Accessibility is a subject that will affect us all eventually — some of us sooner than others. It's honestly pretty hard to make the topic attractive or marketable compared to Android's bigger, flashier features, But when you're limited from doing something in the "normal" way, accessibility matters a whole lot, and it's also a point of frustration when the very promise of technology is its flexibility and extensibility. To help with that, Google's adding two new features that help those with motor impairments use Android.

Most of us take pretty simple things like being able to poke at a screen accurately for granted. But for those with conditions like ALS, muscular dystrophy, advanced multiple sclerosis, or a spinal injury, it may not be so easy to tap out a message or launch an app. Android and Google already do quite a bit to try to let you use your phone in different ways, with Accessibility features like Look to Speak, Live Caption, Sound Amplifier, and Action Blocks (among others). And today, Google is formally announcing several new changes to better help more people use their phones.

Camera Switches

The first change is called Camera Switches, a feature for the existing Switch Access that now lets you use Android with just your face. In fact, Google started rolling out the feature via a beta Android Accessibility Suite app update back in August; we just didn't know that's what it was called then.

Camera Switches will allow you to set a facial gesture (looking left, right, or up; smiling, raising your eyebrows, or opening your mouth) to a specific action. You can customize how sensitive the trigger for each gesture is to make sure it only happens when you want it to and assign functions like scrolling forward or backward, navigating home or back, or even simple things like long-pressing. You can also augment it with Switch Access's existing support for physical switches.

Ultimately, the combination sounds like you should be able to use your phone entirely using nothing but your face. No touching, external hardware, or fine motor control is required. Admittedly, it will likely take longer to do the same things, though. More information on how to set that up is available here.

Project Activate

Project Activate is Google's other new change, and it's kind of similar, allowing you to use the same facial gestures that Camera Switches uses, but you'll be able to activate more complicated pre-set actions, like having your phone say a phrase or make a call. It's a standalone app that was just published to the Play Store.

That means rather than toting around a complicated or expensive speech-generating device, you might be able to simply use your phone to trigger a handful of common phrases. That could cover a range from a complicated multi-word messages to even just something as simple as having a fast way to say "yes" or "no."

On top of these two new (or new-ish) features, Google's also rolling out some changes to its Lookout app for those with impaired vision. In case you aren't familiar, the app lets you point your phone at stuff and have your phone describe it, covering a range from reading physical documents to describing food labels so you can tell jars apart in the pantry. Now it will also be able to read handwritten documents, including things like post-it notes or birthday cards — first for Latin-based languages, but others are planned. Currency mode can also now recognize Euros and Rupees.

Most of our readers probably skip right past these accessibility stories, and it's a shame. Millions of people rely on features like these just to be able to use their phones, a whole lot of us will end up needing them once we get older, and the technology behind how they work is growing more and more sophisticated and every bit as fascinating as more mainstream features. It's not a bad idea to keep track of these sorts of changes, not only to consider the sort of impact it might have on us down the road, but so it's something we're cognizant of when accommodating others.