Hands-free access to handy tech

Tecla
Canada (Toronto)

Submitted by you:

Tecla is a switch-wheelchair interface suitable for anyone who can’t easily use a smartphone, tablet or computer. It allows users to interact with their phones and devices by connecting them to touch-screen devices using the adaptive devices they are familiar with – including buttons, sip-and-puff controllers, head arrays, joysticks and the driving controls of a wheelchair.

The little blue and orange box and the tapping of a switch allows those with limited upper-body mobility resulting from spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, ALS, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, brain injuries, or stroke to make connections with the world.

Legislation introduced in 2010 in the US mandates that all devices that connect to the internet must be accessible. This has forced device manufacturers to improve the accessibility features in the products. Tecla have worked with Apple, Google and Amazon to improve the accessibility of their products and allow users with limited mobility to access them hands-free.

The technology is also used as part of accessible voting stations in the US, where by 2020 all voting station must be accessible. Modular voting stations featuring Tecla were used in districts in Colorado during the 2016 presidential election.

Komodo OpenLab, makers of Tecla, is a certified B corporation that develops inclusive technology to improve the daily lives of people with disabilities. Founders Jorge Silva and Mauricio Meza are biomedical engineers who have worked with people with disabilities for over a decade.

Working with beta testers was key to Tecla’s global success. One beta tester, who suffered a devastating fall now lives with quadriplegia, helped shape the product to what it is today.  Through Tecla they want to enable simple and easy access to smartphones and tablets for millions of people with mobility impairments.

Written by

Kaela Malozewski (31 January 2017)

Bio

Communications Coordinator, Tecla

Project leader

Mauricio Meza and Jorge Silva, Komodo OpenLab

Support the Atlas

We want the Atlas of the Future media platform and our event to be available to everybody, everywhere for free – always. Fancy helping us spread stories of hope and optimism to create a better tomorrow? For those able, we'd be grateful for any donation.

Creative Commons License

Comments

 

Take me somewhere
Close
Take me somewhere
Close
Data Protection Act: LOPD.
In compliance with Organic Law 15/1999, of 13 of December, on Personal Data Protection, and the development of Rules of Procedure, approved by Royal Decree 1720/2007, of 21 of December, Atlas of the Future subscribers may be required to provide Personal Data, which will be included in a file owned by Democratising The Future Society SL. Such file is duly incorporated in the Spanish Data Protection Agency and protected in compliance with the security measures established in the applicable legislation. Subscribers may exercise, at any time, their rights of access, rectification, cancellation and/or opposition regarding their Personal Data. The subscriber shall notice their will, either under written form addressed to Democratising The Future Society SL, Ref. LOPD, Calabria, 10 6-3 08015 - Barcelona (Spain) and/or by e-mail, clicking here. Also, the subscriber shall communicate Atlas of the Future any modifications of their Personal Data stored, so that the information stored by Atlas of the Future remains at all times updated and error-free.
Close
Get World-changing projects and news in your inbox weekly.