From curb cuts to voice-to-text technology, many of the tools and features we rely on today were first created to break down barriers and improve accessibility. Over time, these innovations have proven incredibly useful for everyone—whether a parent pushing a stroller, a traveller navigating an airport, or someone simply trying to watch a video in a noisy café. Accessibility-driven design not only makes the world more inclusive but also improves the quality of life for all of us in unexpected ways.
Here’s a short list of things and technologies that we use every day and make all our lives easier:
- The Telephone: Invented by Alexander Graham Bell while working on assistive devices for the Deaf, now an essential communication tool for everyone.
- The Typewriter: Originally designed to help blind individuals write, the typewriter laid the foundation for modern keyboards used by millions today.
- Curb Cuts: Originally designed for wheelchair users, curb cuts now benefit parents with strollers, travellers with luggage, cyclists, movers and delivery people.
- Closed Captions: Created for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, captions are now widely used in noisy environments, for language learners, and by anyone watching content without sound.
- Voice-to-Text: Technology Developed for individuals with mobility impairments, this technology is now used for hands-free texting, voice assistants (e.g., Siri, Alexa), and transcription services.
- Electric Toothbrushes: Initially created for individuals with limited dexterity, they are now popular for improving oral hygiene for people of all abilities.
- Automatic Doors: Designed to assist people with mobility challenges, they are now a convenience for everyone, including shoppers with full hands and parents with strollers. And boy, did we love them during the pandemic.
- E-book Readers & Audiobooks: Developed for people with vision impairments or dyslexia, they are now widely enjoyed by commuters, multitaskers, and people who prefer listening to books.
- Adjustable Height Desks: Originally introduced for individuals with specific ergonomic needs, these desks now support healthy work habits for everyone.
- Texting: James Masters invented a device that relayed typewritten conversations through a telephone. Masters’ Teletypewriter system enabled tens of thousands of deaf people to regularly communicate with hearing people. In the 1990s, that technology was overtaken by text messaging (SMS), invented to help people who are deaf or hard of hearing and used by mobile phone users everywhere.
- Pinch-to-Zoom Gesture: Developed to assist people with low vision, now widely used on smartphones and tablets to enhance readability for all users.
- Oxo Peeler: Developed for people with arthritis, Good Grips had thick rubbery handles that were also better tools for everyone to use.
Can you think of an object or technology meant to remove a barrier for a person with disabilities but ended up benefiting everybody? Please leave a link in the comments, I’d like to add it to my list.