000 registered Indian users (where men form the chunk at 80%).You can find love based on age, location, disability or medication. There is an In-app chat feature as well. An added bonus is that you can change the font sizes and colour themes in the app to your liking. Visually impaired users can talk back and use a screen reader too.
This is helpful since 30% of the blind population of the world is living in India.
#3) Lechal Shoes by Krispian Lawrence (Duc ere Technologies) are interactive haptic footwear. Though originally targeted for the visually impaired, these smart shoes can be used by all. They are designed to give you detailed route guidance through simple foot vibrations and patterns. Lechal (meaning take me along) insoles or buckles can help you navigate even when in a foreign location. The shoes are GPS and blue tooth enabled and can be a blessing for the differently abled who want to be independent.
#4) Bleetech Innovations is a start-up working for the deaf by providing tech and human centric design driven solutions. The sense of touch and vision are used for audio alerts. This covers (a)Bleewatch (a smart watch for the hearing impaired), (b)Askblee (a WhatsApp group answering all questions in Indian Sign language) and (c)BleeTV. The founders are Nupura Kirloskar and Janhavi Joshi, Industrial designers from Mumbai.
There are also #5) private WhatsApp groups, like the one for women with prosthetic legs that helps one navigate everyday challenges as well as the #6) MobiKwik mobile wallet for the visually impaired (launched in 2015). Developers and Companies have now launched innovative products that are using Assistive Technology to help those with disabilities.
After all, even those with physical, mental or health disorders deserve a shot at happiness like the rest of us.
Let us pledge to make the notion of disability disappear.
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