In the modern world, technology has entered almost every aspect of life. Most areas have been impacted dramatically by technology, and the effects are just becoming more visible over time – in the form of enhanced productivity. Assistive technology is vital for society and is mainly used for helping people in the community who suffer from various disabilities – whether psychological or physiological. This kind of technology involves using particular types of equipment to help disabled people function as usually as possible. Read on to learn about some common forms of this type of technology.
1. Activities Of Daily Living (ADL’s)
These include equipment that assists in dressing, eating, and toilet activities. These are electronic and robotic feeders, adaptive dressing types of equipment, grooming aids, specially designed toilet seats, modified restrooms, adapted drinking and eating devices, and more. As the name suggests, such devices are needed for everyday activities and are items of daily use.
2. Mobility Aids
For people with disabilities, such items can help them move around in school and classroom environments. Grab rails, walkers, powered recreational vehicles, powered or manual wheelchairs, etc, are very useful in helping disabled people move about more easily. Those with vision impairments can benefit from telescopic aids, electronic image sensors, and white canes.
3. Physical Education
This type of assistive technology helps improve the participation and interaction of students in entertainment activities. The items include beeping balls, adapted games, puzzles, sporting equipment and toys, graphic design software, adapted computer games, battery interrupter-equipped switch activations, modified scissors, stampers, a supportive arm for drawing, etc.
4. Visual Aids
These help students suffering from impaired vision to get information from academic activities, such as audiobooks, enlarged images, better contrast, screen magnifiers, eyeglasses, auditory and tactile items, screen magnification software, and low vision aids. Whether in low light, too bright sunlight, or in standard light conditions, these devices can be handy.
5. Reading Aids
These help students to adapt to reading materials and access them much better. These are talking electronic equipment, electronic textbooks, audiobooks, brailled books, optical character readers, multimedia presentation formats, adapted page-turning, concept development software, highlighted text, and talking word processor-enabled scanners. These present readable information in such a way as to assist students in comprehending everything more easily without placing too much stress on their impaired visual faculties.
6. Writing Aids
These help physically disabled students to write as close to normal as possible. Instruments like computers, talking word processors, word prediction software, adapted paper, portable word processors, slant boards, voice recognition software, braille printers, notetaker or braille keyboards, typewriters, and pencils with adaptive grips are some of the most valuable instances of assistive writing technology.
7. Assistive Listening Devices
Assistive technology, of course, also encompasses hearing and helps students to get academic information presented to them in a more suitable way for auditory sensation. Signaling devices, captioning instruments, personal FM systems, classroom amplification devices, and hearing aids are some of the most helpful listening devices developed for people with hearing disabilities.
Assistive Technology Solutions For Students with Disabilities
Assistive technology solutions are devised to help students suffering from one or more types of disabilities. These are designed to make life easier for handicapped students and help them perform as generally as possible. You can come across a number of assistive technological systems for students today, of which a few are mentioned here.
Seating And Positioning
Students can get easier access to colleges, universities, schools, and other educational centers with the help of this type of solution. Seating and Positioning solutions generally comprise of equipment like an adapted desk or table, custom-fitted wheelchairs, standing frame, side-lying frames, alternate or adapted chair, chair with non-slip surface, head supports, trays, straps, bean bag chairs, chair insert, floor sitter, rolled towel or bolster towel and more.
Augmentative Communication
This type of solution helps students to communicate well in classroom environments as well as in social environments. Computer-based communication systems, communication enhancement software, speech synthesizers, electronic communication devices, eye gaze boards, and communication wallets and boards are basic voice output devices designed for students to help them express themselves more easily and effectively.
Computer Access
While access to computers is easy for normal people, students with defective arms, legs, eyes, or spinal problems can find it very difficult to manipulate the devices. Computer Access assistive technology solutions mean easier access to desktops or laptops for students and may consist of output and input. These may include a screen reader, switch with scanning and Morse code, voice recognition software, touch screen, alternate keyboard, joystick with the onscreen keyboard, arm support, keyguard, trackpad or trackball, keyboard consisting of in-built accessibility options, etc.
Calculation Solutions
Students can make calculations more easily with the help of talking calculators. Those with learning disabilities as well as visual impairment, can derive a lot of advantages with the basic talking calculators, which relay calculations through audio. Students suffering from dyscalculia can use this equipments to check assignments again and again to make sure of their accuracy. Those suffering from learning disabilities can use simple resources like construction paper, note cards, and highlighters as powerful solutions for their problems in memorizing calculations and results.
Writing Solutions
Students can use digital pens of different varieties, which come with many varied features. There are some pens that can convert handwriting, while some have audio recording capabilities. Those with a learning disability can get complete benefits when they choose traditional paper to write on. There are alternative keyboards that learning-disabled people with specific spatial, ergonomic, or visual requirements can use. Some of these come with a non-QWERTY arrangement of keys. Others consist of keys of bigger sizes.
