# An Overview of Machine Learning and 5G for People with Disabilities
## 1 Introduction  
According to the World Health Organization 2011 report, over a billion people, including children (or about 15% of the world's population), are estimated to be living with disability [1], and this figure is going to increase to beyond two billion by 2050 as the global population progressively ages and prevalence of non-communicable diseases rises [2].  
People with disabilities generally experience poorer levels of health, fewer achievements in education, fewer economic opportunities, and higher rates of poverty than people without a disability [1]. Assistive technology can be crucial to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, facilitate their equal participation in society, and make them more independent. Examples of assistive devices and technologies include wheelchairs, artificial limbs, hearing aids, visual aids, and specialized computer software and hardware that increase mobility, hearing, vision, or communication capacities. Assistive technology offers people with disabilities opportunities for work, education, leisure, social engagement, access to public services, and information.  
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals designed to address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice [3]. The SDGs were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, and they are intended to be achieved by the year 2030. Assistive technology for people with disabilities is essential for the equitable achievement of each of the 17 SDGs [4], such as universal health coverage, inclusive and equitable quality education, sustainable economic growth, decent work opportunities, reduction in inequalities paying attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations, and creation of inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities.  
Incentivizing research and development of assistive technology can help further accelerate the availability and dissemination of promising technologies to benefit people with disabilities [5]. Digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and modern communication technologies (such as 5G), are disrupting nearly every sector of the economy [6]. These technologies can make major contributions towards all SDGs [7] and the assistance of people with disabilities so that they can achieve a good quality of life. Therefore, the purposeof this paper is to analyze how people with visual, hearing, and physical impairments can interact with and benefit from machine learning and 5G. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that discusses machine learning, together with 5G, for people with disabilities. Figure 1 illustrates the taxonomy of machine learning and 5G for people with disabilities. The proposed taxonomy is based on the following components: (a) machine learning accessibility tools for people with disabilities, (b) 5G capabilities, (c) application scenarios, and (d) 5G network slicing architecture. In the next sections, we present the different components of this taxonomy in greater detail.  
The paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, we discuss machine learning for people with disabilities. In Section 3, we introduce 5G for people with disabilities. In Section 4, the application scenarios and main benefits of machine learning and 5G for people with disabilities are described. In Section 5, we explain the 5G service-based architecture. In Section 6, we discuss the proposed 5G network slicing architecture for disabled people, from a technical perspective, and its main benefits. In Section 7, the main research challenges for machine learning and 5G for people with disabilities are outlined. Finally, the paper is concluded in Section 8.  
Figure 1: Proposed taxonomy of machine learning and 5G for people with disabilities.