Assistive Technology For CST Students With Disabilities

What it is and why it's important

The term "assistive technology" includes all technologies, whether high tech, low tech or no tech that aid disabled people to go about their daily life, or in the case of university life, to access their studies.

To get a better idea of what this means, and why it is important, here are few examples:

• A student with dyslexia finds it difficult read the prescribed course texts. So they scan the text and use text-to-speech software to hear the text as they see the words highlighted on screen. The scanner and the text-to-speech software are assistive technologies.
• As an example a student who is short sighted cannot read the whiteboard so he puts on his glasses. The glasses are an assistive technology.
• A student with dysgraphia finds it difficult to take notes in a lecture. They use a digital recorder to record the lecture so that they can concentrate on what is being said in class without the added difficulty of taking notes. After class they take notes on a computer while listening to the recorded lecture. The digital recorder and the computer are assistive technologies.
• A student with a physical impairment has difficulty accessing a computer because they lack the necessary manual dexterity to operate a keyboard and mouse. They use a microphone and voice recognition software to control the computer and write their essays. The microphone and voice recognition software are assistive technologies.

Freeware and Trail Software

List of websites providing freeware/trial software

If you are a CST computing student, need any PC advice or have any specific software requirements that you would like to see provided or installed within the CST labs with regards to any disability issues do not hesitate to contact me.

Contact Details

Robert Keane
E: robert.keane@beds.ac.uk
T: 01582 743289