Better Result for Accessibility
Taking a pregnancy test can be an emotional moment and one which many people would prefer to experience alone. But for women who are blind or visually impaired, reading the result of a traditional at-home test can be impossible without help.
To tackle this problem, a new test is being developed that uses sight, sound and touch to enable women to read the result independently. The reusable saliva-based test – called AMY – was developed by Leah Shanahan while she was a student at the University of Limerick. She worked with four blind women to understand the challenges they faced and was supported by Vision Ireland.
Since graduating, she has begun to develop the idea as a start-up business and hopes to use the technology to create other tests such as UTI and STI checks.
Leah told the Limerick Voice website: “I’ve always had an interest in women’s healthcare and I’m also blind in one eye. I initially thought the results could be in Braille, but through conversations with one of the women I learned that most people don’t actually read Braille.”
She added: “Designing for disabled people is designing for all people. I would love to see more conscious awareness of disabilities in design development.”
