 Words appear. Our technology for equal access. Learning disabilities. My name is Shelby. This is my senior year at the University of Washington. I have dyslexia, dysgraphia, and I was diagnosed at the age of seven, so I've always had a challenge with it, but I've learned to overcome it, I think, every year. I think one of the main challenges is when there's a lot of reading involved. Right now, for my econ class, I already have a pretty thick textbook along with some other side readings, so having to get through the material and say a day or two when it's more than 100 chapters is a huge challenge for me, so that's also where I would definitely use some of my text-to-speech capabilities. There's an accessibility software, so it allows me to highlight text and then I'll read it out loud, and then I also use another program called Natural Reader, and that also pretty much serves as the same function, but the cool thing about Natural Reader is it actually shows you where it's reading. It definitely allows it to sink in. Sometimes when I'm reading it alone, I just need to hear it the first time then I can go back and then I'll actually hear, oh, this is a concept, this is something that's important, this is something that we're talking about, because when I'm just reading it myself, it takes me a lot longer, I get lost in the text, I don't have trouble like paying attention, so it really does help and it makes it so that I can complete the task at hand. It makes me feel good because at the end of the day, I'm still able to complete the text versus staying up all night. There's been nights where I've stayed up to five in the morning just trying to grasp what the reading so that I would be prepared to be able to talk about it or at least say I read this but I didn't understand this and then create a discussion out of it. 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 closet for like 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 rolls a backpack along a campus walkway. 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 this scanner, you set it up and then you launch the program that is in the computer and then you can highlight or have it read to you. Even though like I'll study them and study them and study them, 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 like 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. My name is Damon and I am currently a senior here at the University of Washington. I'm studying American Indian Studies and Anthropology and I have ADD and dyslexia. For me, for example, since I have ADD and dyslexia, I need more time to either read the text that we're assigned or to take more time writing out the essays that we are given. Being able to use computers as well, having that accessibility is really helpful, whether it's in class or whether it's during a test or a quiz that we're having, especially if the test is an essay-based test, it's really difficult to write it down and not have a spell checker. Words appear. Final thoughts. My name is Cheryl Burgstahler and I direct Accessible Technology Services at the University of Washington in Seattle. As you can see, it's really important that people with disabilities have access to the technology that they need, including assistive technology, so that they can be successful in education, in careers, and all of the activities that they wish to pursue. It's also important that IT developers, including those that create websites, documents, software, and other IT, make those products accessible to people who are using assistive technology and to everyone else. For more information about IT accessibility, consult uw.edu.accessibility. This video presentation was created with funding from National Science Foundation grant number CNS-1042260. Copyright 2019, University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational non-commercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged.