What is Assistive Technology?
Over a lifetime, each of us will experience situations in which we personally may encounter limitations due to ageing, disease, accident, or disability that can impact our ability to perform basic life functions such as hearing, seeing, self care, mobility, working, and participating in education. Assistive Technology, therefore, has the potential to impact everyone. Department of UK Education, 2020.
The World Health Organisation suggests a definition of assistive technology as “an umbrella term covering the systems and services related to the delivery of assistive products and services” which “maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence, thereby promoting their well-being.” In their view “hearing aids, wheelchairs, communication aids, spectacles, prostheses, pill organisers and memory aids are all examples of assistive products.” (WHO, 2021)
Online learning can be a challenge for those with access barriers, this can be anything in the design or formatting of a course that stops a student from using or absorbing its content. Those most likely to be affected by this are people with: low vision, learning difficulties, literacy or language challenges, certain attention disorders, or with physical challenges beyond cognitive or sensory issues.
We all may be in need of some type of assistive technology at some point, and this is not just limited to digital technology. In education, however, our attention is often on digital devices or applications that can ease access to study via a digital device.
As a learning technologist, I often find that students (and my friends and family for that matter) are unaware of what is actually easily available for support — with a short term issue such as ‘I lost my glasses’ or a long term one such as ‘I have memory problems after an injury’.
This article is intended as an introduction and resource hub to help you learn how to ‘improve your functioning and independence’ through the intelligent use of assistive technology for learning.
First the speedy tour; an overview of the kind of features that are available in many mainstream software applications you already use for your studies — take 2 minutes to watch the video below. It will open your eyes to features in apps you use daily that can ease the burden of study in unexpected, but often welcome ways. Or as one of my students put it, on receiving the news that their phone could not only record a lecture but also transcribe it without effort: “Wow!! that could be awesome!”
If after watching the video, you are interested in more detail, take a look at the next session which offers an extended transcript of the features the video introduced and links to more in-depth resources about each feature.
Tip: you can always use the <listen> facility at the top of the article to have the whole thing read to you whilst you rest your eyes.
The extended script
This is an introductory assistive technology tutorial. We look at some of the software application features available to support study, reading and writing when standard features are not good enough to meet your needs.
Assistive technology isn’t new. It has, in fact, been part of our experience for thousands of years. Eyeglasses are said to have been invented in Italy around 1289; and the first recorded use of a wheelchair goes back to 5th Century China.
Assistive technology can range from no tech or low tech solutions: using paint to help with wayfinding or a homemade grip added to a pen for ease of holding. On the other end of the spectrum is the very high tech, such as speech generating devices that can be activated just using your eyes or cheek.
“The new version of Hawking’s user interface (now called ACAT, after Assistive Contextually Aware Toolkit) includes contextual menus that provide Hawking with various shortcuts to speak, search or email; and a new lecture manager, which gives him control over the timing of his delivery during talks.” How Intel Gave Stephen Hawking a Voice
Common features in apps
Screen readers: A screen reader uses text-to-speech programs to translate on-screen information into speech, which can be heard through earphones or speakers. Screen readers can be bundled with mainstream software or bought separately as custom applications. Screen readers can use a wide variety of keyboard commands for different tasks. These may include reading a document, navigating web pages, opening and closing files and even complex tasks such as editing and listening to music. Whilst powerful to use, the learning curve is steep. If you want to use this feature, plan to invest time learning the commands and tailoring the software to your needs.
Screen magnification software: Allows you to control the size of text and/or graphics on the screen but, unlike using a zoom feature, it allows you to have the ability to see the enlarged text in relation to the rest of the screen. This is done by emulating a handheld magnifier over the screen. Easy to set up and use quickly; very useful for mobile devices.
Text-to-speech readers: This software will read text with a synthesised voice and may have highlighters to emphasise the words or sentences as they are being spoken. The difference with a screen reader is that text to speech readers do not read things such as menus or types of elements in a website, say — they only read text. The research on their usefulness is mixed as some studies have found that comprehension is reduced with their use whilst other studies support their use for increased comprehension and independence from a device. These readers are easy to set up and use quickly. Do try for a few days before deciding if they help or hinder your study work-flow.
More on text-to-speech readers (This link is selling their own product, but it has a good overview and if you press <listen> at the top left of that website, you can try the technology to better understand it).
Speech input software: Uses a speech-to-text program to provide an alternative way to input text, some applications also allow you to control the computer by giving the system some limited commands to perform mouse actions — click a link or a button or use a menu item. This is easy to set up and use. Most are equipped with software that learns over time; it learns to listen to your language quirks, pace, pronunciation, etc. This means you need to use it consistently over a period of time for its accuracy to improve. Do be patient and train it and yourself to talk at a pace that works to help you dictate instead of having to type. This feature will also help with spelling as the software will listen and type on-screen with (most of the time) the correct spelling. But be aware: you will need to proofread and refine on screen after use.
More on speech input software ( This is a Zapier review of best dictation and speech to text applications in 2022. It has a good overview, examples of free and paid software, but also some good tips on how to get the best out of this type of features).
Many applications offer variations on these features. It is advisable to first try applications that are built into software already in use, as these offer no install, learning curve and are always available.
A deep dive tutorial
This is an in-depth tutorial of all the assistive technology features in-built in the Office 365 suite of programs: Immersive Reader, Dictate, Editor and also a paid custom assistive technology bar called Read/Write by Text Help. It will enable you to see the software at work, offers a tutorial on how to access, and has tips on how to use it effectively for study.
