Assistive Technology Specialist, Erin LeBlanc, recently appeared on HumanWare‘s podcast, “See Things Differently,” as part of their partner spotlight featuring our organization.

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Today, we’re excited to celebrate a huge milestone on our 41^st anniversary. Since 1984, we’ve served 100,000 participants with disabilities! A heartfelt thank you to our donors, supporters, volunteers, and community for making this possible. We couldn’t have done it without your help. Here’s to reaching the next 100,000!

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We were delighted recently when Margot, a former Neil Squire participant, generously donated her CCD Voyager e-reader.

Margot no longer used the device due to a significant decline in her vision, but hoping it could find a second life and benefit someone with similar needs, she donated it to Neil Squire.

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Neil Squire Regional Manager Charles Levasseur was interviewed by CBC New Brunswick for their feature on how artificial intelligence (AI) can help level the playing field for workers with disabilities.

The CBC notes, “More than 35 per cent of New Brunswickers have a disability, according to Statistics Canada, and only 46 per cent of them are employed. But a greater understanding and acceptance of new technology in the workplace could close that gap.”

Charles discussed his hope for digital literacy around artificial technology to increase, and for new assistive technology solutions that remove barriers for people with disabilities to be embraced by employers.

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We’ve talked about AI a few times in the past, especially in the context of how it can be used as assistive technology (AT). We’ve also explored quite a few chatbots, which are AI-based apps that are designed to simulate human conversations. Typically those apps are fairly general in nature, but recently we have learned about some very interesting task-specific chatbots which focus on one particular task rather than serving as a blank conversational canvas.

ChatPDF is a free, browser-based chatbot that focuses specifically on analyzing and summarizing PDFs. This tool can be helpful for students, professionals, researchers, and anyone else who works with PDFs.

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During the COVID pandemic, Jora Singh found himself spending many more hours on the computer — his classes initially moved online, he had started to teach himself how to code. After a while, he noticed he was having wrist pain and back pain from the long hours at the keyboard. He started thinking of solutions.

“I have a huge passion for science, and I’ve been doing science fair projects since I was in grade four,” says Jora Singh, who recently finished grade nine.

This led to him developing a hands-free app for using your computer, DeviceABLE. Developed over the last year using his self-taught coding skills, DeviceABLE allows you to use head and facial movements to move your cursor, as well as use an onscreen keyboard. There’s also a voice feature for people who can’t use as much neck or head movement.

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For individuals with physical disabilities, accessing a computer often presents challenges, particularly with using a keyboard or mouse. Depending on the user, one of these devices might be easier to handle than the other. Tools that allow functions to be transferred between the keyboard and mouse can significantly improve accessibility, independence, and efficiency. While there are numerous external tools designed to enhance keyboard and mouse functionality—many originating from gaming or programming contexts—let’s start by exploring the built-in features of Windows.

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Today officially marks our 40^th anniversary! We couldn’t be more grateful to all of our participants, volunteers, supporters, partners, and everyone who has helped us on our journey to 40 years of impact.

When 21-year-old university student Neil Squire was paralyzed in a car accident, his cousin Bill Cameron, an engineer, worked with a small group of volunteers to create a device to help Neil speak. Before long, Bill realized that his mission was bigger than just helping family. When Neil passed away in 1984, a non-profit organization was formed in his name. Forty years later, Bill’s legacy continues, and Neil lives on everyday in the work we do.

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It’s hard for me to believe that we are 40 years in and counting. In some ways, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was working with Neil as he was learning Morse code with his state-of-the-art Apple IIe computer — it had 64 KB of memory, and believe it or not, that was considered massive for a personal computer. (Compare that with the memory on your smart phone right now just to put it into perspective).

As we celebrate 40 years of impact, it had me reflecting on my early days working with Neil even before the organization was formally founded, and one particularly important lesson I learned early on.

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We are thrilled to announce that our organization is celebrating its 40th anniversary this coming June.

Four decades of technology, knowledge, and passion. From humble beginnings to impactful programs, we’ve come a long way, thanks to your unwavering support.

Please join us in commemorating this milestone throughout the month of June by celebrating with us at one of our free regional events across Canada taking place in Burnaby, Regina, Ottawa, Fredericton, and Calgary. Details are below for each event.

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