Talking gloves, tactile windows: new tech helps the disabled

Minto demonstrates an app that can audibly describe a handwritten note.

Hadeel Ayoub slips a black glove onto her hand before beginning the swish of sign language that is meaningless to the untrained observer. Then she pushes a button on her wrist, and a small speaker relays the message drawn in the air: “Let’s Dance!”

“My dream is to give a voice to those who can’t speak,” says the 36-year-old inventor who is developing her BrightSign glove while working toward a PhD in assistive technology at Goldsmiths, University of London.