by Tiffiny Carlson
Hand-controls, oh you beautiful, freeing things. How can you not love what they do for us? But let's face it, they have one major drawback - they can totally occupy our hands. Using our phone (and other communication devices) can be veritably impossible, unless we put our vehicle in park.
Looking for amazing hands-free products? Look no further. While hands-free technology has been criticized, mainly for taking the driver's attention off the task at hand (eh hem, driving), for people with disabilities, this technology can be essential. Here's an overview of some of the best hands-free mobile phone devices for hand-control users.
DriveSafe.ly: This is a cool service from Verizon, part of their "Don't Text and Drive" campaign, and can be used by non-Verizon customer as well as long as they have a iPhone, Blackberry and a phone with an Android or Windows platform. This product is all about safety. It only allows users to listen to incoming texts and emails as they drive, forcing you to have safe texting and driving habits. DriveSafe.ly is a free service for the first 25 words of a text or an email, and there's a "Pro" version that will read the first 500 words texts and emails that's available for a one-time charge of $14.
Voice On the Go: Now for the complete opposite, Voice On the Go lets you compose and send texts, emails and update Facebook statuses and Tweets while you drive. You of course use this service using the speakerphone function on your phone or with a headset. It doesn't let you receive any messages as you drive however, which may be something to consider. To use this service, all you need to do is dial their main number, and follow the prompts to do whatever you'd like. But beware, this is not a free service. It costs $6 a month.
Voice Assist: For a product that does it all, Voice Assist lets you text, call and email all via voice command. This service also lets you receive texts while driving, which is something that can be more difficult to find now days because of increasing anti-texting laws. But if you feel competent enough to focus on both the road and a text, or if you have no other choice because of your disability, job or both, you can't go wrong with Voice Assist. This service is inexpensive @ $5/month.
Vocalize Bluetooth Cell Phone Voice Control System: Made by Broadened Horizons, a company owned and operated by Mark Felling (a quadriplegic) the Vocalize Bluetooth Cell Phone Voice Control System may be a bit spendy (ok a lot at $999), but this system is the perfect hands-free mobile phone device for drivers with arm mobility limitations. This device can do everything you could dream of, combined with the ease of a Bluetooth ear piece. It can call, answer and hang-up all contacts in your phone, dictate texts and emails, control MP3s and movies, update Facebook and Twitter statuses, create reminders and control GPS navigation by voice. Any iPhone, Android or Bluetooth enabled phone can use this product.
GripGo Phone Mount: Another great product that everybody should have, let alone drivers with disabilities, is the GripGo Hands-Free Phone Mount from All-Star Marketing - a handy tool that has a suction cup grip which you can set your phone in as you drive. This tool can be positioned so that when your phone is in it, it is positioned so you can see your screen as you drive, making it a much less dangerous affair to glance at your phone (this product for many has been a complete lifesaver). And the GripGo works on any phone and can be adhered anywhere in your vehicle.
The future is bright for hands-free devices. When the able-bodied masses start loving a product that liberates people with disabilities, it's a huge win-win situation. We can expect the technology to get better, and the prices to drop, with each passing year.
Do use a hands-free device that's not on this list? We want to hear about it!