Disabilities

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Hi all! this is likely to be a bit of a ramble.. but here goes!
as a Blind user of HA and HE my needs are somewhat different to the majority of users, and having read / listened, to some of the debates about things like dashboards I thought it might be useful to hear from a disabled users perspective, a few thoughts.
first I am not a "total" I have some vision, my condition, mainly brought on by glaucoma at birth means I have a very poor visual acuity angle (22 Degrees apparently) poor movement sensing, and extreme nearsightedness.
I also support three other disabled HA users one bed bound, another near total blind and one with multiple heart issues including dramatic fainting spells where they will pass out maybe 20 times in a day :frowning:

from my perspective HA is a HUGE opportunity to make peoples lives better.
but poorly planned, it is a slow motion trainwreck.

so.. for me, and everyone I help, mostly it isn't automation per se that they need..
it is the ability to master their environment, often from lying in bed.

if I had just one wish, it would be better voice integration built in!
in 99% of the use cases for HA to us, proper two way voice command is the holy grail!!
that followed by a big bright clear simple multicoloured dashboard I could put on a BIG (like 42 inch) monitor!

where automation has been useful (though complicated) is having automated lights in places like hallways, that adjust to the time and the ambient light level.
think toilet light, not at full belt at 3 AM when you have crept down to the loo!
mostly, we are happy to control our own homes, but we tend to lack the tools to make this control easy!
baked in control for two way info for Google home (or maybe Alexa for someone) is the thing that would make me and all the people I care about ecstatic!
a simple "your front door has just opened" would be marvellous!
google themselves have helped a LOT and the fact it confirms your actions is brilliant!
another thought, maybe a subsection in the forum, for people with, or supporting people with disabilities? it may make the help they need, easier to find?
HA is going to be HUGE for the disabled, and the old and frail.
it is a very poorly catered to segment.
you really could ELEVATE their lives!!
love what you guys are doing, and the community is ACE
the community is why I am not using a big label product (plus I cant afford to)

in passing, @Cobra of course you need to be able to protect your code!
how about a simple compromise of snipping fragments of code you don't mind sharing, and GPL ing them on Github, and using your proprietary licence, on finalised code as a "product" ? it is just a thought. I don't use any of your stuff on HE (though I am pretty sure I did on SmartThings) but it is hugely clear, that the vast majority here love and respect you, it is people like you, that keep these platforms alive!! this loss of your input is bad for everyone, and very sad. I don't know what is going on in the world right now, but every day, it seems people are finding it more and more difficult just to coexist! but that is a discussion for somewhere else!

so there you have my perspective, for what it is worth.. I hope it elicits some thought, and some discussion, and maybe even a few changes!
I know there is so much stuff out there that "could" be used with HE, and I KNOW HE has limited resources, they can only deal with the more common stuff, they went out of their way to introduce some driver code in the last update, for a specific response to a request from me :slight_smile: thanks Guys (and Girls) oddball devices can only ever be looked after by the community, and, without that interaction, well you know what I am saying :slight_smile:
(did I mention this might ramble a bit)?
thanks anyone that made it down this far LOL
and thanks everyone, for helping to improve the life of several disabled people, in honesty, probably lots and lots more than you realise!
Love and Peace
Garry

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I think you have just done that. Thank you. :wink:

My wife's disability is the reason I started in home automation. I saw an ad for the Amazon Echo and thought,"Wouldn't it be neat if she could start the coffee brewing as soon as she woke up." That was a hit with her. I am ashamed that it wasn't until then that I really noticed what a struggle it was for her to do the common tasks that I do without even a thought.

Fast forward a month and I have motion sensors, z-wave switches, and zigbee bulbs controlling lighting through SmartThings. All is well...or so I thought. My job takes me away from home for a month at a time. So when a firmware update knocked all of my motion sensors offline, everything was useless until I got home. Next, a feature to monitor device health, knocked all of my z-wave switches offline. Cloud issues, overheating leaking batteries, etc. We were not happy.

Within hours of Hubitat releasing a hub for sale that promised local control, updates on my terms, etc, they had my money. In the last year and a half, HE has proven its reliability. I no longer worry about things going to hell the moment I leave to go to work. My wife no longer has to fumble for light switches and she can override automations with voice control. She sleeps well knowing that she'll be alerted to any window or door opening. She can tell delivery drivers to wait, because it takes her so long to get to the door. Etc,etc,etc.

HA can have a very positive impact on those with disabilities, if implemented correctly. I'd love for others to share their challenges and/or solutions.

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My brother, now deceased, was a quadriplegic for 15 years. During that time, I made major modifications to buildings, vehicles, and equipment to aid his mobility or give him some tiny bit of control. What a difference voice commands and TTS would have made!

