Assistive Technology for Visually Impairment: Three Research Initiatives

Abstract

According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, at least 1 billion people are affected by vision impairment. According to the Canadian National Institute of Blind (CNIB), an estimated 1.5 million blind individuals suffer sight loss. Another 5.59 million have a visual condition, which may lead to eye loss, in Canada. Fortunately, assistive technology aims to enable people to live a healthy and independent life with equal opportunities in society. Conforming to the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), this short paper presents three assistive technology research initiatives for visual impairment, namely Paper Blocky Coding, American Sign Language (ASL) Online Interpreter, and Robotic Guide Dog. This paper will introduce the ideas of each research initiative and conclude with suggestions for future works.