Speech Recognition Solutions
Speech recognition software can help students who find it difficult to avail or operate alternative keyboards. This type of program, as the name indicates, transforms speech into typed texts. This makes it perfect for students with learning disabilities who find movement tough or suffer from visual problems, which make it extremely difficult for them to type on keyboards. It is one of the best examples of assistive technology solutions.
Innovative Hiring Through Assistive Technology
The use of assistive technology has existed since primitive times when wooden crutches and braces were used as supportive devices for men and women. Modern assistive devices are a far cry from their ancient counterparts and use scientific advancements to benefit the disabled and the elderly. At the workplace, these are highly useful in helping employees carry out their daily duties as generally as possible. At present, this type of technology is also being used to hire workforce in an innovative manner. Find out how this is becoming possible.
Hiring People With Visual Problems
With the help of visual aids, people with low vision or partial blindness are being made more capable of jobs that demand the use of other organs, such as hearing or touch. Many of the call centers are employing people with visual disabilities and using specially designed platforms to help them work as call center executives. This is helping tap a workforce that was never given much importance earlier and creating new doors for employment for visually challenged people.
Hiring People With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a painful condition resulting from nerve compression in the carpal tunnel, the passage of the wrist through which flexor muscles and nerves pass. It is marked by fatigue and discomfort in the fingers and hands and is characterized by numbness, tingling, or burning sensations.
A special type of ergonomic office chair is being used for such patients, consisting of an ergonomic keyboard, adjustable keyboard tray, speech recognition typing software, and dual monitors. Typing documents, reports, and notes can be easier and less painful for the wrists with the help of these devices. With this kind of assistive technology, even people with other types of disabilities, which make extended work difficult for them, can derive a lot of benefits.
Recruiting People With Hearing or Vision Issues
Those with hearing or vision issues can experience problems in moving and can trip or fall while working or moving about in the workplace. The use of motion sensor technology can prevent this from occurring. Many disability-friendly offices and companies are also using GPS to provide workers with the opportunity to get exact details of their location. This helps them to avoid potentially hazardous situations and come back home safely after work. The availability and use of assistive devices encourage more and more disabled people to join the workforce and work as normally as possible.
Simplifying Office Tasks
People with disabilities of the nerve or spinal cord are often unable to sit for long before the computer and work for extended hours. Intel has joined hands with Stephen Hawking, the famous English theoretical physicist. The two collaborated to build a communication system that streamlined email writing, web browsing, and other simple tasks 2 times faster. The same type of assistive technology will be used for disabled individuals working in offices in the near future.
How Do We integrate Assistive Technology In The Classroom?
Physical disability is a sad but real truth which cannot be ignored and overlooked in the classroom environment. Not every pupil is born with the same physical and mental capabilities, and disabilities can make academic life challenging for a student who might be academically brilliant otherwise.
The requirements of students differ widely, and teaching a group of students, consisting of those with mental or physical handicaps, can be quite challenging. With the use of assistive technology, the general educational ambiance can be made more successful. Read on and know how the integration of this kind of technology in the classroom can be done.
Computer-Assisted Instruction
Directions given through computer applications and software, specially designed to offer instruction on varied devices like laptops, tablets, computers, and smartphones, can benefit students suffering from learning disabilities and prevent them from getting distracted. It can make practicing math problems, reading, and general problem-solving much easier. For students with some amount of visual or hearing problems, computer-assisted instruction can be very useful. For instance, text-to-speech software can read printed or digital text aloud for students.
Reasoning Assistance
Graphic Organizers can be very useful for people who suffer from issues in expressing their own thoughts over paper. Students who are visual learners can find their ideas displayed in detail. With an online graphic organizer, students can produce superior and more organized papers. Those suffering from learning disabilities can plan strategies and arrange writing in a more efficient way.
Students can get an organizational framework where content and topics for projects can be generated easily. They can get help with planning and arranging writing in different stages without worrying about things like categories, order, or level of importance. These things can easily be controlled on a computer screen. Assistive technology apps like Inspiration can assist students in visually arranging ideas without bothering about spelling or handwriting requirements.
Speaking Assistance
There are Cue cards, which can offer assistive suggestions while presenting information orally. While creating cue cards, disabled students can arrange helpful information ahead of time. There is also a 3D graphic organizer Prezi which offers a free trial and can be used for developing presentations. These can be created collaboratively so that students are able to comment on other Prezis. The ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard can lower the level of anxiety in students and allow them to record their presentations beforehand on their iPads. They can upload the video recordings over YouTube or a source that is more private.
Assistive Receptive Technology
Notepads can help record information in a much better way, and special notepads are able to help students with learning disabilities record information in a color-coded form on the basis of topic, purpose, or usage of information. They can also use talking dictionaries for spelling and verifying definitions. These types of dictionaries are quite small and are not as costly as tablets or computers for assistive technology. There are also audiobooks that offer a simple way for students to listen to plenty of modern titles and even the best of classic books.
