One of the most basic needs of humans is shelter, which means that we spend most of our lives where we live. The most important element in our shelter, that is, in our homes, is the household items inside the house that make our work easier.
Brands treat shelter as a right only for standard people. The elderly, children who have to spend a certain period of time without their parents, the visually impaired, the hearing impaired... Housing should not be provided without taking into account people from any of these groups.
For example, in advertisements for household goods, we usually see a female figure, as if only a woman will use that item. This may be an advertising strategy, but not a production strategy. In fact, they can make much more noise if they do it in a way that includes everyone in the advertising strategy.
I think brands should first accept that these items should be used by all the groups I mentioned above. If they accept this, their work will be easier and even the first company to do this will be ahead.
Let me explain with this example:
Today, Apple has not reached its current status solely because their products are stylish. If it were just about aesthetics, brands that encrust their phones with diamonds or those that claim to be extremely durable would not be forgotten. The most important reason why this company is valued so much today is its inclusiveness. Apple released the first phone, then the second phone, the iPhone 3, and the third model, the 3G, was when the brand exploded. Long before that, they had released full-screen touchscreen phones, and even their front-facing cameras were better than this model, so why did this model explode and become a big brand?
Because they thought of everyone who could buy and use this phone. Nokia phones had a screen reader that could be installed later and had to be bought for extra money. In the third model, this brand added features such as a screen reader for the blind, a screen magnifier for the partially sighted, extra features for the hearing impaired, and assistive touch for those with poor muscle control, and they soared. We need to adopt this approach in household goods as well.
R&D is a costly business and it is difficult to determine the needs of each group, but I think brands are hiding behind this statement. Nowadays, there are technologies that are used continuously and products adapted to the specific needs of each group. There is no need to reinvent America. With small-scale market research, it is determined very quickly which disability group or what everyone needs other than what the companies consider standard, and what they are doing in the face of these needs, and these are purchased.
My suggestion would definitely be to put audio systems in the furniture. Companies either avoid this or apply it only in one model because it is costly. The room looks very crappy. For example, a brand in our country came out that produced a washing machine for the visually impaired. This was done only in one model by changing the upper plastic parts of the panel and adding a few embossed dots next to the buttons. Well, maybe I won't want that model, but the approach that we made something for the blind and they should buy it is absurd and wrong. Everyone should be considered, everyone should be included.
Companies should know that universal inclusive designs are now possible. They should make it clear that they will now make their panels with these approaches. After that, for those with low vision and those who have vision loss due to diabetes, the text on the panel should always be written in large font with contrast and there should be dotted reliefs for those who cannot see. In your screen designs, we should pay attention to contrast and large font size, again with low vision and the elderly in mind.
Many machines today use either a touch panel or a full touch screen instead of physical keys. This means that these machines can be managed with a digital guidance structure and a programmable or programmed code. Now smart home systems are very popular. When you integrate all of these machines with smart home systems, all that is left is to adapt the smart home application for all groups. Today, in an environment where we can send a file to a printer via a cell phone, we should be able to manage our home appliances from our computer or cell phone. Either connecting to a common network and using it over a network with an application or connecting each device to the application can be done in both cases. It would then be possible to configure the app for those with low vision or to make it compatible with screen readers for the blind and simplify it for the elderly.
What can be included in this? First of all, washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, refrigerators, air conditioners, natural gas boilers, televisions, microwave ovens, thermoses, electric water heaters, smart vacuum cleaners, clothes dryers, all of these systems that we can use through an application are no longer very expensive, but a smart software and application.
Nowadays, this is not very difficult to do. Since the cell phone is the device that today's people take in their hands the most during the day, I suggested operating it from the cell phone, for those who do not prefer this, a simple control apparatus is made and placed at home, and the person can make all these devices at home from this control tool. Again, if this control tool is prepared according to international accessibility criteria, everyone can use it, but imagine that with this system, you will be able to turn on the air conditioner from your TV at home, see the status of the food in the oven, start drying if the laundry in the machine is finished, and everyone will be able to do this.
Author: Erdal Karakoç / BlindLook Visually Impaired Community
