techability 2024

As always a great show that takes me back to my roots in education which was special educational needs teacher for severe and profound learning disabilities. In terms of new kit Dr Paul Blenkhorn and David Stephens have some exciting additions coming to their Sensory Readable software in the new year. Making use of Voice Access Control and Live captioning there are going to be new features that give instant text to speech feedback and the saving of live captioning into MP3 format if needed. This could have huge implications for hearing impaired students as well as those needed text to speech feedback for their work and studies. Really pleased to meet David and Paul as the first exhibitors to TechAbility 2024.

The actual conference itself proved to be very worthwhile and well planned. The have the keynote just after lunch was genius to allow people to get there and settle into the conference. I also love the hot topics sessions – a round table affair where things like Supporting the Supporters of AT and Professional Members for Assistive Technology were discussed. All good news and the right direction for us to take at this time in our history.

Rohan Slaughter gave a detailed and important lead on AT Competancy Framework based on research and practise. He did a brilliant job of collecting information from delegates and then recording this back live and comparing it to what a live team of research contributors have told him. The good news they were very compatible and we all felt we were all singing from the same hymn sheet by the end of the talk. I look forward to the research being published and more tools being developed that can help assessment and training to occur.

Training was the theme for Professor Jane Searle also as she has been looking at assistive technology for people with learning disabilities. She’s produced a set of videos with SeeAbility & the Open University to help train support/care workers to make effective use of AT. As someone who has been in this industry for as a long as I have means their is a kindred spirit who see the changes needed in our care system to make the phrase “ It’s not my job” as regards assistive technology for people with learning disabilities go away!

Thanks to Fil McIntyre and the TechAbility team for yet another great conference. I recommend you head over to the training section of the TechAbility website for some great resources that can help you. https://www.techability.org.uk/training/

Testimonies

“1’d like to give a shout out to Myles Pilling, BA,M.Ed. and encourage anyone who needs training and support around assistive tech to reach out to him directly. was lucky enough to have several hours of training with Myles thanks to my Access to Work grant. Myles’ training though? Well, it was closer to coaching than training. He didn’t assume. He asked me to show him what I did so he could offer refinements and tweaks.

But the most important thing Myles did was question why I was doing what I was doing; what was the benefit, why was it needed, and if it was what was the most effective way of doing it? No more ‘stick a tech plaster on a Luddite broken leg’ – instead Myles helped me work most effectively with my tech, by helping me figure out when and how I needed it. The absolute best bit? Thanks to working with Myles, I never ever need to do filing again.

Seriously. Never.

Myles helped me set up a system that I would likely never have discovered without him, that allows my work to be recorded and autosaved without a single follow up step.” Leah , Consultant , Search for Serenity

“Accessibility Smyles continues to serve up timely information about the latest and best technology for individuals with unique needs. Always pleased to receive these helpful resources with related links. I share them with parents, educators and others who serve the many with reading and learning challenges. (Thank you, Myles!)” – Jean

“I’ve known Myles for many years, he’s my go-to expert for all this Accessibility, so much so that he’s our resident expert at Anderton Tiger Radio. Whenever we feature this topic he’s always there with excellent advice and guidance, in fact you can listen to him again here from our January radio show https://www.buzzsprout.com/695014/2586430-myles-pilling-talks-about-technologies-for-send-that-have-caught-his-eye-at-bett-2020 Highly recommended, Myles is most definitely one of the top 5 experts in his field in the UK” – Russell Prue, Anderson Tiger

“After one of your recent training sessions, I visited your Techsavvy session and discovered the virtual tour guides. A a result my husband and I enjoyed a splendid trip to Edinburgh. A city I have avoided for a number of years due to its challenges for a wheelchair user due to its very steep streets and cobbles. I think the sessions you have posted are really good and I hoped you would be happy if I suggested these to clients, I am assisting in my volunteering journey. I am also liaising with a local charity who are trying to encourage their older members and I think they too could benefit from your regular hints and tips so would like to suggest they pass on the Techsavvy links. You really are an inspiration.” –

Heather Sneddon

South West Scotland Coordinator , AbilityNet