Access reimagined: Tech that moves everyone forward

Cheering on your local sports team, going for a hike or simply settling in to watch a TV show are all everyday pastimes that are easy to take for granted.

But for many people with disabilities — 16% of the world’s population, according to the U.N. — enjoying these different activities can be fraught with difficulties thanks to a lack of accessibility. How can you watch your team score the game-winning basket if you’re visually impaired? How can you take on that hiking trail if you’re not able to walk?

Technology offers many routes to expanding accessibility, and new developments are growing those routes faster than ever before.

Prosthetics are a form of technology that date back thousands of years — prosthetic eyes made of bitumen and gold have been discovered in Iranian tombs dating to 3000 B.C. — and have constantly developed alongside our knowledge of the human body and our ability to manipulate new materials. Modern prosthetics are often constructed of carbon fiber, making them both strong and light, but regardless of how they’re made, a key issue has persisted: how they fit. No matter how advanced the limb, its utility still depends on it being comfortable for the user to wear for extended periods of time.

Thankfully, a new era of comfort could be on the way, thanks to the efforts of a team of researchers at Imperial College London, and their development of a new material called Rolimer. Made of silicone elastomers lined with pressurized channels, Rolimer can be used to form an adjustable lining that is worn between the skin and the prosthetic, allowing for exact adjustments of the fit and sizing by the use of a connected app.

 “Prosthetic limbs are often uncomfortable because they have a fixed rigid shape,” said Firat Guder, the principal investigator on the project, tells the college's website. “Even though this shape can be molded to fit the individual’s body as it is at the time of fitting, it cannot adapt responsively to how our bodies change.”

Until recently, researchers have tried and failed to solve this problem by trying to improve the limbs and sockets themselves, he continued. “But we took a different approach by developing a dynamically adaptive interface for the liners used between the body and the rigid prosthetic socket.”

The new material, which the team hopes will be commercially available by the end of this year, means that wearers can adjust the fit throughout the day, depending on their needs and how their body feels, such as loosening an artificial leg when sitting, and tightening up the fit when walking or playing sports.

Feeling the action

Watching sports is also getting an accessibility boost thanks to the use of haptic technology to improve the game-going experience for visually impaired fans. This year, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers became the first major team to begin using the OneCourt system, a tablet-like device that uses vibrations to convey what’s happening in the game through the user’s fingertips. The NBA worked with OneCourt to open up their live game data so that the device can process and display the action on court as it happens. “Live sports should be an experience everyone can enjoy, and OneCourt’s groundbreaking technology is helping more fans feel connected to the game they love,” Alli Stangel Tassin, vice president of events for the Trail Blazers, said in the announcement.

It's not just basketball where the technology can be applied. Last year’s MLB All-Star game saw a baseball version of OneCourt tech being tested, while a football version is also being developed to help fans in the stands follow the game they love.

Watch out

While fans at home may have to wait before the system is more widely available, there are other changes helping make TV shows more inclusive for viewers of differing abilities.

Accessibility for TV viewers took off in the 1980s with the arrival of subtitles, while the use of audio description and sign language interpretation helped many others to enjoy a wider range of programming. Now viewers are being offered a wider range of accessibility options than ever before thanks to Ultra Access. Developed by interactive TV firm Stornoway and Rebecca Atkinson, the creator of children’s show Mixups, Ultra Access offers a suite of accessibility options designed to meet the needs of as wide a range of viewers as possible. As well as subtitles in a range of sizes, Mixups will also air with the option to, among other things, choose British Sign Language or simplified Makaton sign language, to turn down the background sound, adjust the colors for simpler visuals, or suggest play-along props to help children follow the action.

Writing in The Guardian, Atkinson said: “Advances in AI will probably make Ultra Access even easier to streamline. Whatever the future holds, Ultra Access remains the biggest development in TV access for decades. As one parent of a disabled child at our user-testing focus group said, ‘Finally, someone gets it!’”

Banner image courtesy of the Portland Trail Blazers.