Visually impaired individuals often rely on assistive technologies such as white canes for independent navigation. Many electronic enhancements to the traditional white cane have been proposed. However, only a few of these proof-of-concept technologies have been tested with authentic users, as most studies rely on blindfolded non-visually impaired participants or no testing with participants at all. Experiments involving blind users are usually not contrasted with the traditional white cane. This study set out to compare an ultrasound-based electronic cane with a traditional white cane. Moreover, we also compared the performance of a group of visually impaired participants (N = 10) with a group of blindfolded participants without visual impairments (N = 31). The results show that walking speed with the electronic cane is significantly slower compared to the traditional white cane. Moreover, the results show that the performance of the participants without visual impairments is significantly slower than for the visually impaired participants. No significant differences in obstacle detection rates were observed across participant groups and device types for obstacles on the ground, while 79% of the hanging obstacles were detected by the electronic cane. The results of this study thus suggest that electronic canes present only one advantage over the traditional cane, namely in its ability to detect hanging obstacles, at least without prolonged practice. Next, blindfolded participants are insufficient substitutes for blind participants who are expert cane users. The implication of this study is that research into digital white cane enhancements should include blind participants. These participants should be followed over time in longitudinal experiments to document if practice will lead to improvements that surpass the performance achieved with traditional canes.

People with disabilities face many accessibility problems in their daily lives. One such group of disabled people, children who suffer from cerebral palsy, faces specific challenges, which arise due to motor dysfunction and communication disorders. In the effort to help these children, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems emerge as solutions to supplement spoken communication or to replace it completely. But current AAC solutions do not always address specific communication needs. Determining how to collaborate directly with cerebral palsy children as partners in the assistive technology design process is still an open research problem. This work discusses the development of an AAC computer-based solution to act as a complement to therapist's AAC activities in helping make the lives of children with disabilities better. The AAC tool is based on symbols located on a computer screen and uses symbol and phrase suggestion strategies aiming to increase communication efficiency. Two school-age students with cerebral palsy participated in this study. Quantitative reports and qualitative assessments from a speech and an occupational therapist are presented. This research deals with a set of accessibility guidelines that benefit researchers and practitioners, giving more evidence about the design of AAC computer-based solutions for people with limited speech or language skills.