Canada’s Accessible Technology Program adds new assistive technologies

Noting the importance of communication tools for everyone, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Accessible Technology Program will add five new projects in accessible formats.  ‘That’s why the Government of Canada is taking action to make sure that people living with disabilities are not left behind, and why it continues to push the envelope to find new and innovative ways of helping remove barriers to accessibility and inclusion.’ The newly funded projects are:

• AbleDocs Inc. to develop an assistive reader that reads PDF content for persons living with visual and cognitive impairments
• AdHawk Microsystems Inc. to develop and deliver mobile augmented reality glasses with integrated displays and eye tracking to interact with desktop applications
• Compusult Limited to enhance and extend a combined joystick and mouse switch technology to create controllers that enable someone with physical disabilities to seamlessly switch between and manage multiple devices
• Emily Carr University of Art & Design to create the a new adaptable font that to address the needs of people with low vision
• McGill University to develop three strategies based on audio, tactile and multimodal feedback that will allow users who are blind, deaf-blind or visually impaired to interpret graphical content on the Internet more independently, quickly and effortlessly