If I could pick the next device that would help automate HE for the disabled, it would be a zigbee button-pusher --something along the lines of the Microbot.

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@bjcowles Hi mate!
that is how I started, my then wife was struggling daily, sometimes it's the simple stuff that makes the biggest difference, my sight was terrible, hers however, was an order of magnitude worse.
it is all somewhat trial and error, knowing what will work (for them) and knowing what will work (at all) LOL the ring doorbell is a fine example, in theory it was fantastic, in practice. it was worse than useless (useless is not having one, worse is thinking you have until you need one) it was way too slow and the audio was terrible (oh I forgot to mention, three of us have lousy hearing too LOL)
the nest Hello doorbell is several orders of magnitude better (for us at least)
quick with good audio, and google (actually lenovo) screen integration 10 inch screen showing who is there, automagically? yes please, I just wish it was bigger, though one is, because it is done via chromecast onto a 50 inch TV :slight_smile:
if you have a vestibule (a peculiarly British thing I think) a smart lock makes deliveries a joy, even when you are in hospital :slight_smile:
I think sharing ideas, and "recipes" here might be really helpful, especially the experiences of what works and what doesn't
Love and peace my friend!
Garry

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@rcjordan I have never seen these before, they look really useful, sadly they are Bluetooth and that restricts their range a lot :frowning:
but they look really useful!
as a relatively interesting aside, everyone (and their dogs) produce "outlets" but nearly nothing works without modification, or considerable thought, by being turned on at the mains!
even turning a tv on and off can be a real challenge, (chromecast helps with newer TVs) but why has nobody created a genuinely useful IR interface and app to go with it?
I realise the frustrations of one way communications with IR but in our case, normally we can tell if it has worked, because we are in the same room :wink:
the Harmony hub was horrible, and the broadlink was, well frustrating...
oopsie, I wandered off again LOL
Love and peace :slight_smile:

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I had already been toying with the button-pusher idea. I started a thread on it after I posted the above

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Garry, it's good to see you helping where you can. You're absolutely right, it's not easy as it should be. Very young industry still. Computers were quite complicated to use in the early days too weren't they? :smiley:

Sadly, the majority of the efforts by any companies are going to be targeted to the masses of able bodied persons, because that's where their greatest revenue potential is. I don't mean that disabled people cannot somehow afford their products, but just that they are looking for that hook. They don't just want you to buy a single product and then support it like Hubitat does. No, most are looking for either the purchase of many units or a recurring revenue stream. What I do find odd though, is that lack of companies dedicated to serving people with disabilities specifically in smart home. As you correctly state, they are the audience that can benefit most. What's a mere convenience to an able bodied person, could be an absolute blessing to a disable person.

In regard to Alexa speaking when a door is opened or a motion sensor is triggered, I do want to let you know that it is absolutely possible now and not too complicated. I just posted about this for someone else today.

Using the custom code, you can make any rule in HE trigger any response you want on Alexa. Hope you find that helpful.

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Hi @SmartHomePrimer thanks so much for the information, I wonder if you know, if something similar is available for Google assistant?
everyone I "support" has gone that way, mainly because of the Nest Hello doorbell :slight_smile:
three of us had Ring, but it didn't end well (maybe their cloud connectivity isn't as good in the UK?)
as to companies, I imagine there is a huge market in the elderly and disabled that could save thousands in healthcare, and monitoring, while improving everybody's life :slight_smile:
the only country that seems to be paying attention to this is Japan?
all I can say, is HA is helping people, and that is a great thing :slight_smile:
love and peace
Garry

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Unfortunately no. Was just deciding this in another thread. It is odd that they have not copied Amazon yet. While that’s a new capability for HE on Alexa, it’s been available for quite some time with SmartThings on Alexa.

It can be done via TTS on Google Home. Using rule machine your sensor, switch or whatever you want as the trigger, could then speak any message you want using the Chromecast Integration in HE.

Yes, it’s something they started addressing many years ago with their declining birth rate and unfriendly immigration policies. They were seeing their aging population growing faster than any other demographic. But it is surprising that other countries like Canada and UK with national healthcare programs are not taking the need as seriously as Japan is. Might be in part due to the difference in their cultural attitude toward elderly and disabled.

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@SmartHomePrimer I have a suspicion, the UK will regret it's indifference, albeit,
we seem to have other fish to fry right now :frowning:
it is quite funny, that we pay our politicians to do this to us, we must all secretly be masochists LOL
I glimpsed at TTS and google, but I haven't been too good at concentrating the last couple of weeks, so I think I will have to look again when it is a bit cooler, and there are less worries pulling on my tired old brain :wink:
thanks for your help!
Love and peace
Garry

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