Google Commits $20 Million for Tech Projects to Aid Disabled

Google has launched a $20 million effort to fund the development of high-tech devices to help people with disabilities live more independently, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

The effort, announced Tuesday, is a part of the company’s Global Impact Challenge program and will go through its philanthropic arm, Google.org.

Nonprofit recipients will use Google grants on projects like using smartphone technology to make hearing assessments more available in developing countries and connecting people who need prosthetic limbs with volunteers who create them with 3-D printing. Diana Samarasan, founding director of the Disability Rights Fund, called the Google effort “a very big deal. People with disabilities rarely get a lot of attention from any sector, and Google is taking a rights-based approach to promote the inclusion of people.”