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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Rob has been looking for work as a writer. However, he was having troubles in the job search process as his computer wasn’t very usable, and he didn’t have the right software to allow him to navigate his computer very easily — he is blind and needs a screen reader to use a computer.

“[The computer] was on its last legs, basically after 15 minutes it would overheat and shut down,” he explains. “Also, the fact that the screen reader program I was using called JAWS, I only had it in the demo version, so even if the computer lasted an hour before overheating, the JAWS would stop talking after 40 minutes, and I would have to restart it.”

All of this made it very difficult to browse online job boards, or to even apply to jobs.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used more and more every day to power all sorts of technology, including assistive technology (AT). And while this technology already serves as the backbone of a variety of apps and features that you already use, such as text-to-speech, speech recognition, AI assistants such as Siri, etc., there is another way of using AI that you may not be aware of. Today we are going to talk about AI chat bots, and we’re going to discuss some of the ways in which these open-ended tools could be used as assistive technology.

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Sheila’s job with an insurance company has her talking on the phone a lot. However, she began to notice she was having difficulty hearing clients on the phone.

“We service all of BC from our office in Kelowna, with the majority of work completed over the phone,” she says. “A couple of years ago I realized I was losing some of my hearing, and needless to say, this impacted my job tremendously as I was not able to hear the full conversation without a lot of ‘pardon me’ and ‘could you repeat that.’ Not only was this embarrassing, but it was taking me longer to complete a conversation.”

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For many students, essay writing is the most difficult and demanding type of writing they will ever do. This is due to a number of factors, but most students would agree that it’s the rigid structure of the document as well as the requirements for accurately cited references that proves to be especially difficult. For students with learning disabilities, this process can be particularly daunting, since there are so many steps and processes to follow, and for students with mobility challenges who rely heavily on speech to text, having to worry about properly formatted citations could mean hours and hours of extra work.

Essayist is an essay-writing app that is designed to allow students to focus on content rather than format. The app is available for iOS only, but there are Android-based alternatives available.

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Tanya is currently looking for a job and undergoing job training in Smithers. However, she found that she was facing barriers in her job search.

“I have nerve damage with chronic pain. Unfortunately, this is what I have to deal with everyday,” she explains. “Some of my functional limitations are typing, sitting for long periods of time, using a pen and holding a phone.”

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We’ve briefly touched on AAC devices in the past, but due to the complicated nature of speech and language pathology, we tend to point potential AAC users towards the New Brunswick Association of Speech-Language Pathologists. That being said, while the app that we are looking at today does technically fall under the category of AAC, it’s broad enough in functionality that it’s definitely worth talking about today. Not to mention, compared to the more advanced AAC apps and devices available, this app is considerably more user-friendly.

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Maria works at a medical clinic in Richmond, and her work requires her to talk with patients in-person and over the phone in tight quarters with her co-workers. She has Tinnitus which can make it difficult to hear everything with the noisy environment.

“I find it hard to understand what people are saying or hear them correctly,” she explains. “[I’m] answering calls and sitting beside my co-worker at a metre distance apart. Both of us may be talking to patients or on the phone as our clinic is busy most of the time.”

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We know that not every teacher is aware of what Neil Squire does. Some of you may have never taught a student who required assistive technology, and some of you may be new to the profession. For that reason, we wanted to take some time to look at some of the services that we provide to schools in New Brunswick.

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