Mobile Communication for People with Disabilities and Older people
It is unnecessary to mention the enormous social change that the development of mobile telephony has supposed for many people. The possibility of establishing communications from anywhere and at anytime, without the need of being linked to a fix telephone, opened a great variety of new possibilities for personal communication, information and also for employment. This is even truer for the people that have limitations in their movements. Motor disabled people and many older people have seen enhanced the possibilities of carrying out an independent life, just if they can carry and use a mobile telephone.This paper analyses the diverse uses of mobile telephony to urge the incorporation of disabled and older people in the design process from the initial stages and the use of the “design for all” approach. This is made from the conviction that the mentioned possibilities will become real only if the needs of disabled and older people are taken into account in the design of both equipment and services provided through mobile communication networks.
