7 Powerful Apps for People with Disabilities (Free Apps)
16 September 2022
Out of the millions of apps that exist today, there are a select handful of them that can make life easier, more accessible and more enjoyable for people living with a disability. These apps are designed to support people living with disabilities such as blindness, deafness, hard of hearing, physical and/or intellectual disabilities.
The majority of these apps are completely free with the option to upgrade to a premium version.
Tappy makes its way onto this list because of its ability to soothe and engage individuals in a fun relaxing way. Tappy is a self-care fidgeter app designed to help you reduce stress and anxiety quickly in a fun and satisfying way. The features of this app are amazing for individuals who find it hard to relax and focus.
Tappy utilises haptic responses and sound effects to immerse you into the game and improve your overall stress and anxiety levels.
Tappy also includes other games and activities that give satisfying haptic feedback responses such as fidget game tools and mood tracking.
Supported devices:
- Apple IOS
- Android
Visuals2go is an all-in-one educational app created to support people with communication and learning difficulties.
Essentially, Visuals2go is an accessibility tool that is user friendly, simple to use and effective in the teaching of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). It is designed to encourage regular access to communication and learning.
There are many ways to use this app such as:
- Communication purposes for those struggling with speech
- Visual prompts for learning purposes
- One button communication device
- Virtual lanyard (carrying all your symbols on your device)
The great thing about this app is the level of support and resources provided to help you make the most out of it. such as the website that has useful tutorials and guides. It also provides you with training and free webinars that you can sign up for.
Supported devices:
- Apple IOS
Fuel Service connects disabled drivers to petrol stations. Fuel service accomplishes this in 3 simple steps within the app:
- Wherever you are, find petrol stations near your location. Search by distance or via the map
- The app will contact the petrol station before you go there to see if they can assist you
- The app notifies the petrol station that you have arrived and they can respond by letting you know how long they will be
- Apple IOS
- Android
Be my eyes is an app that is providing greater accessibility to blind people or people who have low-level vision. They are accomplishing this goal by connecting blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers through live video calls.
This app is fantastic for people who want to support others by helping them navigate their surroundings and complete daily tasks via the app.
The process is simple. As a blind or low-vision person, whenever you need virtual assistance, you’ll be connected with a volunteer through a live video call. During the call, you are able to communicate to them directly and provide them with the information needed so that they can help you solve your problem.
Supported devices:
- Apple IOS
- Android
Rogervoice is an app that was created to support people who have difficulties with their hearing. It was designed to provide deaf people or hard of hearing people with the ability to make phone calls like everyone else.
Whether the goal is to book a reservation, make an appointment or keep in touch with family and friends, Rogervoice makes life much easier.
How?
Rogervoice essentially captions your phone calls instantly! While on a phone call, you simply need to read the live transcript in order to understand what the speaker is saying.
Supported devices:
- Apple IOS
- Android
Otsimo comes in second position on this list because it is a wonderful app for individuals diagnosed with learning disorders, attention deficit, autism, down syndrome, asperges and other special needs.
Having received numerous awards, this app teaches fundamental education and concepts that develop cognitive communication and motor skills in a variety of categories such as vocabulary and words, numbers, emotions, music and so much more.
Otsimo is great at making learning fun and also provides a ton of customisability and delivers detailed progress reports to track how you’re doing.
Otsimo also has a speech therapy app for people who experience speech related issues such as delayed speech (late talkers), non-verbal autism and down syndrome affecting kids speech.
Supported devices:
- Apple IOS
- Android
AccessNow makes the top of this list as it is a fantastic app that helps individuals with disabilities to find accessible locations and venues worldwide.
AccessNow is all about sharing accessibility information about places around the world. This app allows you to search for specific places like a restaurant, hotel or store, or browse the map to see what is nearby with the accessibility features you require.
This app is always updating its locations and actually provides users with the ability to list information on the app that hasn’t already been included.
As an app user, you are able to use filters during your search so that you can map out the exact type of location and required accessibility that you are looking for.
Supported devices:
- Apple IOS
- Android