Call for Proposals for Assistive and Accessible Mobile Applications for 2012-13

Image Source: Wireless RERC website

The Wireless Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (Wireless RERC), creator of access to wireless technologies to people with disabilities, is inviting developers to submit proposals to obtain financial support for creating assistive and/or accessibility apps for popular mobile platforms like iOS, Android, Blackberry 10, and Windows Phone.

The Wireless RERC's app development budget is approximately $90k, and the idea is to support the development of four new apps per grant year. The app will be released through every platform's appropriate channel (App Store, Google Play, etc.) or through Wireless RERC's App Factory. If the app is successful, the developer may be offered additional funding to add more features or to create the app for an additional platform.

Proposals will be evaluated on the following parameters:

• The app addresses an important accessibility or assistive technology need. 
• The app is unlikely to be developed in the commercial marketplace. 
• The app is technically feasible and the technical capacity required for development is readily demonstrable by the developer. 
• The projected lifetime of the app justifies the investment. 
• The projected lifetime of the app justifies the investment.The app complements and does not duplicate other apps in the marketplace or under development.

For the 2012-13 grant year, proposals need to be submitted by 15 September, 2012, and the final apps need to be delivered by August 10, 2013.

To read more details about the Call for Proposals, visit the website here.

Full document

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Voice Actions on Android 2.2

Google's Android 2.2 (and above) comes with an amazing feature that lets users perform various actions on their phone by just using voice. This feature is aptly called Voice Actions, and requires minimal use of the phone keyboard/ touch screen. The user needs to install the Voice Search app featuring Voice Actions on their phone which can be easily done by going here and clicking on the "Send to Phone" button. Clicking the button sends a text message to the user's phone with a link to the app.

Voice Actions can be a blessing for people who have underdeveloped motor skills and/or low vision.

Watch this fantastic video that shows this feature in action. I tried Voice Actions on my phone as well, and I have to say that I was very impressed.

To see a list of all the actions that can be performed using Voice Actions, please go here.

Have you or anyone you know used Voice Action? Please feel free to share your story in the comments below.

Note: Requires at least Android 2.2 (Froyo).

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Adobe Flash CS4 Accessibility

There is a great (short) animated video on Adobe's website that provides some quick tips on how to make Flash videos accessible. This video consists of 5 "slides", and each slide discusses various accessibility features that can be added for different types of users. The main points this video touches are:

For blind users:

-  Setting reading order.
- Audio description (as audio or transcripts).
- Screen magnifier for users with low vision.

Keyboard access:

- Setting the tab index (same as reading order; cannot tab to text field).
- Setting programmed shortcuts.

For deaf users:

- Adding captions.
- Adding video of an ASL interpreter for younger children.

Extra resources

- Link to Adobe Accessible Resource Center.
- Link to Adobe Flash Accessibility Design Guidelines.

Click  the "D))" button at the bottom right corner to see how they use audio descriptions in this video.

Here is the video.

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