Trina works with seniors for a community service organization, helping them connect with community supports and services, as well as providing practical supports to older adults and their families.

She has Mixed-Connective Tissue Disease, which has many of the features and symptoms of lupus, arthritis, and various other conditions.

“This limits my ability to sit on non-supportive chairs and at non-ergonomic workstations; walk or stand for long periods; and write legibly and type quickly. Therefore, it necessitates the use of adaptive equipment for many workplace tasks,” she says.

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Today we are going to do a quick spotlight on a great assistive technology resource that we have recently discovered. This resource deals with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technology, so before we go any further, we want to mention that the New Brunswick Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists is the province’s main resource for everything related to speech and audio challenges. Click here to check out their website.

There’s not always a ton of resources and knowledge available when it comes to AAC. This probably has a lot to do with the specialized nature of AAC technology. This tech is often expensive, and it usually requires a bit of training to use properly.

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Karen works as an intake coordinator for a residential drug and alcohol treatment centre.

“I have hearing loss and was having a hard time hearing on the telephone and in busy environments with background noise,” she shares.

A friend suggested she check out WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help funding a new pair of hearing aids. WorkBC Assistive Technology Services staff walked her through the application process, and in no time, she was approved.

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Adult learning can be an incredibly expensive and time-consuming process, but it doesn’t have to be! With the advent of online learning there are more choices than ever in how we can approach post-secondary education. There’s a lot of options out there, and we have covered some of them in past e-bulletins, so if you’re interested in even more online learning options, please click here. However, the app that we are looking at today certainly deserves its time in the spotlight, especially because of the strides they’ve recently been making to deliver an accessible and universally designed product.

Udemy is an online learning system that is available on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac. The courses are adult-centered and deal with a wide variety of practical skills. There are courses on software development, business, photography, editing, teaching and academics, IT, music, and much more.

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If you’ve ever worked with PDFs, you’ve probably heard of Adobe Acrobat and Reader. And if you’ve heard of those products, you probably also know two other things. One, that Adobe products are the best for working with PDFs, and two, that Adobe software is very expensive. Both of these things are very true. However, if you are a working professional who generates a lot of digital paperwork, it’s going to be hard to recommend anything else but Adobe Acrobat.

But what if you’re a student who maybe generates a PDF here and there, but you don’t need anything too fancy, and you don’t want a product that’s going to break the bank?

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Belle works in healthcare. She has hearing loss in both ears, which can make her job difficult.

“I have a lot of interaction with co-workers, visitors and residents, and the surroundings are kind of loud,” she says. “I barely hear what people are telling me, I always asked them to repeat what they said, or sometimes pretend that I heard them.”

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Today the AT Help Desk team are joined by Neil Squire colleagues Erin and Todd after their return from the ATIA 2024 conference.

In case you’re not aware, ATIA is the leading community-building and learning event for all things Assistive Technology.

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Andrew helps keeps the roads safe in the winter, working in snow removal and trucking salt. Thanks to funding for hearing aids from WorkBC Assistive Technology, Andrew can stay safe on the job.

“Thank you for your assistance and support,” he says. “Without your support for the hearing aids, I may not have been able to continue my career as a Truck Driver due to safety issues and licensing requirements.”

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We’ve talked a bit in the past about apps and services designed for individuals with low or no vision, but it’s been a few years since we’ve featured something new. In fact, we highly recommend you look at our previous e-bulletins for even more recommendations for vision-related apps and services, especially since the app that we are looking at today is for Android only.

Lookout is an assisted vision app created by Google. It uses your smartphone’s camera in conjunction with powerful AI to capture and describe the world around you. The app also has some universal design potential in that it could also be helpful for those with print-based disabilities.

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Roy is a self-employed musician and broadcaster, who lost his vision in an accident eight years ago.

Today, Roy uses a computer to manage the administrative tasks for his music career, and to work on his weekly radio show — doing audio editing, script writing, making the playlists, and research. He uses the JAWS screen reader to navigate the various programs on his computer.

Having originally worked with Neil Squire in 2016 to learn how to use JAWS, he was referred to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services to update his assistive technology set-up that he needs for his work.

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