Author: AccessAbility Smyles

I am in Beirut now for the 2022 ABLE Summit. I thought it would be good to re-publish this .

An experiment to see if a real-time event can be shared to a website. I will let you know when I have done the session tomorrow at The Dyslexia Show – ” Using assistive technology that makes a difference. ”

Here is a link to a handout for that session. Feel free to share!

Assistive Technology That Makes a Difference Handout

This could carry on after the show and therefore useful for engagement beyond an event – and beyond the classroom. In fact a classroom could ( hypothetically!) be running 24/7, 365 days a year!

Here are a list of dates and conferences I will be speaking at in the next couple of months. Do feel free to come along and speak with us at the The Dyslexia Show or join us on the online virtual conferences I will be doing on:-

17th March British Dyslexia Conference

Speaking on ” Building confidence in using Assistive Technology”

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/events/virtual-literacy-conference-2022-the-literacy-journey-through-education-for-those-with-dyslexia

25th March The Dyslexia Show

Speaking on: ” “Using assistive technology that makes a difference.”

https://dyslexiashow.co.uk/for-education/education-seminars/

23rd April PATOSS Virtual Conference and AGM

Speaking on ” Free and Accessible Software”

https://www.patoss-dyslexia.org/All-Events/patoss-2022-virtual-annual-conference-agm/13338?OccId=18316

In working with the above organization and the black community it is interesting to note that dyslexia occurs in the black community as well. I was approached to train a group in the use of Assistive Technology and questions were asked about translation from African languages such as Swahili. Also is there anything that works and speaks with Jamaican Patwah(Patois). I came across this information which may be of interest to you.

I have been looking into what can be done to help translate. I can see that Google Translate works with  Swahili, Somali for African nations. Anyway, here is a link to try that out-

This is the one I demonstrated:-

https://translator.microsoft.com/start

It does a similar thing.

There are these websites that deal with Jamaican to English that might help.Jamaican Patwah – Patois/Creole and Slang Dictionary

It has this translator tool on it:-

https://jamaicanpatwah.com/translator

Back in 2019 we were all faced by one of the most horrendous situations. We were in a pandemic and many people were separated from their loved ones. The only way for us to communicate was via Video Conferencing or phone calls. For someone with dementia a phone call is not easy. It is much better to see them.

Sandra’s husband was one such person and he was in a care home. Sandra had not been able to see him for 12 weeks. She is not a techsavvy person at all. In fact more techno fear than savvy. So I encouraged her to connect first with the church services we were doing then with the care home Richard was at. We managed a few calls on Skype until the day came when he caught COVID. At the time we didn’t know how ill he was but sadly later that day he passed away. But Sandra was able to see him and she said ” You don’t know just how much that means to me.”

What has this to do with a name on a train?

My wife and daughter entered me in for a local Radio station’s competition called ” Making A Difference” Our story got us to the finals but sadly we didn’t win. I thought that was the end of the story but not so. A few week’s later I was contacted by the radio station to say that our story had touched their hearts and the railway company had extended their train names to a side panel for runner-ups.

After two years and several cancellations this week we were called to attend Swindon raiway where “our train” would pull in for 6 minutes and we could see the entry and here it is:-

At the end of March I will be speaking at the ABLE Summit in the Lebanon about a “Smart Future for the Disabled.” An honour to be asked to attend and I am looking forward to the experience again ( probably not the travel though as much!).

Last time I went it was awesome the way I was welcomed and treated as a VIP. Assistive Technology can impact the lives of disabled people for the good and we are not talking loads of money to do it. Tools exist today and the help of AI should become more predominant in the future.

Thanks to jack Churchill(Scanning Pens) for sharing this.

  “A new, unique online literacy assessor has been launched that claims to be able to highlight dyslexic-type literacy difficulties in children – and it’s now available for all schools in the UK to make use of, absolutely free!

The IDL Literacy Screener is a piece of software designed and created by International Dyslexia Learning Solutions Limited that has launched this week. It takes the form of a simple online test that can be taken in around half an hour for most learners. It’s easy to administer, and it only requires one teacher, support educator or SENCO to invigilate it, and because of its computer-based, quiz-style design, it’s a great way of getting younger learners to engage with it organically.”

For more details go to :-

Literacy Screener | Effective Online Screening Tool | IDL | IDL (idlsgroup.com)