Well, I am rather excited about travelling up to London today to attend the Nasen Awards 2021 dinner at the Waldorf Hotel. I went to this event a few years ago and now I get to take my wife and stay overnight. I am a judge for these awards and this year there was some really interesting and useful entries. Which shows that despite the pandemic there has been a lot of good and worthy use of technology to help special needs pupils. Ones I was impressed with was a local authority system to progress statements in a thorough yet fair way. In assistive technology terms there were some useful hardware and software. I can’t say too much until after the event so maybe watch out for a further article. So my new suit would be the first time ever wearing a dinner jacket.
New machines and new software would refer to the arrival of Windows 11. I looked to see if my machine of 2 years old was compatible and alas it is not. So if I want to use Windows 11 I have to purchase a brand new laptop. Do I hear notes of cynism? A not-so subtle plot to get people to buy more Microsoft machines. I am keen to try out the Accessibility Options on Windows 11 . We have discussed it in a previous post. And I have my colleagues sending me articles on the subject as well. Including an article on how to get around the TPM 2.0 problem. Now the irony is my 2 yr old Dell does have TPM 2.0 but failed it’s Ryzen processor which is a pity. I won’t be taking a risk upgrading this unapproved way. Best to wait and see how it fairs for a few months before committing to spending the cash on a new machine.
Finally, it has been a week of a conference which I have been helping to run. “The Disability Confident in Action – Unlocking potential and building inclusion,” attracted over 200 bookings of which over 70 came. Those who attended both days were treated to a veritable collection of brilliant speakers and fabulous assistive technology products. This BATA run event will publish the recordings in due course and you can then attend virtually as did the attendees again. If you want to make your workplace disability confident this showcase for good practise and provision would be the go-to setting to go to.
Now where did I put those train tickets?
AccessAbility Solutions 