Toward a Multi-layer Framework to Assess the Quality of Life Impact of Smartphones as Assistive Technology for People with Sensory Disabilities in Kenya

Over the past two decades, smartphones have evolved from simple communication devices to powerful, multifunctional tools that can significantly enhance the lives of disabled individuals. As assistive technology (AT), smartphones offer a wide range of functionalities, including accessibility features, applications, and Internet connectivity, that allow disabled individuals to overcome various accessibility barriers. Unlike traditional physical assistive devices, such as braille readers and hearing aids, which are often expensive and difficult to obtain in low-resource settings, affordable smartphones are widely available in lower and middle income countries (LMICs), such as Transsion, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Realme [51, 65], which run on Google’s Android operating system, allowing a certain level of consistency across different smartphone manufacturers and models.

 

The Global Systems for Mobile Technology Association (GSMA) estimates that approximately 85% of the African population owns a mobile phone. Although the ownership of feature phones (button phones without Internet-enabled applications) continues to increase rapidly, there is also a more modest but steady uptake in smartphone ownership. A recent GSMA report estimates smartphone ownership between 42% and 56% of adults across various Sub-Saharan African regions, with rates expected to reach 80% to 92% by 2030. However, this number is significantly reduced for disabled individuals; in Kenya, smartphone ownership by disabled individuals is only 12% compared to 41% non-disabled population (a 72% gap in smartphone ownership)[22]. The gap, termed the ’digital divide’ is largely due to persistent challenges, including awareness, affordability, accessibility, and digital literacy .

 

Smartphones offer several key benefits for disabled individuals. For blind and partially sighted (BPS) individuals, smartphones offer screen readers and voice command features, allowing users to navigate applications (apps), access information, and communicate without visually interacting with the device. For deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals, smartphones support video calls to allow communication in sign language, live transcription, and text-based communication, improving social interaction and independence. In addition, smartphone apps, including instant messaging, social networks, navigation, and learning, offer a wide variety of options and services for people with diverse needs. This combination supports and improves connectivity and inclusion [39, 47] and overcomes traditional accessibility issues [10].

 

As smartphones become more ubiquitous in daily life, understanding their impact on different populations, particularly the impact of smartphone accessibility features, becomes essential. To this end, we propose the following research question:

 

 

To address these research questions, we conducted a mixed-methods longitudinal study with 193 BPS and DHH participants based in Kenya, leading to important insights into the lived experiences of the participants as they integrated smartphones into their lives. Although we appreciate that smartphones can be beneficial to many sub-sections of the disability community, we chose to focus on the BPS and DHH communities for this research due to the increasing number of accessibility features such as TalkBack, Google Assistant, and Lookout that were designed for BPS individuals and Live Transcribe, Live Captions, and Sound Amplifications designed to address the needs of DHH individuals. In this paper, we contribute: