Within the last year many amazing advancements have been made in the world of electronics. Specifically, there have been technological achievements that will no doubt enrich the lives of those with disabilities. Here are a few very big advancements that will only be built upon and fine tuned within the near future:

The DynaVox EyeMax System

This system gives people with paralysis, cerebral palsy and stroke victims the ability to join in actual spoken communication using simply their eyes. This extremely sophisticated creation uses an eye tracking system that permits users to interact with an on-screen keyboard—this lets them enter words and phrases which are in turn translated into actual spoken text that is emitted by the devices own text-to-speech mechanism. The easy freedom that this gives to those with disabilities cannot be expressed.

The Kapten PLUS Personal Navigation Device

Transporting oneself if you are visually impaired can be very difficult even if you have been doing it for years; there is always the chance of getting lost in the traffic of busy pedestrians or taking an unfortunate wrong turn. Your reactions might be predictable, but the world and your immediate surroundings are never predictable The Kapten is a tiny GPS locator that was manufactured to be carried by those who are visually impaired. The device actually speaks to the user as they walk down the street, giving accurate and thorough location and direction. The user of the device will always know where they’re heading and they can share routes, plan trips and tag locations for finding again later on. It’s affordable and gives the user a sense of security.

Google’s Driverless Car

This car is a big deal in the world of technological advancements right now, and has been talked about constantly within the last year in the world of electronics and automotive. It could help with independent and safe transportation for the visually impaired and those with mental and physical limits. The vehicle operates on a combination of Google Street View information—this information is gathered by numerous sensors and cameras mounted upon the vehicle. This car isn’t quite ready yet, but it will be very soon and it will be life changing for many.

The DEKA Robotic Arm

A sophisticated prosthetic arm originally created for injured soldiers returning from the Middle East, this invention is less than eight pounds and exhibits such precision and control that it has really been unprecedented, It has customizable controls and modular components that are tailored to the person’s individual needs. This robotic advancement can be used by those who require only a hand, a shoulder socket or an entire arm. Its sensory feedback system is highly advanced and features hand sensors that measure the strength of a hand grip. This allows the user to learn what level of grip strength is needed for certain tasks and how much pressure to apply. In short, with enough practice the robotic arm will give disabled users the exact same amount of freedom as anyone else.