1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an assistance device and personal accessibility device. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing assistance to a person with Special Needs.
2. Description of Related Art
People with Special Needs often have to take extra steps to enable accessibility assistance from devices. These steps can be time consuming and awkward. At times, these actions can even be frustrating or embarrassing, since the person with the Special Needs call attention to the fact that they have an impairment by taking some special action to enable the accessibility assistance. For example, a mobility-impaired person, such as a person confined to a wheelchair, may need to call out for someone on an elevator to hold the door open. If nobody is on the elevator, the mobility-impaired person may still miss the elevator, despite calling attention to the impairment.
Prior art devices may provide assistance for impaired persons. For example, an alarm system may provide additional assistance, such as a flashing light, to a hearing-impaired person. However, such solutions are usually impairment specific and may still require an action by the impaired person. Furthermore, the assistance is not tailored to the extent of the impairment or other Special Needs.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for identifying an impairment, extent of the impairment, and preferences of the impaired person and for providing assistance and feedback based on the impairment, extent of the impairment, and preferences.
The present invention solves the disadvantages of the prior art by providing the impaired person with a personalized accessibility device, which receives signals from assistance devices in the area and transmits a signal that identifies the type of special need the person has. Assistance devices are then configured to provide assistance based upon the special need and preferences of the person. Assistances devices are also configured to provide feedback to the person through the personalized accessibility device. This feedback may be generated based upon the special need of the person, as well as preferences of the impaired person.