we live in an age in which france is lining up flying taxis to help people navigate the next
olympic games and several world governments have stated plans to lend a human on mars within the
next decade or so it's no wonder that with this level of technology at our fingertips
that people have begun applying it to dealing with human disabilities in some incredible ways
and while there is no end of progress being made every day these are 10 of the
most incredible ways technology is helping people overcome or deal with disabilities
number 10. blindness overcome through taste there are a number of reasons why a human
might lose their sight some people are born blind while others may lose sight to physical trauma
or even diseases like diabetes so how can a person devoid of sight process information from the world
around them obviously the other senses are greatly important here but we have a history of sense
substitution especially with the blind braille for instance is a method of reading without seeing you
substitute the sense of touch to achieve the same result in your brain electrotactile stimulation
builds on that idea brainport technology seeks to use novel ways to send signals to the brain of a
blind person that can then be interpreted much the same way as they could be by a person with
vision a camera is used to focus on an object and electrodes are attached to the camera and
connected to the tongue when the camera focuses on an object an electrical signal travels through
the wires to the tongue and the brain is able to interpret those signals to indicate what the
camera is seeing so why does this technology use your tongue well it's packed full of nerve endings
and unlike the flesh on the outside of your body there's no layer of dead skin cells on it to
muffle the signal that means that a lower voltage can transmit more information to your brain in the
process users need to be trained to use the system of course but results are stunning the electrical
signals sent through the tongue are perceived with incredible clarity users can read letters of the
alphabet and understand depth shape size and perspective one man was able to track down his
wife in a forest using it as amazing as it sounds brain can't back it up the people are essentially
seeing as far as their brains are concerned 9. robot suit while bloggers and fiction writers are
confident one day robots are going to destroy us all there's still hope for the field of robotics
in general when it comes to help for those who have been paralyzed either partially or fully the
potential of a robotic exoskeleton is incredibly promising most of us became familiar with the
rudimentary concept of a robot exoskeleton back in 1986 when the movie aliens came out and
we all cheered sigourney weaver on as she used one to fight the alien queen but that science fiction
design packed a lot of possibilities nothing quite as industrial of course but the concept
is sound what if a person could be strapped into a machine that would walk for them there
have actually been many companies producing many designs based on this theme over the years some
aid in walking some aid in functions that many of us take for granted like the lifting of a drink
or the carrying of heavy things the suits offer a plethora of functions for people with a wide
array of physical setbacks from those with spinal cord injuries who have lost the ability to walk
to those with degenerative muscle conditions that no longer have the strength to perform basic tasks
some of the suits are still in the developmental stage but others are currently being used out in
the world number eight enchroma glasses those of us who can see color the way our eyes were
designed to see it probably take this ability for granted color is a part of everyday life for most
of us but for those who are color blind it's a source of frustration that they cannot see the
world the way everyone else insists it looks it may not be the most debilitating condition in the
world but it does leave people feeling a sense of loss and it can cause problems when people
take it for granted that you can distinguish all the colors when you cannot this is where
enchroma glasses come in you can head to youtube and check out all kinds of videos that show people
trying these glasses on for the first time it's actually an incredibly emotional experience it's
quite heartwarming to watch the reaction of someone who's never truly seen color put on
a pair of glasses and suddenly see the world in a new way most people who are color blind are red
green color blinds they have issues distinguishing between the colors because of a fault in how
their eyes process light wavelengths and chroma glasses boost the eyes ability to distinguish
between colors by filtering certain wavelengths of light this lets them see clear differences between
colors and in particular red and green which had been causing them problems previously amazingly
the glasses were invented by accident by a doctor trying to make safety glasses for surgeons he let
a friend try them out during a game of frisbee one day and the friend who was colorblind was blown
away 7. ai hearing like vision hearing is a sense that can be lost for many reasons not to mention
those who are born without it at all hearing aids in one form or another have existed for
over a hundred years and prior to that there were less technical devices being used to help amplify
sound so that the hard of hearing could pick up on the sounds around them the future of assisted
hearing is opening doors that most people never imagined possible even 15 years ago ai-assisted
hearing devices are able to filter sounds rather than just amplify them as they reach a wearer's
ear it allows someone wearing it to focus on a thing they want to hear and remove the sounds that
they don't want to hear that means in a crowded room you could focus on what one person was saying
while not hearing the rest of it if that's impressive take a seat because that's one part
of many the device is also essentially a fitbit in your ear it measures steps walked and cognitive
functions for you as well it can even translate 27 different languages basically making it a
real-life version of the star trek universal translator and this is just one of many similar
devices either on the market or in development for the hard of hearing 6. dot watch with the advent
of smart technology and in particular wearables it was only a matter of time before products that
could help those with disabilities would hit the market as well the dot watch is arguably one of
the smartest and most advanced around think of it like an apple watch but designed entirely
with users who are blind in mind the watch has a braille display and it does far more than tell
time the watch face is an incredibly small but versatile braille display when paired up with a
cell phone if you get a text it can be translated into braille on the watch and you can read it on
the go it lets you know who might be calling in a discreet way rather than having your phone say it
out loud which you might not want when you're out and about and a lot more it can store information
