Marcy works in an administrative role in Prince George.

“My hearing loss impacted many facets of my current work, including communication with clients and co-workers in many situations,” she says. “Factors like having a large office with workspaces spread out, speaking through plexiglass, and equipment limitations have been some of the challenges.”

Marcy needed new hearing aids, but could not afford them. She learned about WorkBC Assistive Technology Services (ATS) during her hearing test, and she decided to apply for funding.

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Technology not working? Try these steps!

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Joseph works as a driver for a retirement home in the Lower Mainland, taking residents to doctors appointments and on bus trips to various locations.

His hearing loss was making it difficult to hear residents and colleagues.

He needed new hearing aids, and his audiologist at NexGen Hearing recommended he apply for funding from WorkBC Assistive Technology Services.

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Lately, we’ve been noticing that the Special Education category in the App store has been filling up with some pretty incredible learning apps. We’ve already looked at a few of these apps in recent articles (see Starfall and Homer for more), but today we are looking at a learning app specifically designed for children with learning disabilities.

Otsimo is an award-winning special education app available for iOS and Android. And while it is designed for children with autism in mind, it can be helpful for students with a variety of challenges, including ADD/ADHD, Down Syndrome, speech challenges, aphasia, Asperger’s, as well as other learning differences.

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Kevin is a Workshop Facilitator with WorkBC Employment Services in Abbotsford, delivering presentations to clients in both English and French.

“Listening well is a very important part of understanding and communicating well with clients and teammates,” he says.

“After experiencing significant, sudden hearing loss, I really struggled when in a group of three or more participants. Some locations are more difficult than others due to poor acoustics, echo, etc, but I was struggling to catch parts of conversations.

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Christianne, who lives in Sandspit, works as a care home aid in long term care facilities and private homes.

She was born with hearing loss in her right ear, and had further hearing loss in her left ear after developing Bell’s Palsy.

Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, Christianne received funding for a pair of brand new hearing aids.

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Vinzenz works at a retirement resort in Kelowna as an executive chef, arranging schedules for chefs, planning the menus, and preparing bread, desserts, and main dishes for 150 residents.

He has hearing loss.

He learned about WorkBC Assistive Technology Services from his hearing clinic.

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The awareness and implementation of accessibility features within mainstream technology has been growing over the years, and Microsoft has recently made some big improvements to the overall accessibility of their products. Today we are going to talk about one of those newer features, the Microsoft 365 Accessibility checker. This tool is available to individuals using Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Visio, and it visible to web users as well as those using the full version of the app on PC or Mac.

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Tamara works as a receptionist in Port Moody, answering the phones, booking appointments, and opening and closing the office. She has fibromyalgia, arthritis, osteoarthritis, chronic pain, and learning difficulties.

“[I] can’t sit or stand for too long. Repetitive tasks cause pain and cramping,” she shares. “[My] reading and writing are very weak. I have got to go to school to help, but I learn a different way.”

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At this point we’ve covered more than a few learning apps, but the truth is, not all of these apps are truly accessible from the box. Today we are going to look at a learning app that takes accessibility seriously, so regardless of what platform you are accessing the app from, you’ll have more than a few options when it comes to tweaking the accessibility of your learning environment.

Starfall is learning/education app that covers pre-K to grade 3 and offers lessons and activities related to math, reading, music, English, and more. It offers a variety of reading activities including phonics, talking library, and other activities designed to teach the fundamentals of reading. The app also offers a variety of seasonal activities like Halloween fractions, Valentines Day card maker, songs about individuality, and more.

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