Smart home technology has quickly become ubiquitous in homes across the world for entertainment, safety, and convenience; but for people with disabilities, this technology is far more impactful in its role to empower people to live more independently, safely, and securely. Smart wearables, like smart watches, offer more solutions that are always at your fingertips. Did you know that there are now hearing aids that have fall detection, can count your steps, and monitor your heart rate? With these technological advancements, hearing aids are crossing into the world of smart wearables. Some hearing aids even offer foreign language translation much like a universal translator from Star Trek. Beam me up, Scottie!
In December, PATF hosted a webinar featuring four guest speakers who shared their experiences using smart wearables and generic smart home technology for everyday activities. To view the full recording of the webinar, click the following graphic.
Transcript of the recording: Click here
PowerPoint slides: Click here
Grabación del webinario en español: haga clic aquí
Susi McKay, an experienced registered nurse, spoke about how she uses her Fitbit Sense to help her manage anxiety. Her Fitbit Sense has built in stress and management tools. Two of the tools that she uses on the smart watch are the EDA Scan which guides her through a breathing activity that helps ground her. The Relax feature can be customized for up to 10 minutes of guided breathing. She demonstrated one of the apps she uses a few times a week to manage anxiety.
Chrissy Mathis is a mother of three, sits on the Board of BuxMont CHADD, and is co-founder of the Centennial Special Education Alliance. Her eldest son has a dual ADHD/ASD diagnosis and had autism elopement tendencies when he was younger. Chrissy shared information about the smart watch with GPS that their family selected to help them in keeping their son safe. Chrissy shared information about other smart wearables that are available and discussed some features to consider when researching which device best fits the needs of the family and child. Below is a list of smart watches she discussed:
Chrissy shared resources to assist in researching smart wearables for autism elopement and suggested that using online support groups can be very helpful in learning how other families are addressing elopement and what devices worked best for them. Below are resources she shared to assist in researching devices that are available.
- Online communities which can be found on Facebook and Reddit
Our third speaker, Gabriel Smaglik, spoke about how he uses Alexa on his Echo Show and Dot for some of his daily activities. Gabriel uses the Echo Show to guide him through cooking different recipes and making one of his favorite snacks, dehydrated bananas. His dehydrator uses Celsius, so he uses Alexa to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius. He also pointed out that you can connect your Ring Doorbell to your Echo Show so you can see who is at the door. He uses his Dot to generate green noise to help him fall asleep and has various alarms to wake him in the morning and to remind him to give his dog medications. Gabriel also shared that he needs lots of reminders for when he is cooking and doing other daily chores. He has a smart Whirlpool washing machine that sends him reminders when his laundry is done.
Our final speaker was Diana Smaglik. She has been a disability advocate for many years. She is Gabriel’s mother and mother to Billy who has complex medical conditions. Billy, who has hearing loss, has Starkey hearing aids that have been a tremendous help allowing him to Bluetooth his hearing aids to a wide array of devices like his gaming system, his iPad that he uses to listen to audiobooks, his computer, and his phone. In addition, Diana shared an array of assistive technology that they use in their home including a touchless hand sanitizer and a showerhead that glows different colors to designate the water temperature. Billy under-registers temperature, so the showerhead helps him to shower independently without relying on someone else to check the water temperature.
To learn more about smart wearables and other smart home technology, go to smarthomesmadesimple.org, developed by Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation.