 My name is Vincent Martin and I'm currently a PhD student at Georgia Tech in Human Center Computing in a classroom. Assistive technology is really wide and varied, but it's also everywhere. It's now ubiquitous. It's sitting right in front of you and you don't know it. 95% of us in America now that are adults have a smartphone or a tablet. Every last one of those smartphones and tablets have assistive technology built into them. As it is with people with all types of disabilities, people with the same disability also access information differently. For example, I'm totally blind and I primarily utilize my computers and I say that because I have five or six different computers with different operating systems and I utilize them different ways. I access a lot using a variety of screen reading programs with hardware and software based synthesizers. Other people with different disabilities may utilize various types of assistive technology differently. Words appear. Our technology for equal access. Sensory impairments. I'm Eric and I have a visual impairment called Stargarts and it's a macular degeneration which affects the center of my vision, so it makes it really hard to read fine print and see details. So I use the sides of my eyes to see more and the periphery. Zoom text The main piece of assistive technology that I use on the computer is Zoom text which is a screen magnifier that allows me to make everything on the computer screen as big or as small as I need it depending upon what I'm reading. There's also a built-in screen reader on Zoom text which I can also use to help read documents because my eyes get tired really easily. I use a closed caption TV monitor that I have on my desk that allows me to see the board and what is being projected on the board by the teacher. Hi, I'm Mike. My disability is that I am visually impaired. I can see things up close but for the way it gets blurry. I use a whole bunch of different technologies in my daily life. My smartphone works brilliantly for what I need it to. It has a whole bunch of different apps on it that will help me in my day-to-day life. I have voice stream reader which is an input app so you can switch over different types of media and it will allow it to be read aloud to me. Lyceum Lyceum to State July 19th, 2016 5 0 p.m. That's what the sign says. Scanning is very important for somebody with a visual impairment because there are a lot of printed materials in the world in general that are very not visually impaired friendly or not blind friendly. Hi, my name is Jessie and I'm a 4th year student at the University of Washington. I'm a student in informatics with a minor in diversity and I get to find my son as a staff. So as a staff technology I use on a cochlear implant which is my own position. I use an app system which I give to my professor so that I can hear the professor more directly through my cochlear implant. It's like a microphone. I do not accommodate and use almost every day is called C-A-R-T which scans for communication access real time and so what it is is capturing it and give that real time captioning that I can read the transcript on the screen while your professor is talking in real time. Words appear. Mobility impairments. Hello, my name is Cameron and I have a disability called cerebral palsy. It affects me because my legs aren't able to work as well as others and it's not as efficient. In the course of my day as a student I use technology such as Dragon and Dragon is basically a speech input system that will write for me as I speak into it and that helps me become more efficient. He wears a headset, Mike. This is an example of how I use Dragon. R-E-M sleep is when the body goes through multiple stages. The text appears on his screen. R-E-M sleep has four stages. Hello, my name is Blake. I graduated from the University of Washington Tacoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies. I have cerebral palsy which means I cannot take notes very quickly. For me quality education includes access to instructors presentations, notes or outlines of the lectures so that I have high quality notes from class lectures and discussions. In college I used this DynaVox to communicate with my peers and professors. I used word predictive software called co-writer to speed up my typing on assignments and papers. Co-writer predicts words in a window as one is typing. My name is Teresa. I'm a high school student and after high school I plan on attending college and majoring in psychology and I was born without arms. I use a Bluetooth keyboard and a Bluetooth mouse so that I have full accessibility and I'm able to write down notes and catch everything that I need to catch in a more efficient way. Without my arms I have the keyboard and the mouse on the floor and then the monitor is just sitting on my table in my classroom. When I'm typing notes I can usually type pretty fast just because of adrenaline but I'm not fast as fast as someone with arms. My name is John. I have a student who works for me. I use an iPad and that is a way to use my eyes so whatever it is I have to use my John is in class. Hi, my name is Caleb and I am a sophomore here at the University of Washington where I am double majoring in Law Society and Justice and Disability Studies. And I want to take that and eventually become a disability rights lawyer. And I was born a congenital amputee missing three of my limbs. I use a Surface Pro 3 as one of my assistive technologies. Most people wouldn't necessarily see that as an assistive technology since it's something that many people in classes have. But for me it is an assistive technology because it's lightweight enough that I can lift it myself, which is very nice. And it has a keyboard that is smaller, which is also something that's nice for me since I do all my typing with a single hand rather than having two hands. Words appear. Learning Disabilities Hello, I'm Matthew. I have ADD. I have mild ASD and I've been diagnosed with mild Aspergers. I use co-writer. It's a word prediction program. There's six words you can choose from by hitting the number key. It's the word you select out. I would use it mostly in my classes for very important papers where I definitely would need to get the grammar correctly. Or the words correctly as well, depending because I struggle with spelling at times. Matthew pulls a wheeled bag, carries a briefcase, and wears a backpack. I am Jada. My disability is ADD and dyslexia. So with ADD I have a hard time sitting still for a long period of time. I use a document scanner. The scanner helps me by actually reading the content that is on a book instead of having read it by yourself. So with the scanner you set it up and then you launch the program that is in the computer. Then you can highlight or have it read to you. Even though I'll study them and study them and study them. She places a paper under the scanner. I tend to forget. This will help me by making it easier so that I can have the digital copy of it on the computer and have it read to me. And then I can start writing notes along with it as it's reading it to me. Just depending on your disability it really depends how you learn. I'm still definitely trying to learn about my disability a little bit more too. Words appear. Final thoughts. The one thing I would say about assistive technology is that don't be afraid to try it, especially in high school and middle school. Because there are so many different options out there and there are so many new things. That if you just stick with what you have you might not be doing it the most efficient way possible. So that when you go to college and your future careers you'll know everything that you need in the best ways to get everything done. My name is Cheryl Burgstahler and I direct accessible technology services at the University of Washington in Seattle. Our services also reach out to our branch campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. It's essential that people with disabilities have access to assistive technology but that's not the end of the story. In order for them to be effective users of technology, the technology that other people develop like websites and software and PDF files and so forth must be designed in such a way that they can use it with their assistive technology. Foundation grant number CNS-1042260 Copyright 2017 University of Washington Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational non-commercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged.