This November, we honour Indigenous Disability Awareness Month.

Indigenous peoples of Canada experience a disability rate significantly higher than that of the general population. Indigenous Disability Awareness Month (IDAM) brings awareness of these barriers and the issues that Indigenous peoples living with disabilities and their families face every day. More importantly though, in spite of these barriers, IDAM celebrates the achievements of Indigenous peoples living with disabilities and recognize the significant and valuable contributions they make to our communities socially, economically, and culturally every day.

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Ed works as a civil engineer in Surrey.

“I lost my hearing almost 10 years ago, which created many barriers and stress. It was very difficult to understand and interact during conversations,” he shares.

His audiologist referred him to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for new hearing aids. He applied to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services and was quickly approved for a new set of hearing aids.

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We’ve looked at a few OCR/scanning apps in the past, and for the most part, when we’re asked about OCR and scanning apps, we typically recommend Microsoft Lens or Adobe Scan. But, because we’ve found that different users have vastly different experiences and preferences when it comes to this technology, we thought that it would be worth looking at another top-rated OCR app.

iScanner is a highly downloaded OCR app that is currently charting at number 19 in the “business” category in Apple’s App Store, with Adobe Scan being the only OCR app rated higher. So, why is it that this app in particular is currently the second highest rated scanning app on the market?

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Alan works at a post office sorting plant in Kelowna. He has hearing loss, which made it difficult for him to understand instructions and affected his safety as he was unable to hear all the different moving equipment around him in the busy plant.

“[I] was not able to hear adequately,” he shares.

His audiologist at HearingLife referred him to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help purchasing new hearing aids. Alan applied to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services and was quickly approved for funding for the hearing aids he needs for work.

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Now that we are over a month into the 2023 school year, most parents probably have a pretty decent idea which subjects their children are struggling with. And as we’ve stated in previous e-bulletins, the earlier that you can identify and work on the subjects that your child struggles with, the more likely they are to overcome that subject matter without impacting their grades, or perhaps even more importantly, their self-esteem.

Today we are going to look at an app that is designed for students who struggle with (or simply need to review) math. DoodleMaths is a cross platform math app designed for students aged four to 14, and it also provides users with a variety of accessibility options such as audio dictation and colored overlays.

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Rita works as a cashier in Kelowna, and she has hearing loss making it hard to interact with customers.

When she was looking for hearing aids, she was referred to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for financial assistance for the hearing aids she needed for work. Rita applied to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services and was quickly approved, and was able to get the much-needed hearing aids.

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These are the universal experiences that invigorate the mind and soul.

The endless joy in hearing your children laugh, noticing the first songbird mark the morning sunrise, or listening to your favourite piece of music.

But what if the freedom afforded by proper hearing was suddenly gone?

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We covered plenty of learning apps in the past, but here we are again! The truth is there are SO MANY learning apps out there, and what works best for one student may not work for the other. The learning app that we are looking at today has been around for over a decade, and it’s currently topping a lot of “must have” lists around the internet.

SplashLearn is an education app that was designed for students from pre-K to grade 5. With over 4,000 learning games that cover math, reading, and writing, your child will have lots of unique learning opportunities. But, you won’t be finding yourself struggling to figure out what’s next, because SplashLearn offers daily learning plans. The app also has users set up a “profile” for their child during the initial set up, so you’ll be properly guided through this experience from the very start.

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Amy works as a chairside assistant and sterilization tech in a dental clinic in Grand Forks.

“My hearing is impaired,” she explains. “Without hearing aids, it is very difficult to hear instructions, communicate with patients, and understand what is required of me.”

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Today we are going to look at a brand-new app that takes the traditional productivity/to-do list model to the next level. First, what do we mean by a productivity/ to-do list app? The examples are many, and we’ve talked about a few at length. If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and check out Todoist or Microsoft To Do to see an example of what those apps look like. Simply put, these apps are designed to digitize and organize your daily tasks by creating prompts, sending reminders, and connecting your tasks to your calendar.

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