Cox unveiled new technology in Phoenix and Tucson that empowers people with disabilities to control their TV with their eyes. The Accessible Web Remote for Contour gives those who have lost fine motor skills – whether from degenerative conditions or paralysis – the ability to browse the video guide with a glance.
Specifically, a free web-based tool is navigable using various assistive technologies already owned by customers, including eye gaze hardware and software, switch controls, and sip-and-puff systems, which the user controls by gently blowing into a tube.
Eye-tracking technology gives people living with conditions like paraplegia, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) the same access to their TVs as customers with the latest edition of Contour.
“Innovative technology like this gives people with disabilities an added level of independence,” said Steve Gleason, founder of Team Gleason and former New Orleans Saints football player who has been living with ALS since 2011. “We appreciate that companies like Cox continue to empower their users by adopting products like the Accessible Web Remote, which allows every customer to do something most people take for granted, like controlling their TV.”
According to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, approximately 16% of people in the United States have difficulties with their physical functioning, making things like using a traditional TV remote either a challenge or impossible, depending on the condition. Throughout the last three years, Cox has partnered with organizations like Team Gleason to ensure accessible design and development of its products, increase awareness and education, and improve processes and procedures focusing on disability inclusion.
“Cox is proud to partner with Team Gleason because we believe in its mission to improve life for people living with conditions such as ALS,” said John Wolfe, Senior Vice President and Region Manager for Cox, Southwest Region. “We will continue to create products and solutions with accessibility built in, so all Cox customers can use our products.”
Customers can now visit https://webremote.cox.com to sync their device and begin changing channels, set a recording, search for programming within the Contour guide, and access integrated streaming apps all with a glance of their eyes.
To learn more about accessibility, please visit cox.com/accessibility.
Cox Communications is committed to creating meaningful moments of human connection through broadband applications and services. The largest private telecom company in America, we proudly serve six million homes and businesses across 18 states. In metro Phoenix, we serve approximately 2.5 million product subscribers, and in Southern Arizona, approximately 400,000 product subscribers, with residential and business digital television, 1G high speed Internet, security systems and digital telephone service over its own nationwide IP network. We’re dedicated to empowering others to build a better future and celebrate diverse products, people, suppliers, communities and the characteristics that makes each one unique. The 3,100 Arizona employees of Cox are proud to have topped numerous J.D. Power and Associates’ studies of customer satisfaction and for many years top “Ranking Arizona-Best of Arizona Business” list. Cox Communications is the largest division of Cox Enterprises, a family-owned business founded in 1898 by Governor James M. Cox.
