Cyprus AI strategy examines accessibility tools for visual and hearing disabilities

Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus’ National AI Strategy has examined how artificial intelligence could improve everyday life and make education, employment and public services more accessible for people with visual and hearing disabilities.

The discussions were held as part of consultations on the National AI Strategy 2032, the Office of the Chief Scientist for Research, Innovation and Technology said.

Consultation with specialist schools

Meetings were held with Pelagia Karpasiti, director of the Ayios Varnavas School for the Blind, and Kika Hadjikakou, director of the Georgios Markoudeaf school.

Together with staff from both schools, participants considered daily difficulties faced by people with visual and hearing disabilities and identified areas where AI could provide practical support.

Accessibility by design

The discussions focused on the need to incorporate accessibility into digital services and applications from the outset rather than adding it later.

The office said this would require the active involvement of people with disabilities and their representative organisations throughout the design process.

Support for visual impairments

For people with visual impairments, the applications considered included AI-assisted access to documents and information, descriptions of images and surroundings, navigation support and faster conversion of educational material into accessible formats.

The office also said AI could support greater participation in the labour market through accessible meeting platforms, technologies that describe documents and data, and voice-assistance tools.

It stressed that AI should complement, rather than replace, human support, particularly in orientation, mobility, rehabilitation, safety and important decision-making.

Tools for hearing disabilities

For people with hearing disabilities, discussions examined how AI could support real-time communication between deaf and hearing people.

The tools considered included live subtitling in Greek and English, speech-to-sign-language technologies, and applications capable of converting sign language into text or speech.