Anyone seeking advice on assistive technology will be able to call on the expertise of a technology professional, thanks to a community forum on the website of disability charity Scope.
The charity’s ‘Ask an assistive technologist’ service allows users to leave questions on the forum, where they will be read by a specialist, who will then leave advice for the user to pick up. Users just need to register on the site to become part of Scope’s online community, and can then post questions.
Kim Lawther, an assistive technologist at Craig y Parc School in Cardiff, Wales, will be answering the queries. Lawther works with children and young adults with a range of disabilities at the Cardiff school, and has extensive knowledge of assistive equipment.
Lawther explained more about the process to e-Access Bulletin: “Scope has a phenomenal team of assistive technologists, so if I don’t know the answer to someone’s question, then I am sure one of us will. I also intend to point people in the direction of more information – for example, about suppliers or funding.”
The service was initially available in 2014 with a different assistive technologist, but after a temporary hiatus, the new appointment of Lawther as the community advisor has effectively relaunched the initiative.
So far, questions left for Lawther have covered a wide rage of topics in just a few weeks. Forum members have asked about: speech-recognition software; Google Cardboard (a newly launched virtual reality headset); making banking accessible for users of eye-tracking technology; games programming for users with learning disabilities; and a new app to help people with communication difficulties, AzuleJoe.
Find out more and ask a question on Scope’s ‘Ask an assistive technologist’ forum, at the following link:
eab.li/13 .
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