With the advent of Access to Work a goverment initiative that enables employees to access a range of services including asissitve technology has a significant impact on the workplace. So what kinds of technology and what needs can assistive technology help with differently abled people ( like this term as the more negetaive term – disabled people).
Sensory Impairments
Asisitve technology can enable those with visual impairment to have maginification available to them to enbale there visual impairment to be alleivate to a major extent. All software can be enhance through a toolbar that works with any software. Tools that enable enlragement of text for PDF’s and websites. Some of the tools are free or built into the operating systems but also can be met by admittedly expensive software but necessary to get the customising potentials of this software. Some visual conditions vary each day so this customisation offered byt these specialised software can aide access. For those with hearing impairement the use of hearing aids that can be customised to suit the situation is useful. Captioning tools especially for online meetings is key. Both free and padi for solutions can help those with hearing impairment to take part in meetings. Smart glasses with AI that can help hearing impaired users to interact with colleagues and customers as captions can be gernated diredtly to thr screen,
Physical Disabiliites
Access is now avaialble via specialised periphherals from eye-gaze to swtiches to joysticks and on-sceen keyboard. Moutning and positiioning are key to enable the user to access their hardware and fulfil their productivity in the workplace. Such users are generally wheelchair users and therefofre ramps and physical access to a desk for a wheelchair.
Neurodivergency
Perhaps the most significant category of need and the most impactful as solutions can almost make neurodivergency almost disappear. From spelling correction to mindmapping to organisational tools enable and empower the neurodivergent user to be productive. For those with ADHD prioritisation of tasks can be signifcantly impact the user in the workplace as their stress levels reduce onve that felling of being in control of your workflow is felt. For meetings thte use of AI can enable a revolution in note-taking means manual note takigin is history. Checking the AI notes is worth doing to ensure action points and notes are accurate. AI can also be used to comprise detailed breakdown and explanation of projects for those who find writing such documents difficult.
We have spoken in general terms so far. So what products do this? As an independent consultant I have to be aware of multiplatform solutions as well as a wide range of free and paid for solutions. So the following list is not exhaustive but essential
Visual Impairment
SuperNova form Dolphin Compute Systems – £425 https://www.visionaid.co.uk/supernova-magnifier
NVDA Screen reader – £free – https://www.visionaid.co.uk/supernova-magnifier
Windows 10/11 – £free – Magnication access within the operating system
Apple iOS devices – Zoom and Voice Over for maginifcation and contol
Hearing Imparment
Windows 10/11 – £free = captioning tools
PowerPoint – £free =captioning option
Microsoft Teams – £free – captioning
Caption Ed – subscription-based Lite £25.00 a month or £50.00 for prfessional. https://caption-ed.com/
XRAI Glasses – Free, Premium and Ultimate subscription packages for smart glasses https://xrai.glass/
Physical Disabilities
Incluisve Technology – one stop shop for switches, joysticks, mountings. https://www.inclusive.com/uk/
Neurodivergency
Texthelp Read&Write – £250 per year for individual users enterprise – talk to texthelp systems for detailed pricing for organisations – https://xrai.glass/
Global Tasks – access to work and talk to texthel for subsription model – https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/solutions/dsa/global-tasks/
Grammarly – free grammar tools with ai https://www.grammarly.com/
Goblin Tools – £t – range of ai tools to aide writing for specific audiences – https://goblin.tools/
Co-Pilot – £free – artificial intelligence – great for finding research and pracical jobs – https://copilot.microsoft.com/
For a wider discussing of ai please look at and comment on my discussing ai blogsite. https://discussingai.blog
AccessAbility Solutions 