In our new blog series looking at researching assistive technology, Geena Vabulas (a popular contributor to Assistive Technology Network events) explains why she’s focused on working in a user-centred way to ensure everyone can harness the power of speech recognition. Interested in being a participant in this important project? Find details at the end of […]
Disability statistics are stark: Government statistics show Disabled people are around 3 times as likely not to hold any qualifications compared to non-disabled people. They are half as likely to hold a degree-level qualification. 19.2% of working age disabled people do not hold any formal qualification. Compare that with 6.5% of working age non-disabled people. […]
The number of disabled students – or students with additional support needs – is rising. There may be many reasons, but the best reason is that we are becoming more aware of the issues. But ‘more aware’ of the problems doesn’t mean more aware of the answers. In this blog, Alistair McNaught gives some advice […]
Text to speech is great but not everyone gets on with it. What other ways can we deliver words to eyes more efficiently? What about people who want to read with their eyes but have visual or other difficulties that make scanning normal pages tiring or inefficient? What about those who need bigger fonts but […]
We’ve already blogged on supporting reading and using built in browser tools but a question we often get is “What’s the difference between screen reading and text readers (or ‘text to speech’ technology)? Often the terms are used interchangeably but, in reality, they are two different kinds of technologies used in different ways. Margaret McKay helps […]
The Jisc Mobile Learning Guide now features new case studies and video resources highlighting some interesting examples of inclusive mobile learning from across the UK. Although many of them focus on activity in the FE and skills sector, the case studies highlight the real value and potential that mobile technologies can play in finding individual […]
A mismatch? Something I’ve wondered about for many years is the mismatch between the diversity of learners and the uniformity of assistive technology provision. For example we know that there is no such thing as a “typical” dyslexic learner and yet there is very definitely “typical” dyslexia provision. The same products come up time and […]