Wheelchair access app among winners of €200k contest to find products that improve the lives of senior citizens and people with disabilities.
The competition was launched earlier this year to find outstanding products across four different categories.
It was run by the Vodafone Foundation with AGE Platform Europe and the European Disability Forum (EDF).
The winning smartphone apps are:
* Help Talk (Wellbeing category)
Designed for people who are unable to communicate by speech. The app presents a set of commands represented by icons which when tapped ‘speak’ the basic need or desire - such as ‘I’m thirsty’ or ‘I feel pain’ - and goes on to allow the user to provide further detail in the same way.
* Wheelmap (Mobility category)
Wheelmap uses crowdsourcing to lets users rate and review the accessibility for wheelchair users of public places. In one month 1200 users registered for the app, and 180,000 places were reviewed.
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* Zoom Plus Magnifier (Independent living category)
Allows people with visual disabilities, as well as some forms of dyslexia, to easily read text by applying a magnifier, sharpening the focus, or adjusting font and background colours.
* BIG Launcher (Social participation category)
An alternative customisable Android homescreen, for elderly or visually impaired users who often struggle to use the small keyboards on most devices. It uses big buttons and large fonts to represent all the basic functions of the phone – telephone, SMS messages, camera, gallery, SOS button and installed apps.
Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, said, “We need relevant smartphone apps for all our communities. I congratulate the winners of the Smart Accessibility Awards and the Vodafone Foundation for helping bring the benefits of smartphones to all Europeans. Everyone can gain from the digital revolution."
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