On Friday I went to my first Disabled Students’ Allowance Workshop day at Assistive Solutions in Dalston. First of all a big ‘Thank You’ to them for putting on such a successful and useful day. Being relatively new to DSA it was great to do a little networking with the other DSA needs assessors, specialist tutors, university disability advisers and centre managers. Many of you I have already been in touch with but it was great to put faces to names.
Over the next few days I plan to try out the software titles we were introduced to (or reminded of!) on the day and write some information and opinions here on this blog. I will also report back on the Feedback system that Assistive Solutions is trialling. Those that know me know that I’m very passionate about measuring our outcomes so it’s great to find out someone’s doing something about it.
It’s easy to see how technology can help people with physical or sensory disabilities but today I heard a wonderful story of how the Internet is helping a young girl with mental health needs.
Jemma has agoraphobia which has meant that she has been largely unable to leave her house for two years. However she felt that she had something to offer the world so set up a recording studio in her bedroom and has now found that millions of people from around the world want to tune in to hear her singing.
This is a wonderful example of how technology, and especially the Internet, can help people like Jemma develop a sense of identity and appears to be having a very positive impact on her wellbeing.
Here’s a thing. Samsung have brought out a semi-ruggerised netbook and are showing it off at BETT (Stand M45). Samsung netbooks are widely known as being amongst the best and they have had a model at the top of PC Pro’s A-List for as long as I can remember.
The NB30 has a waterproof keyboard, shock-protected hard drive and a rubberised lid. The netbook should be able to run for around nine hours in a school. It costs less than £280 for one running Windows 7 (or £233 for XP). Obviously one of the draw backs is the screen size – at only 10″ it probably won’t be suitable for pupils with a visual impairment unless they are using JAWS or another screenreader in which case it could be just about perfect.
It also has three USB ports so attaching multiple assistive devices such as a rollerball and bigkeys won’t be a problem. Watch out again for the screen size as it might be difficult to see if the laptop is pushed away from the user to allow space for these devices.
Well the title says it all, doesn’t it? No? Ok a little explanation: I’ve been experimenting with a friendly RFID reader for the past couple of months, coming up with some ideas that could be very useful for people with learning difficulties and dementia. After pulling them all together I was planning to publish them on the new BLTT site (coming soon).
Rabbit on a mir:ror
However the company that makes them, and runs the servers required for them to operate, has rather frustratingly filed for bankruptcy. This is a shame. Please could one of my readers dig deep into their pockets and save this little company? It would mean a great deal to me! Plus I’ve been showing the system to some OT chums and everyone has given it the thumbs up. If only the emperor will do the same…
The current iPhone and iPod touch are becomming increasingly popular as affordable, pocketable voice-out communication aids due to the Proloquo2go software. However one of the disadvantages of touch-technology is the lack of tactile-kinesthetic feedback that one would normally receive from using a keyboard, switch or older communication aids like the AlphaTalker. Research already indicates the importance of tactile-kinesthetics when learning (Etemad, 1994; Saunders et al. 2003) and it’s a well known factor that needs to be considered when prescribing high-tech assistive technologies, especially to people with learning difficulties.
If a recent patent application is to be taken to a possible conclusion then a future iPhone or iPod touch will feature an invisible grid that provides tactile feeling back to the user to reinforce their actions. A small improvement on top of the affordability, size and speed of the existing hardware but could make the experience more understandable for many potential users.
My first problem in an otherwise – touch wood- wonderful Windows 7 experience.
A few weeks after installing the Windows 7 release candiate, and a year into using W7 in some form, I noticed that my tablet frequently and randomly made the clunky device connect / device disconnect sounds usually associated with adding and removing USB items. After taking away all my USB peripherals, and upon still hearing the sound, I realised I needed to do something about it. Obviously this was muting the computer. But sooner or later (later) I needed to watch things on iPlayer and the noise was becomming irritiating.
Anyway for the information of any interested readers or those who have stumbled across this page searching for a solution I fixed this problem by manually installing the chipset drivers. In my case I downloaded the nVidia nForce drivers suited for my HP tx2130ea tablet (tx2100 series). I ran the setup program in Windows Vista compatibility mode to ensure it would all install (there aren’t any drivers for W7 at the time of writing) and after a quick restart…
Fixed!
Not AT related I know but at least I’m writing something.
If you’ve noticed that things have been a bit quiet on this blog again, and on the main website, it’s because I’ve been caught up in a pretty intensive hospital practice placement. Well I’m back now and I have stuff to share so time to get cracking.
Just got an essay to write first…
Perhaps a little late in posting this but CENMAC/Charlton School are having a drop-in day with well-known exhibitors and some interesting free seminars. From Imogen Wedgewood:
“Everyone is welcome at this exciting drop-in day, packed full of hands on technologies for communication, inclusion, access and gaming. Look out for leading organisations including Widgit, Possum, Dynavox, Crick, SoundBeam, SmartBox AT, TraxSys, the RIX Centre, OM Interactive, Signalong, Just Different and more. Put your questions to the experts, play on the Wii and share the day with us.
Where? Charlton School, Charlton Park Rd, London SE7 8HX
Great news for visually impaired computer users. The basic Windows Magnifier utility that has been knocking around since Windows 95 has finally been ditched for something significantly more practical.
The new version due to ship free with Windows 7 allows full-screen magnification and a moving lens. It is operated simply by holding Windows Key and pressing plus/minus. It supports zoom increments of 25% and will magnify up to 1600%. The program doesn’t smooth text as well as Zoomtext, Lunar and the other commerical programs but doesn’t do a bad job.
See for yourself in this video of the Windows 7 magnifier in action:
A higher quality version of this video is available on the video’s youtube page.
I’ve spent part of today making this video demonstrating the new features of the Windows 7 on-screen keyboard. Try to ignore the mystery mouse cursor floating around the middle of screen.
I often get asked which laptops I recommend. I use a Lenovo notebook computer as I have found them to be the most reliable, have great build quality and incomparable customer service.
If someone is relying on a computer to help improve their lives then I believe it is best to use something that's going to run and run!
