Calendars have been used as our primary means of organizing and scheduling for thousands of years, so it perhaps shouldn’t be much of a surprise that even in the digital era that we live in today, the basic structure and utility of the calendar hasn’t really changed, although it certainly has become digitized. This is great news for individuals who struggle with reading, writing, and executive functioning, or for anyone who simply forgets to, or chooses not to use paper calendars, because with this digitization comes convenience, and most importantly, an increase in accessibility.

• Read More

Dana works as a real-time transcriber for post-secondary students, largely at the University of Victoria, captioning lectures for students who are hard of hearing or deaf.

However, Dana was finding she was struggling with her own hearing.

“I often work in a team with another transcriber, so I would notice they were getting things — mostly student comments that were across the room — that I wasn’t fully hearing. As you can imagine, where my job is to actually hear for someone, this became quite alarming,” she explains.

• Read More

When it comes to office-based productivity, the Microsoft Office suite is by far the most popular, with a current run of over 1 billion devices worldwide. And while much of that popularity is based around PCs in the workplace, Microsoft has been delving ever deeper into the mobile space, with a variety of mobile friendly apps and platforms being launched in recent years, including OneNote, Office Lens, Office 365 mobile, and more.

• Read More

Lisa works as a seniors program coordinator at a recreation centre in Coquitlam.

“My daily work environment varies from morning to afternoon, and from day to day. Sometimes I’m one-on-one with the seniors, other times I’m running a large group event. Some days I conduct small workshops. Some days there are staff meetings or board meetings,” she explains.

• Read More

In previous posts, we’ve discussed a variety of solutions for challenges related to writing. In the classroom, writing and reading challenges tend to be the most common, and about 80% of individuals with learning disabilities struggle with dyslexia, hence why this subject is so often explored here. Today, we’re going to look at an option that seeks to uniquely alleviate some of those challenges.

• Read More

For individuals with learning challenges, traditional approaches to studying math are often inadequate, and can leave the student feeling frustrated, disconnected, and ultimately will have a negative impact on the students sense of pride in their overall academic abilities. And, because math skills can be affected by a wide range of learning disabilities, such as dysgraphia, dyslexia, and dyscalculia, finding the right supports for the right student can be a real challenge.

• Read More

Russell has worked as an inside sales representative for a building materials company in Chilliwack for nearly a decade.

Having “grown into” the role after having had to transition to less physical work following a hernia operation, Russell found his groove, doing everything from over the counter and phone sales to providing quotes for construction companies.

However, he was facing a significant barrier in this line of work.

• Read More

Jamie is a sales professional based in Kelowna.

It’s a job that requires him to be focused in conversations with clients and staff, something that was becoming hard to do with his hearing loss.

“The decline in my hearing made it very difficult to follow conversations — there were many times I misinterpreted a conversation only to add input that was incorrect as a result,” he admits.

• Read More

Earlier in the month, we explored a variety of assistive technology apps that are available as Google Chrome Extensions. These apps were created by third party developers such as Ginger Software, TextHelp, Claro Software etc. and use Chrome as a platform to host their product. What many AT users might not realize is that Google has also created their very own accessibility extensions, and that those extensions are always available for free. The extensions that we’re looking at today can be found through the Chrome Web Store under the “Accessibility” category, or, by clicking here.

• Read More

Since the original roll out of extensions in 2010, Google Chrome has become a leading hub of accessible apps for PC and Mac computers. Many of these apps are free or free to try, thus providing users with an exposure to accessibility that was never possible before, and with Chrome being responsible for over half off all of the world’s internet traffic, accessible apps and features have never been more mainstream. And, thanks to the open-sourced origins of this browser, new accessibility extensions are being added every day.

• Read More