give you notifications and even wake you up with a vibrating alarm and of course it also tells time
5. stair climbing wheelchair the americans with disabilities act was passed back in 1990 and
since that time businesses have been required to make their premises accessible to people with a
variety of disabilities and in particular those in wheelchairs wheelchair accessible features include
automatic doors and ramps instead of stairs prior to the passage of the law hundreds of
disability activists literally crawled up the stairs at the capitol to prove a point about
access despite that law being over 30 years old now stairs are still a bane for many people in
wheelchairs fortunately companies like skuo are tackling this problem from the other end
if access can't be part of the design for wheelchair users then the wheelchair will
adapt to the design to grant access thus was born the stair climbing wheelchair various versions of
stair climbing wheelchairs have existed for years now but the most advanced versions are things like
the bro wheelchair the chair functions much like an atv across almost all terrain users can even
control it with a smartphone if they want it can rise up to a meter off the ground so the user can
reach higher places and it's still fully mobile at that height when a user approaches stairs the
track feature allows the chair to rise secure itself on a step and then continue the process
up and down as needed number four orcam my eye not everyone with visual impairment is blind and
that means a lot of people have varied needs when it comes to improving how they navigate the world
developing technology that can assist everyone has been a major goal for researchers for years
if that means aiding a person who is fully blind someone with severe limitations to their sight and
even those suffering from conditions like dyslexia it could change the lives of millions and that's
what the orcam my eye seeks to do my eye involves the use of a small camera and microphone situated
on a pair of glasses these are connected to a small computer that you can keep in your pocket
once it's on the user just needs to point at something if there's text there the my
eye will read only the text you're pointing at dictating what's there through the earpiece but
it's not limited to just reading the ingredients on your cereal box and can also identify money
and even the faces of people when presented with a person the technology will identify probably
as best as it's able to whether it's seeing a male or a female and then say something like there is
a man in front of you in your ear if you know this person you can tell my eye this is my friend simon
and from then on he'll remember his face the next time simon approaches you my eye will say
simon is in front of you in addition to faces texts and money the my eye is able to identify
a variety of objects to help you navigate through your world and track them down in
your home if need be number three artificial larynx one disability that is often overlooked
due to its relative rarity is the loss of the ability to speak losing one's vision or hearing
is something we're far more familiar with but it's not unheard of for someone to suffer serious
damage their larynx and no longer be able to talk people with this condition have typically had a
number of non-verbal methods of communicating at their disposal writing is of course an obvious
option as is learning american sign language but syrinx is a recent technology that can give
a voice back to those who may have lost it as a result of physical trauma or something like cancer
syrinx is essentially a wearable voice box you may have seen people in the past using something
called an electro-larynx a device that a user has to hold up and press to their throat if they wish
to speak the handheld device produces a robotic voice and has its limitations it can never be used
if you're doing anything that requires two hands for instance the design also never really evolved
beyond its initial iteration meaning that tinney robotic voice was never improved upon syrinx is
wearable which can free up hands for driving or typing aware can even upload a sample of their
voice from before they lost it to help the device mimic it it vibrates the neck similar to the way
the natural larynx would producing a range of frequencies better able to copy normal sounding
speech and voice 2. ear switch one of the things most everyone remembers about stephen hawking
was how he communicated hawking suffered from als which rendered him nearly completely paralyzed he
was able to control a computer interface to help him speak which relied on subtle muscle movements
in his cheek to control the computer which would then verbalize his thoughts the same idea behind
that technology is advancing even today with an eye or rather an ear toward helping other patients
with neurological conditions the ear switch is a device that is implanted inside your ear rather
than the hawking's method which uses the movements of cheek muscles ear switch relies on a very small
muscle inside your ear to allow it to function even people with severe muscle degeneration can
still control something called the tympani muscle in the ear a small camera attached to an earpiece
scans the muscle movement and interfaces with a computer allowing users to scan through letters
on a keyboard and click when they have what they want this ensures that a patient who has
lost all muscle control can still communicate with others 1. mind-controlled prosthetics
humans have been using prosthetics for generations the earliest known prosthetic dates back to egypt
around 950 to 710 bce it was a toe made of wood in more recent times prosthetics have made some
advances to become more realistic looking and more practical the most impressive of these prosthetics
are the ones that rely on nerve signals in the tissue that the prosthetic is attached to they are
able to interpret signals that the brain would be sending to the real limb and allow the prosthetic
to act them out effectively they are mind control devices that can turn nerve signals into movement
like a real appendage would there have been prosthetics in the past that receive
signals directly from the brains of the limbless to help control them and there have even been
ones that attach the nerve endings in the severed limbs but a team from the university of michigan
has developed a cutting-edge technique that offers the recipient control at a level almost identical
to having a living limb they use muscle grafts to attach the prosthetic to the body the grafts
allow the nerves to bond with the living tissue again this means fine motor control is far greater
than with previous methods and it's also less invasive and dangerous compared to brain surgery
those who have used prosthetic hands designed this way can easily grasp spherical objects move
their thumbs in a full range rather than simply one position or another
and even play rock paper scissors so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did please
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