John is a small business owner, running a local retail store in Vancouver. As the sole employee, he manages all aspects of the business, including opening and closing the store, engaging with customers, and performing administrative and financial tasks.

“I have a moderate to severe hearing impairment that has progressively worsened over the years,” he shares. “This difficulty in hearing has hindered my ability to serve my customers effectively, which had a negative impact on my business. At times, my hearing impairment has also caused frustration and anxiety when interacting with customers.”

• Read More

Today we are going to look at one of the higher rated flashcard apps on the app store. We’ve looked at a few of these apps in the past, and today we’re going to look at a flashcard app that does things a bit differently.

Anki is a highly customizable flashcard app that supports images, videos, markup languages such as LaTeX and more. The browser version of the app is free, and through this version of the app, users can have the most freedom in how they create and review their deck.

• Read More

Sam is a self-employed tree fruit orchard producer in Kelowna, growing apples and pears on a small orchard. He has hearing loss.

“I believe this started sometime after a left a career in the local saw-milling business. I started noticing difficulty in deciphering audio from one ear and later on from both,” he shares, noting that his hearing loss made it difficult to communicate with his workers, as well as colleagues at crowded conferences that he attends for work.

• Read More

Ryan has worked as a letter carrier for over 20 years, serving the community of Oak Bay.

“I enjoy working outdoors and being a part of the community,” he shares. “I have moderate bilateral hearing loss. It impacts my interactions with customers on my route, and prevents me from hearing approaching vehicles (especially electric ones).”

• Read More

Linda works as a Certified Education Assistant in the Okanagan, helping students who need more support in the classroom.

She has hearing loss, which impacts her ability to hear instructions from the classroom teacher — she often has to check back with the teacher to confirm instructions. Since many of the children she works with speak quietly, she also has to lean closer to hear the students.

• Read More

When you’re a student studying multiple subjects, staying on top of your school, homework, social life, and work is not an easy task. Of course, you’ve likely been given an agenda at the start of the school year, and while an agenda serves as a decent paper-based organizational tool, you’re probably going to be better off seeking out a digital alternative instead. This is especially true for students with learning differences who tend to perform better within a more flexible digital space.

MyStudyLife is a personal academic assistant that is designed to keep track of your commitments through scheduling, tasks, and reminders. Essentially it does everything that an agenda does, in a digital space, so that you can access your schedule from anywhere on virtually any device. The app was specifically developed for students, so it’s based around an academic calendar where users can input term dates, holidays, classes, exams, extra-curricular activities and more.

• Read More

Maria is a family court support worker. Her duties include intakes, referrals, providing emotional support, and accompanying clients during court hearings and meetings.

She has hearing loss, which makes it hard to hear in public spaces and during court hearings and meetings. In particular, she was having trouble hearing her clients when they need to speak quietly.

• Read More

Chessa works as a Health Care Assistant, providing home and community care for seniors.

She has Central Auditory Processing Disorder, which leads to misunderstanding and mishearing of conversations. She finds loud voices and quick speech difficult to hear, and can find directions difficult to follow.

Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, she received hearing aids, which have made a big difference in her workday.

• Read More

Notetaking apps are one of our favorite ways of staying organized, whether it’s in the classroom, at home, or in the office. And while these apps were brought into this world as fairly simple word processing programs, the very concept (and execution) of notetaking has evolved greatly thanks to the growth and evolution of the internet.

And while there are already so many great options for notetaking apps already available, the app that we are looking at today is unique enough that it definitely deserves some attention.

Obsidian is an open-source notetaking app of virtual infinite possibilities. And while that statement might sound hyperbolic, it’s also true. Because the app is open source, individuals can create their own plugins to enhance the apps default functionality. As of right now, there are 1,924 plugins available to download, for free.

• Read More

Today is a short, news and app round-up episode. We look at some recent assistive technology news, new apps for learning math, a low-cost text-to-speech alternative, and a whole lot of scholarship opportunities across New Brunswick and Canada.

• Read More