Jon Schorsch: RFID Technology Could Help People

with Visual Impairments

● Before Jon Schorsch lost his sight in an accident, he was an active member of the Port of Seattle Police Department.

● After the accident, Jon Schorsch continued to work and returned to school to earn his MPA. Today, Schorsch serves as a mediator at the Skagit County Dispute Resolution Center.

● While he has not let his disability keep him from contributing to the community, a new technology could give Jon Schorsch and others like him even more freedom to navigate the world.

● For instance, the inventor, who is himself visually impaired, uses the stickers to code his clothes so he can put together stylish outfits.

● He foresees a world where the stickers can be added to prescription bottles.

● Currently, drug names can be labeled in braille, but prescription, refill, dosage, and warning information is unavailable to those with visual limitations.

● The RFID stickers could store the data so that a visually impaired person could access it, and hear it read aloud, by smartphone.

● The inventor also suggests that his technology could be used to label signposts and museum exhibits, in order that the visually impaired could independently navigate their cities and cultural institutions.

● A German inventor has developed a system which allows stickers utilizing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to be coded with information that is usually inaccessible to the visually impaired.

● The stickers can then be read with a mere wave of a smartphone.

● Voice-activated smartphones and tablets have proven very useful for people with visual impairments, and the new RFID innovations will make them even more helpful.

● A German inventor has developed a system which allows stickers utilizing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to be coded with information that is usually inaccessible to the visually impaired.

● The stickers can then be read with a mere wave of a smartphone.

● Voice-activated smartphones and tablets have proven very useful for people with visual impairments, and the new RFID innovations will make them even more helpful.