Google Pledges $20 Million To Support Disability Technologies

Technology is a great thing, it can be used to help people all over achieve and complete tasks that they previously considered difficult or even impossible. Science and technology have enabled those who couldn’t walk to walk again, those who would lose their eyesight to keep it and even those who might die to survive. In their latest support, Google.org has pledged $20 to support disability technologies.

Spread over 29 programs, each receiving $750,000, with six grant winners getting more than $1m each. The programs that the money will support can be contained within five categories, hearing, mobility, cognitive, vision and communication. The projects include My Human Kit, a provision to provide people low-cost 3D printed prosthetics and The Center for Discover which looks to turn everyday manual wheelchairs into powered chairs.

Perkins School for the Blind looks to enable the creation of GPS instructions to help those with visual impairments navigate around the world while the Dan Marino Foundation looks to provide a tool for people with autism to train for job interviews.

As part of their Impact Challenge, Google.org (Google’s philanthropic division) looks to help the millions of people who live with disabilities, and if technology can do anything to help people’s lives I’m all up for supporting it.