Everyday Technology Can Be a Powerful Tool for Independence

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6 min read

Technology has become part of nearly every aspect of daily life. For people with disabilities, the same phones, tablets, computers, and smart devices used every day can also provide powerful tools for greater independence.

One of the most encouraging things about assistive technology is that it does not always require specialized or expensive equipment. Many accessibility features are already built into smartphones and tablets, while a growing number of apps can provide additional support for communication, vision, hearing, organization, learning, and everyday tasks.

Accessibility May Already Be in Your Pocket

Modern smartphones and tablets include accessibility tools designed to support people with physical, cognitive, sensory, communication, and learning needs.

Voice-control features on both Android and Apple devices can allow someone to open apps, navigate screens, type messages, and complete tasks using spoken commands rather than touch.

For people who experience speech difficulties, newer tools can even learn how an individual communicates. Apple’s Vocal Shortcuts, for example, allows users to create customized vocal commands, while Listen for Atypical Speech is designed to better recognize different speech patterns.

These kinds of features can make everyday technology easier to use for people with cerebral palsy, ALS, stroke-related speech differences, and other conditions that affect speech or mobility.

Making Devices Easier to Navigate

Sometimes accessibility is less about adding a new feature and more about simplifying what is already there.

Apple’s Assistive Access can change the overall appearance of an iPhone or iPad by simplifying menus, enlarging controls, emphasizing images and icons, and reducing some of the complexity of the standard interface.

For someone who may become overwhelmed by a traditional smartphone interface, simplifying the device can make it easier to independently make a call, send a message, listen to music, or view photos.

Guided Access can also temporarily limit a device to a particular app or restrict certain buttons and areas of the screen. This can be useful for individuals who benefit from fewer distractions or a more structured experience.

More Ways to See and Understand Information

Technology can also change how information is presented.

Screen readers such as VoiceOver on Apple devices and TalkBack on Android provide spoken feedback about what appears on the screen. This can allow someone who is blind or has low vision to navigate apps, read messages, browse the internet, and perform many other tasks.

Phones can also read written information aloud.

Features such as Speak Screen and Spoken Content can read webpages, documents, messages, and other text. For some people with learning disabilities, adding an audio component to written information can make reading and comprehension easier.

Magnification features can enlarge text and objects, while newer tools can use a phone's camera to recognize text and read information in the environment aloud.

Supporting People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Smartphones and tablets also provide several tools that can make sound and conversation more accessible.

Live Listen on Apple devices and Sound Amplifier on Android can help amplify speech and reduce some background noise.

Captioning and transcription tools can convert conversations and other spoken information into text.

Sound-recognition features can also alert someone when the device detects particular noises, including a doorbell, knock at the door, smoke alarm, siren, appliance, running water, dog barking, or baby crying.

Instead of requiring a completely separate device for every situation, a phone someone already carries may be able to provide another layer of accessibility.

Controlling Technology in Different Ways

Touchscreens are convenient, but they are not accessible to everyone.

Technology increasingly allows people to interact with devices using their voice, eyes, head movements, switches, or facial expressions.

Eye-tracking technology can allow someone to move a cursor by looking around a screen and make selections by dwelling on an item. Head tracking can allow movements of the head to control a device.

Switch controls can provide another way for someone with limited mobility to interact with phones, tablets, computers, and other technology.

The important idea is that the individual should not always have to adapt to the technology. Whenever possible, the technology should adapt to the individual.

Helpful Apps and Tools to Explore

In addition to accessibility features already built into phones and tablets, there are many apps designed to address specific needs. No single app will be appropriate for everyone, but these can be useful starting points for exploring what is available.

For vision and identifying surroundings

Be My Eyes connects people who are blind or have low vision with visual assistance and also offers AI-powered visual descriptions.
Seeing AI can use a phone's camera to describe text, objects, products, documents, and parts of the surrounding environment.
Google Lookout provides Android users with tools for recognizing text, objects, documents, and other visual information.
Envision uses artificial intelligence to describe visual information, recognize text, and assist with identifying objects.

