Assistive Technology

I was able to explore theassistive technology offered by the disability services of my university. It was interesting to see all the equipment that can be used to help those with adisability. Pictures of some of the technology I saw can be found here.

The Disability Services on campusservices many a person with disabilities. They primarily see those withdyslexia and learning disabilities, some with low vision or vision impairments,and a few with hearing impairments. They also service a few people witharthritis and temporarily even those who experience a broken arm.

Most of the gadgets were quitepricey. A Smart view 360 CCTV which is a magnifier with a swivel camera headthat can be used to zoom in on papers or the board, cost a whopping $2400! For astudent with dyslexia or vision impairment a Kurzweil 3000 can be used. This isa text to speech computer software that can be used to read aloud textbooks andother such materials. It reads at about 160 words a minute which is a littleslower than normal speech. The user can speed it up to 300 wpm. The great thingabout this is that it can be saved as an mp3 file and played back in ITunes sothat the user does not have to stay sitting to listen to it. Something similaris a Victor Stream DAISY Player that is a hand held device that be used to heartextbooks by a person who recorded themselves reading it. This is taped by pageso that the user can skip around. About 90 students use this on campus. Thereare apps for smartphones to access these recordings.

For someone who needs assistance to remember lectures or notes there is an Echo LiveScribe Smart Pen. This niftylittle tool uses a special kind of paper that allows everything that is writtento be stored and recorded for later playback. If chosen, one could also recordwhat is being said at the moment the writing took place. Also for dictationpurposes, one could use the Dragon Naturally Speaking software. This allows forpapers and such to be written as someone dictates through a microphone. TheDisabilit

A Comfort Contego FM System thatserves as a transmitter and receiver for someone with a hearing impairmentcosts about $750. A professor can use the transmitter and the student can usethe headphones to hear more clearly what he or she is saying. There is also away that instead the transmitter can be pointed in the direction of the speakerso that the professor does not have to wear the transmitter. Also for someonewho cannot communicate effectively through speech or hearing. There is a UbiDuoCommunicators that is almost like a texting software. There are two stationslike mini computers that send text messages to each other.