Intro to assistive technology for students who are blind / vision impaired

• What is assistive technology (AT).
• Advice on students using the computer well to make best use of Assistive Technology.
• About resources for students to learn or improve touch-typing skills.
• About Dragon Naturally Speaking – you talk, it types what you say and free alternatives in Google Docs, Microsoft Office 365 and on your phones.
• About free screen magnification and alteration options for the iPad and Windows.
• About magnification options for magnifying electronic and hard copies of text (incl. Zoomtext, Optiverso, Eclipse, Liberty Scholar.) Brief introduction to Connect 12, Mercury 12, Reveal 16 & Polaris mini
• About a variety of scanning, OCR, typing and other useful apps including Seeing AI and Envision AI.
• About screen reading software (incl. JAWS and VoiceOver) and text to speech software
• How to get access to alternative learning materials and texts (electronic, audio, large print, Braille).

Facilitator: Deirdre Madden
Deirdre Madden is a B.Sc. graduate of UCC and has worked in the disability and education field for over 20 years. She joined Access UCC Disability Support in March 2012 to take up the new role of Assistive Technology Outreach Co-ordinator. Her role in Access UCC is to enhance access and transition to higher level education for students with disabilities through promoting awareness and use of assistive technology in second level education. She is also a partner on the SOAR PATH Enabling Transitions Project.