“We Have Solutions!” Episode 3 Featuring Dr. Gary Birch
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Episode 3 of our AT Help Desk‘s podcast, “We Have Solutions!” has released today.
On today’s episode they are joined by Order of Canada recipient and Neil Squire Executive Director Dr. Gary Birch.
Dr. Birch brings with him decades of experience in assistive technology, EEG signal processing, direct brain-computer interface, robotic control systems, environmental control systems, and more.
“This Program Has Made Dealing With This Disability So Much Easier, and I Can’t Recommend It Enough”
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Hunter works as a line cook at a popular pub in Vancouver. Whether he’s preparing food or relaying a ticket to other kitchen staff, the job requires effective communication to get the job done and to stay safe. He is hard of hearing and needs to use hearing aids.
“I need to be able to hear and understand instructions properly in order to ensure orders go out correctly, to ensure safety for myself and others, to avoid any potential problems with allergies, to hear timers and alarms, and more. I am unable to read lips at work as everyone is required to wear a mask,” he shares.
Tips and Tools for Creating Accessible Content
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For many of us, learning how to create accessible content is a fairly new concept. Of course, as we become increasingly aware of accessibility and universal design, we’ll need to dive deeper into the steps and concepts required to create content that is compliant with current accessibility standards. Let’s take a look at some helpful tools and tips that are designed to have you creating accessible content with minimal effort.
“My Life Has Changed,” the Right Tools and Training Help Trina Launch Her Business
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Trina is starting a new business as an intuitive coach in Delta and throughout the Lower Mainland. In starting her own business, she has to build up her brand through social media, advertising, and finding new clients. Her line of work also involves continually learning new skills and techniques.
However, Trina lives with learning challenges in reading and writing, as well as memory retention.
“This impacts both learning new tasks, retaining information, and overall interest in any function that includes written words,” she shares. “I find I am often behind in paperwork, new updates, and learning when they are self-directed or are written.”
Scholarship Opportunities in New Brunswick
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There are some new scholarship opportunities for post-secondary students with disabilities in New Brunswick. These opportunities are time-sensitive, so if you or someone who know might be eligible, don’t hesitate, apply now!
“It’s a Whole New World!” Hearing Aids Make a World of Difference for Sheryl
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Sheryl is an administrator for a youth soccer organization in the Okanagan, handling everything from registration to scheduling to taking minutes and enacting decisions made in meetings. She has hearing loss.
“I need to be able to hear to take notes and minutes for all aspects of communication: phone calls, in-person meetings, zoom calls, training sessions, etc. I find people with accents and those calling from cars extra challenging to understand. In situations where more than one person is talking, I can only focus on one person at a time which means I miss another speaker’s input,” she shares.
Balancing Mental Health and Technology
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With the advent of COVID-19, our reliance on technology has increased dramatically. Today, many of us still work from home, and some of us still rely on technology to a degree that we never did before. And although the net benefits of using these devices certainly outweighs the costs, there are downsides to being overly reliant on technology that should be acknowledged. In today’s e-bulletin we’re going to look at a few different scenarios in an attempt to explore how technology can help but also hinder a person’s mental health, as well as look at some possible solutions for mitigating these challenges.
Former Pro Baseball Player Tyson Gillies Visits Hearing Solutions
Today Hearing Solutions received a visit from former pro baseball player and Pan Am gold medalist Tyson Gillies for a fitting for his new Starkey hearing aids. Stay tuned for more content from Tyson.
Chunking: A Memorization Strategy
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Chunking is a process by which individual pieces of an information set are broken down and then grouped together in a meaningful whole. This strategy can be very helpful for short-term memory recall. Let’s use the example of a phone number to demonstrate:
First, let’s assume that we can easily remember only 4 things at a time. In other words, your working memory has 4 slots.
Philippe Increases His Independence With Technology
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Watching Philippe sing his songs, you’ll notice he can be a bit of a one man band — he’ll sing, he’ll play the guitar, he’ll do the percussion all at once, sometimes he’ll even throw in a harmonizer effect to create harmonies by himself.
Born blind in Clair, New Brunswick, Philippe started his musical journey at five years old, and he can play almost any instrument you can name. He learns songs by ear and adds his own flavour to them, and is a prolific songwriter himself.