On this episode, we are joined by our K-12 Coordinator for Assistive Technology Programs and Services, Tracy Ryan. Tracy brings with her decades of experience in the disabilities community, and almost 5 years serving as our K-12 coordinator here in New Brunswick.

We talk about what it was like to provide services and training to schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the challenges, successes, and lessons that went with it.

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Introducing the New Brunswick Digital Support for Active Job Seekers and Students.

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Episode 4 of our AT Help Desk‘s podcast, “We Have Solutions!” has been released.

On this episode, we are joined by co-host Nakia Singh. Nakia brings with him decades of personal experience with assistive technology, computing, and much more. In this episode, we touch on home automation, transportation for the visually impaired, and PC vs Mac vs Linux.

You can listen on Anchor, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

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Email has been the primary communication tool among employees for some time, and even with the introduction of newer technology such as Zoom or Teams, email is not going anywhere anytime soon. But even though email has been around for decades at this point, not everyone knows how to use it to its full potential. So if you’re someone who still uses their browser for checking emails, then this lesson is for you!

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When you have physical disabilities, dealing with transportation and navigation in your area can be a major challenge. This is especially true for wheelchair users who tend to have specific requirements regarding the environments in which they are able to comfortably access. Today, we’re going to look at five apps designed to help users with physical disabilities to more easily navigate their surroundings. These apps could be helpful for a wide range of disabled users, and many of these apps could also be helpful for persons with intellectual disabilities who might benefit from the extra guidance that they provide.

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Student life can be challenging for anyone, and for persons with disabilities, this is especially true. Of course, there are plenty of tools and apps available to help overcome barriers surrounding disability and education, and we’ve explored many of those solutions in past e-bulletins. Unfortunately, some of these solutions require extensive training, funding/purchasing of equipment, etc., which can sometimes present a whole new set of barriers to the student. Today, we are going to look at some cutting-edge accessibility features that come built-in to mainstream technology. These features are free, they already exist on the device in question, and they are typically fairly easy to activate and operate. Let’s take a look!

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For many of us, learning how to create accessible content is a fairly new concept. Of course, as we become increasingly aware of accessibility and universal design, we’ll need to dive deeper into the steps and concepts required to create content that is compliant with current accessibility standards. Let’s take a look at some helpful tools and tips that are designed to have you creating accessible content with minimal effort.

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There are some new scholarship opportunities for post-secondary students with disabilities in New Brunswick. These opportunities are time-sensitive, so if you or someone who know might be eligible, don’t hesitate, apply now!

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Chunking is a process by which individual pieces of an information set are broken down and then grouped together in a meaningful whole. This strategy can be very helpful for short-term memory recall. Let’s use the example of a phone number to demonstrate:

First, let’s assume that we can easily remember only 4 things at a time. In other words, your working memory has 4 slots.

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Watching Philippe sing his songs, you’ll notice he can be a bit of a one man band — he’ll sing, he’ll play the guitar, he’ll do the percussion all at once, sometimes he’ll even throw in a harmonizer effect to create harmonies by himself.

Born blind in Clair, New Brunswick, Philippe started his musical journey at five years old, and he can play almost any instrument you can name. He learns songs by ear and adds his own flavour to them, and is a prolific songwriter himself.

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