For persons with visual disabilities, accessing the outside world often requires accommodations, strategies, and technology. And while strategies and accommodations can be relatively easily put in place, lack of access to vision-correcting technology is still an issue for many individuals. The reason for this is simple: cost. For example, there are wearable devices for blind users that provide real time color and product information, face recognition, and more. This device, called the OrCam MyEye is an incredible piece of technology, but with a price tag of around $5,000, this technology is not affordable for everyone. So then that begs the question, what’s out there that is actually affordable for persons with visual disabilities?

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) is a free, open-source screen reader for Windows that has been in development since 2006. If you are not aware, a screen reader is a piece of technology that helps individuals with visual impairments access and interact with digital content like websites or applications via audio or touch prompts. Users control what is read by moving the cursor to the relevant area of text with a mouse or by using the arrows on a keyboard.

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With over 20 years of experience, Troy’s career as a chef saw him traveling the world and operating a successful catering business in Vancouver and later Ottawa, where he now lives. And there were some nice perks.

“I worked quite a bit, and I loved it,” he says. “There were so many times, where it was like, ‘Hey Troy, come up to the cottage for the weekend and you can do all the cooking,’ and I’m like, ‘Sure, why not?’ Vacation and get paid, all right.”

However, about four years ago he began having seizures, losing his balance, and eventually becoming unable to walk. After a long process, he was diagnosed with ataxia, a rare neurological degenerative disorder which affects the body’s motor skills, causing difficulty in speech and movement.

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On episode 8, we are joined once again by AT researcher and life-long assistive technology user Nakia Singh. In this episode, we talk about some of our favorite back to school apps, making friends with AI, apps for math, and Seaver’s recent experiences in joining the partially sighted community.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

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We’ve looked at a couple math calculator and equation breakdown apps in the past, but today we are going to look at a math app that instead focuses on building mathematical foundations. Montessori Numbers is a visual math app designed for children aged 3-7, and it offers a wide range of guided math activities that are designed to conform to common core standards.

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Text-to-speech apps allow users to quickly absorb articles, documents, emails, and virtually anything else found online. Of course, students and professionals aren’t the only ones who benefit from text-to-speech applications. Persons with disabilities including those with dyslexia, dysgraphia, visual impairments, and more, can all benefit from this alternative approach to reading.

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Imagine you’re a highly visual learner, and your math instructor’s teaching style isn’t working for you. You’ve gone for extra help, but you just can’t wrap your brain around these new concepts. Many of us have been there, but the good news is there are now plenty of apps available that are designed to provide alternative means of instruction.

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In 2022, if you want to stay informed and connected to the outside world, being digitally literate is essential. This is especially true for those who are still participating in the work force, as most job opportunities, work environments, and means of companywide communication is online. And while Neil Squire offers free digital literacy training for persons with disabilities, there are also other free options available right now that shouldn’t be ignored. These resources are well-crafted, searchable, and have been used by millions of users.

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On episode 7, we are joined once again by AT researcher and life-long assistive technology user, Nakia Singh. We talk about video games as medicine (literally!), the Rogers outage and how it affects persons with disabilities, adaptive switch controllers, and more.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

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The internet in 2022 is like a digital version of the wild west, it’s vast, open-ended, and as full of opportunities as it is danger. That being said, there are measures that can be taken to ensure that one’s browsing experience is as safe as possible, and today, we are going to look into those measures in a bit more detail. And while this guide is especially aimed for those who are fairly new to or don’t have much experience browsing the internet, experienced users might also learn a thing or two.

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If you’re using the internet in 2022, chances are you’ve already heard of Microsoft’s email platform (and successor to Hotmail), Outlook. The platform is quick, efficient, and easy to use, and generally does everything an email service should. Plus, the Outlook is especially helpful for anyone who operates within the Microsoft/Microsoft 365 environment, because of how well it integrates with the other apps under that umbrella such as Teams. Today, we’re going to look at a few tips, tricks, and interesting features that not every Outlook user may be aware of. Hopefully even veteran users will learn something new today!

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