Tablet interface for the physically disabled?
- by Glenn
My sister has Cerebral Palsy, which in her case means she has only gross motor control and her speech is slurred. Implications should be obvious: traditional computer/phone/tablet interfaces won't work for her and she can't speak clearly enough for speech recognition software to help her at all. She enjoys reading but has difficulty holding the book and/or turning a page.
There are a few options for helping her use a computer, but nothing for tablets or eReaders.
That's where you come in. I would like to make (or buy, if such a thing exists) a better interface to an Android tablet that would work for someone with little to no physical dexterity or speech ability. I'd also be interested in work on the Kindle or iPad, but I'm most familiar with Android so I'm starting there.
I know Android has Bluetooth capability. Is it possible to interface a joystick to control the Android device? By "control", I mean the entire operating system - selecting an app, launching it, controlling the menus, etc. I want to give her control over the whole thing, not just a specific app. On a PC this can be accomplished by creating a generic USB HID interface and an arcade joystick to move the mouse over the screen and click on thigns. Is it possible to do something like that in Android?
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
