We’ve been enjoying watching Hearing Solutions participant and former professional baseball player Tyson Gillies compete on The Amazing Race Canada.

Partnered with fellow baseball development coach Michael Crouse, the duo wants to use the prize money to build a sports facility for kids.

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For individuals with physical disabilities, accessing a computer often presents challenges, particularly with using a keyboard or mouse. Depending on the user, one of these devices might be easier to handle than the other. Tools that allow functions to be transferred between the keyboard and mouse can significantly improve accessibility, independence, and efficiency. While there are numerous external tools designed to enhance keyboard and mouse functionality—many originating from gaming or programming contexts—let’s start by exploring the built-in features of Windows.

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Today officially marks our 40^th anniversary! We couldn’t be more grateful to all of our participants, volunteers, supporters, partners, and everyone who has helped us on our journey to 40 years of impact.

When 21-year-old university student Neil Squire was paralyzed in a car accident, his cousin Bill Cameron, an engineer, worked with a small group of volunteers to create a device to help Neil speak. Before long, Bill realized that his mission was bigger than just helping family. When Neil passed away in 1984, a non-profit organization was formed in his name. Forty years later, Bill’s legacy continues, and Neil lives on everyday in the work we do.

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It’s hard for me to believe that we are 40 years in and counting. In some ways, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was working with Neil as he was learning Morse code with his state-of-the-art Apple IIe computer — it had 64 KB of memory, and believe it or not, that was considered massive for a personal computer. (Compare that with the memory on your smart phone right now just to put it into perspective).

As we celebrate 40 years of impact, it had me reflecting on my early days working with Neil even before the organization was formally founded, and one particularly important lesson I learned early on.

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Summer vacation is fast approaching, and you may be wondering how to keep your child engaged in reading and learning over break. And while trips to the library are a great way to do that, not everyone lives close to a library, and, for some learners with learning disabilities, printed text can be difficult to work with.

That’s what makes Epic so appealing. The app features over forty thousand books and audiobooks for kids aged three to twelve, and it’s designed to be as accessible as possible. Besides being integrated with users’ built-in accessibility features such as VoiceOver, Be My Eyes, and Live Transcribe, Epic also provides their own built-in features such as speech-to-text, audiobooks, and even their own unique approach to storytelling called Read-To-Me books. Read-To-Me books are professionally narrated books that automatically turn the pages and highlight words are they are being read.

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Today we are joined once again by Nakia Singh. On today’s episode we talk about the recent Google I/O conference on AI, why it just might be worth paying the subscription fee for Gemini Pro, and finally, we talk about the specific ways in which AI can be used as assistive technology.

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AI chatbots like Chat GPT, Gemini and CO Pilot are becoming increasingly common every day. They can be used for all sorts of tasks including research, writing, general communication, and more. These open-source AI tools are (mostly) free, but they typically offer a premium version of the software with increased functionality and limitless conversations for an additional fee.

Today we are going to do a brief overview of one of our favorite AI chatbots, and as we do, we’ll try to show a few scenarios where this software might be especially useful.

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As part of National AccessAbility Week, WorkBC Assistive Technology Services was featured in the most recent edition of WorkBC’s “In the Spotlight” feature.

You can also read an article by WorkBC on National AccessAbility Week and WorkBC Assistive Technology Services.

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When it comes to learning, everyone is different, and what works for one student may not always work for another! Math apps are a great way to tackle this issue but sometimes students need something a little more hands-on. In-person tutoring is one way to tackle this issue, but depending on where you live, that may or may not be possible. So then that begs the question, what do you do when you need tutoring in math but there’s no one in your area who is available or qualified?

Enter Brighterly, an online tutoring service for students who are struggling in math. The service is designed for students from grades one to grade eight. Subjects include algebra, fractions, geometry, measurement, money, times table, number sense, numbers to word, and more.

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We are thrilled to announce that our organization is celebrating its 40th anniversary this coming June.

Four decades of technology, knowledge, and passion. From humble beginnings to impactful programs, we’ve come a long way, thanks to your unwavering support.

Please join us in commemorating this milestone throughout the month of June by celebrating with us at one of our free regional events across Canada taking place in Burnaby, Regina, Ottawa, Fredericton, and Calgary. Details are below for each event.

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