For communication

Proloquo2Go is an augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, app that allows people to communicate using symbols, words, and generated speech.
TD Snap is another AAC platform that can support individuals who have difficulty using speech to communicate.
Speech Assistant AAC allows users to create buttons and phrases that a phone or tablet can speak aloud.
CoughDrop provides AAC communication tools that can be used across multiple types of devices.

For hearing and conversations

Live Transcribe can turn spoken conversations into text on supported Android devices.
Ava provides live transcription and captions for conversations.
Otter can create real-time transcripts of conversations and meetings and may be useful in some workplace or educational settings.
Built-in Live Captions on many newer devices can also provide captions without requiring an additional app.

For routines, organization, and cognitive support

Choiceworks uses visual schedules and activities to help people understand routines and upcoming tasks.
Tiimo provides visual planning, routines, reminders, and time-management tools.
Microsoft To Do and similar task-management apps can provide simple checklists and recurring reminders.
Built-in calendar, alarm, timer, and reminder apps can also be powerful assistive tools when configured around an individual's routine.

For reading and learning

Microsoft Lens can capture documents and written materials and make them easier to read or process digitally.
NaturalReader converts text to speech and can read documents and other written information aloud.
Voice Dream Reader provides customizable text-to-speech tools for reading documents and other materials.
Built-in tools such as Apple's Spoken Content and Android's Select to Speak may provide similar functionality without requiring another app.

Some of these apps are free, while others require purchases or subscriptions. Availability and specific features may also vary depending on the device and operating system.

Sometimes the Best Technology Is the Simplest Technology

Assistive technology does not have to involve artificial intelligence, eye tracking, or sophisticated communication systems.

For one person, the right solution might be a specialized communication device.

For another, it might simply be:

Setting a recurring reminder for medication or an appointment.
Using a photo as a contact button instead of searching for someone's name.
Asking Siri or Google Assistant to make a phone call.
Using a smart speaker to turn lights on and off.
Creating a visual checklist for a morning routine.
Enlarging the text on a phone.
Having a device read a message aloud.
Using voice typing instead of a keyboard.

Small adjustments can sometimes remove significant barriers.

Try Before You Buy

Finding the right assistive technology can involve some trial and error.

Indiana residents have access to an especially valuable resource through the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads. INDATA provides information, demonstrations, training, equipment loans, recycling programs, and other assistive technology resources. Its lending library includes more than 2,500 items, giving individuals an opportunity to try many types of assistive technology before purchasing them. Equipment can also sometimes serve as a temporary solution while a person's regular device is being repaired or while they are waiting for funding.

Easterseals Crossroads also provides individualized assistive technology evaluations, training, and technical support to children and adults across Indiana.

For educators, ATLAS, an Easterseals Crossroads program in partnership with the Indiana Department of Education, provides assistive technology demonstrations, technical assistance, training, and equipment loans.

The Right Technology Is the Technology That Works for the Person

There are thousands of accessibility products, apps, settings, and devices available today, and that number continues to grow.

But the goal should never simply be to use more technology.

The goal is to find the right technology.

A solution should be based on the individual's abilities, preferences, environment, goals, and the barriers they encounter in everyday life. Something that works extremely well for one person may not be useful for someone else.

Sometimes the answer will be sophisticated assistive technology. Sometimes it will be a free app. And sometimes it will simply mean turning on an accessibility feature that has been sitting unnoticed inside a phone for years.

When technology provides someone with another way to communicate, access information, manage their environment, complete a task, or make their own choices, it can become much more than a convenience.

It can become a tool for independence.

Acknowledgment: Information for this article was inspired by and adapted from “Increased Independence Through Easily Accessible Technology,” presented by Josh Anderson, ATP, Director of Assistive Technology at Easterseals Crossroads, at the 2026 INARF Annual Conference on September 23, 2026. Additional app examples have been included to help readers explore currently available accessibility tools.