Amazon Partnership Provides Accessibility

In addition to incorporating accessible design from the ground up, those living in The Foglia Residences will have the opportunity to ensure their units are equipped for the 21st century.

Thanks to a partnership with Amazon, all tenants within The Foglia Residences will be offered a suite of Alexa-enabled smart home devices, including Echo Show smart displays, Blink Video Doorbells and Amazon Smart Plugs for their personal use, along with a yearlong free subscription for the Blink Video Doorbell.

Baltazar will provide feedback to help Amazon to improve the devices’ accessibility features.

Additionally, the devices will be available to clients and employees of The Lighthouse who are blind or visually impaired. Program participants will be invited to provide feedback on the devices’ accessibility features, shaping further updates and improvements. Amazon also announced a substantial financial contribution to The Chicago Lighthouse. All told, the company is generously providing more than $175,000 in products and grants.

“We are constantly looking to learn and to innovate, and we can’t do it without really getting the expertise from folks on the ground,” says Karla Torres, Head of Community Engagement, Amazon Devices & Services. “What we hope to get from this partnership is to continue learning from the experts at The Chicago Lighthouse and the users of our devices to ensure we’re creating technology that is as accessible as possible for all of our users.”

The devices will be available for free to Lighthouse clients with vision impairments through the organization’s My Tools for Living Store with installation and operation instruction from The Lighthouse’s assistive technology experts.

To learn how you can participate, please call the My Tools for Living Store at (800) 919-3375.