AI Assistive Technology Landscape

The Assistive Technology Revolution

Assistive technology used to mean expensive, specialized hardware — screen readers that cost thousands of dollars, hearing aids that required clinic visits, text-to-speech software with robotic voices. AI has democratized assistive technology, making many tools free, adaptive, and increasingly natural.

But the landscape is complex. Different disabilities require different solutions, and no single tool serves everyone. Understanding what’s available — and what’s still missing — is the foundation for building accessible experiences.

Visual Accessibility

Approximately 36 million people are blind worldwide, with another 217 million having moderate-to-severe vision impairment. AI has transformed the tools available to them.

AI-Powered Visual Assistive Tools

Tool	What It Does	AI Innovation
Microsoft Seeing AI	Describes scenes, reads text, identifies objects in real-time	Computer vision translates the visual world to audio
Be My Eyes	Connects users to AI-powered visual assistance	AI answers visual questions about surroundings
Picture Smart AI	Generates image descriptions for screen reader users	Fills the alt text gap automatically
Smart glasses	Real-time face recognition, text reading, scene description	Wearable AI in the user’s field of view

Help me understand how different visual impairment levels
affect digital accessibility needs.

For each level, explain:
1. What the user experiences
2. Primary assistive technology used
3. What digital products must provide
4. Where AI helps most

Levels:
- Total blindness (screen reader dependent)
- Low vision (uses magnification, high contrast)
- Color blindness (8% of men affected)
- Temporary/situational visual impairment

✅ Quick Check: Why does low vision require different accessibility approaches than total blindness? Because low vision users (217 million globally) typically don’t use screen readers. They use screen magnification, high contrast modes, enlarged text, and customized color settings. Designing only for screen reader compatibility misses the larger population of visually impaired users who navigate visually but need enhanced visual presentation.

Auditory Accessibility

Approximately 466 million people have disabling hearing loss. AI captioning and transcription have transformed what’s possible.

AI-Powered Auditory Tools

Tool	What It Does	AI Innovation
Ava	Live captions with AI + human scribes	ADA-compliant accuracy for professional settings
Otter.ai	Real-time meeting transcription with speaker ID	Multi-speaker recognition without individual setup
TranscribeGlass	Wearable real-time subtitles	<300ms latency speech-to-text in smart glasses
Nagish	AI-powered phone call captioning	Private, direct captioning without relay services
Google Live Transcribe	Free real-time transcription for Android	Multi-language, always-available captioning

Help me create an accessibility checklist for audio/video content.

For each content type, specify what's needed:

PRE-RECORDED VIDEO:
- Captions (synchronized text of all speech)
- Audio descriptions (narration of visual actions)
- Transcript (full text version)

LIVE EVENTS:
- Real-time captioning (CART or AI-assisted)
- Sign language interpretation
- Visual communication backup

PODCASTS/AUDIO:
- Full transcript
- Summary/show notes
- Searchable text version

For each item: can AI fully handle it, partially handle it,
or does it require human work?

Motor/Physical Accessibility

Motor impairments range from temporary (broken arm) to permanent (paralysis, ALS, tremors). AI is expanding input methods beyond keyboard and mouse.

AI-Powered Motor Assistive Tools

Tool	What It Does	AI Innovation
Voice control (Siri, Google, Alexa)	Hands-free device operation	Natural language processing replaces physical input
Eye tracking (Tobii)	Gaze-based computer control	AI predicts intended targets from gaze patterns
Switch access	Single-button device navigation	AI optimizes scanning patterns for speed
Predictive text/autocomplete	Reduces typing effort	ML models predict words from minimal input

✅ Quick Check: How does keyboard accessibility serve both motor-impaired users and power users? Keyboard navigation is essential for users who can’t use a mouse (motor impairments, vision impairments). But it also benefits power users who prefer keyboard shortcuts for speed. When you build proper keyboard accessibility — logical tab order, visible focus indicators, keyboard-operable interactive elements — you serve both populations. This is the curb-cut effect in action.

Cognitive Accessibility

Cognitive disabilities include ADHD, dyslexia, autism spectrum, intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and age-related cognitive decline. This is the largest and most diverse disability category — and where AI is having the most underappreciated impact.

AI-Powered Cognitive Tools

Tool/Approach	What It Does	Who Benefits
AI summarization	Condenses long content into key points	ADHD, cognitive fatigue, time-limited users
Text simplification	Rewrites complex text at lower reading level	Intellectual disabilities, non-native speakers
Task decomposition	Breaks large tasks into manageable steps	ADHD, executive function challenges
Speechify/NaturalReader	AI text-to-speech with summaries	Dyslexia, visual processing
Ghotit Real Writer	Writing assistance for dyslexia	Dyslexia-specific spelling and grammar

Help me make this content more cognitively accessible.

Original text: [paste complex content]

Create three versions:
1. STANDARD — Clear, well-structured (8th grade reading level)
2. SIMPLIFIED — Short sentences, common words (5th grade level)
3. VISUAL — Key points as bullet list with icons/headings

For each version, explain what cognitive accessibility
principles you applied:
- Reduced cognitive load
- Chunked information
- Clear structure and headings
- Consistent patterns
- Plain language

The Complete Assistive Technology Map

Disability Category	Traditional Tools	AI-Enhanced Tools	Biggest AI Impact
Visual	Screen readers, magnifiers	Seeing AI, Be My Eyes, smart glasses	Scene description, auto alt text
Auditory	Hearing aids, TTY	Ava, Otter, TranscribeGlass	Real-time captioning, speaker ID
Motor	Switch access, sip-and-puff	Voice control, eye tracking, predictive input	Natural language device control
Cognitive	Timer apps, text-to-speech	AI assistants, summarizers, task decomposers	Flexible executive function support

Key Takeaways

Visual impairment spans a wide spectrum — from total blindness (36 million) to low vision (217 million) to color blindness (8% of men) — each requiring different AI-assisted approaches
AI captioning gets 85-95% accuracy but the remaining errors cluster in critical content (names, numbers, technical terms); human review is still essential
General-purpose AI assistants have become unexpectedly powerful cognitive accessibility tools — helping with executive function, information processing, and task management
The assistive technology landscape includes specialized tools (Seeing AI, Ava, TranscribeGlass) and general-purpose AI (ChatGPT, Claude) that users adapt to their needs
Motor accessibility innovations like voice control and eye tracking benefit from AI’s ability to learn individual users’ patterns and adapt over time

Up Next: You’ll learn to use AI tools to audit websites and documents for WCAG compliance — catching accessibility issues systematically and generating prioritized remediation plans.