When we imagined the future when we were kids, we pictured flying cars, robots at our beck and call, meals in pill form, jet-packs, and colonies on other planets. Future technology made life seem so much easier with science fiction films like Star Wars fuelling our imagination at all the technological possibilities of not only spaceships and light sabres, but also medical advances like Darth Vader’s ventilator and Luke Skywalker’s bionic hand.

From the smartphone in our pocket to the satellite navigation in the car, assistive technology helps us work, socialise and connect with others. Over the last few years, many of the leading multinational technological organisations have leveraged artificial intelligence, computer vision (the science and technology of machines that see), and advances in voice recognition to deliver tools to assist people with disabilities. But can technology help? Can machines or apps make life easier for a person with a disability? And are these industries doing enough to make their products – and the world – accessible to all?

Development of products and experiences that promote inclusion and assist people with disabilities to overcome the challenges they face is driven by a few factors for tech organisations – a desire to be more inclusive, to be leaders in innovation, and, it’s good for business. Companies are aware that to keep expanding their customer base, they need to make products that everyone can use.

Although there are countless ways that technology is helping to empower people with disabilities – from 3D printing prosthetic limbs, and virtual reality musical instruments, to travel apps that allow wheelchair users, and people with sensory disabilities to find out how accessible a building is before they visit it – there is still room for progress across the tech industry.

Disability advocates say that ideally, companies should build assistive technology into their development process, rather than as an afterthought. “People want their accessibility tools to be built into the same devices that everybody else is using whenever possible, rather than have their own device that makes them stand out because of their disability,” says Eve Andersson, the director of accessibility engineering at Google. Instead of releasing an accessible version of something later, it would be great if designers, software developers, and computer scientists were accessibility aware from the beginning. When you create something accessible for a specific group of people, everyone benefits.

Here are a few examples of assistive technology that you may not be aware of: