Assistive technologies

What are assistive technologies?
Assistive technologies can help compensate for the limitations disabled users can experience. In an eLearning context, they can range from specific applications such as screen readers, voice recognition, and screen magnification software to specially designed keyboards, mice software or encompass devices. The latter can be adapted to enable greater access to services for any user.

There are some useful guides to the main forms of assistive technology available from JISC TechDis and also advice on use of the main technologies in a searchable database.

What assistive technologies are supported by NTU?
We support Texthelp Read Write, which will read out documents for proofreading purposes, Inspiration for mind-mapping, Zoomtext screen magnification software and the JAWS screenreader. The Libraries and Learning Resources website has a section on Disability Support and you can find up-to-date information on assistive equipment and software, as well as library-specific support such as individual inductions.

Simulations
Although assistive technologies can be of great benefit to users, it is important that their use is taken into consideration when content is being created so as not to bar their use. Using a simulation can help those who don’t use assistive technologies understand what it can be like for others. Take, for example, the use of screen readers. What could be difficult about hearing someone read out the content of a page? However, it requires a huge amount of skill, concentration and patience if you need to use one for everyday text-based tasks.

If you are not already a screen reader user, have a go at the screen reader simulation from WebAim, which provides a revealing insight into what it can be like. You will need to have sound available as well as the Shockwave plug-in to run the simulation. Try to answer the three questions provided on the simulation page under the heading Tasks. To make the simulation easier to understand press C to make captions appear, and press I to see a screenshot of the page that is being read out. Reflect on the simulation – was it hard or easy to do? What were the main issues you experienced?