Monash expert: Smart glasses restrictions risk limiting access for people with vision impairment
Monash University
A Monash University expert is available to comment on smart glasses restrictions and the need to balance privacy concerns with their life-changing benefits for people with vision impairment.
Professor Kim Marriott, Department of Human-Centred Computing, Faculty of Information Technology
Professor Marriott is the Director of the Monash Assistive Technology & Society Centre (MATS) which researches digital assistive technologies that support people with disabilities and, with more than 100 members, is the world’s largest centre of its kind. He recently investigated the use of smart glasses to help people with Cerebral Vision Impairment understand and interact with their environment (read full research paper).
Contact via: +61 450 501 248 or [email protected]
- Assistive technologies
- Accessible graphics
- 3D printing for the vision impaired
The following can be attributed to Professor Marriott:
“Smart glass technologies are transforming the lives of people who are blind, and we need to ensure that hasty regulation does not remove people with disabilities' access to these glasses, restrict where they can use them, or stigmatise their use of these glasses.
“Our research has demonstrated that smart glasses can meaningfully address key challenges in locating objects, reading text, recognising people, engaging in conversations, and managing sensory stress for people with different levels of vision impairment.
“The potential of these glasses to support people with disabilities is almost unlimited and blind people already use them to support independent travel and shopping.
“In the near future, next-generation smart glasses will support people with low vision by highlighting and simplifying what they see through the glasses, and through the audio function these glasses could also support people with dementia by reminding them who they are speaking to and when to take their medication.
“Clearly, we need policies to protect privacy and safeguard against predatory behaviour, but we also need to balance this with ensuring access to and recognising the life-changing benefits smart glasses can provide for people who are blind and other people with disabilities.”
For any other topics on which you may be seeking expert comment, contact the Monash University Media Unit on +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]