Access on Main Street

The Prison Pen was originally designed as a writing implement for incarcerated folks that can’t double as a weapon: apply any pressure to it and it goes limp. We bet it could also be twined around the fingers of some folks with dexterity impairments who have difficulty grasping standard pens.

Prison pen

Fujitsu is hard at work patenting phones that can recognize user gestures. Could be useful to a wider audience of people with dexterity disabilities (or large fingers) than phones with traditional buttons, and might even be more usable by people with visual disabilities than the touch screen phones we’ve been bellyaching about this week.

Fujitsu patents gesture controlled smartphones

Hammacher Schlemmer is now selling an answering machine that can be controlled entirely by voice commands, without requiring a voice training process; expensive, but potentially useful for individuals who need hands-free products. We’re concerned, though, that it’s advertised as working with “American accented English”–a concept that may have different meanings to potential consumers in Bahston, Mis’sippi, and, omigod, like, the San Fernando Valley? Not to mention voices affected by aging or adolescence. Universal design ain’t just about disability…

Hammacher Schlemmer: The Only Voice Activated Answering Machine

Yo, Squinty!  Check this prototype phone/PDA accessory that magnifies tiny displays without losing quality.

Neochroma | Vision | A Digital Stereoscopic Viewer For The Photography And Mobile Markets.

Put sensors in a glove and give it Bluetooth connectivity. You’ve got a new gaming interface … plus alternative input for the keyboard incapable and maybe even the rudiments of a sign language encoder.

Prototype Bluetooth Glove Brings New Possibilities to Gaming – Gizmodo

and call me from the cellphone attached to your pillbox. As the original Ubergizmo blog entry notes, this would probably work well when combined with the phone’s alarm functions as a dosage reminder. However, we wish the pillbox didn’t look quite so slick–literally; people with arthritis or other dexterity impairments might have a hard time twisting it open.

Attach medication to your phone

A Japanese smoke detector can be set up to call a cell phone when activated. Could be great as a way of automatically summoning assistance for some seniors/people with disabilities who live alone and can’t afford monitoring services.

Smoke detector calls you to remind you to take roast out of the oven