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Assistive Technology options available to help you

Please see the guidance below on available Assistive Technology software options to help you with your work.

Assistive Technology

If you have got any questions or require specific software which is not covered by this guide, please contact the Assistive Technology Team.

Please see advice and guidance from Staff Health and Employee Wellbeing (SHEW) on how to set up your workstation correctly.

All staff who already have Assistive Technology Equipment in place are advised to, where possible, use the equipment whilst working from home.

If you require any loan equipment i.e. alternative mice and keyboards or require Assistive Technology advice, please contact the Assistive Technology Team.

Please see also more information on Accessibility features within Microsoft Office and how to adjust settings on your device to make it easier to use.

If you have Assistive Technology Software installed on your work device, you might be able to use it via Remote Desktop. You can access MindGenius and EssayWriter through UniApps.

Alternative software options

In some cases, alternative software or options might be required:

Apple Mac:

Mac Speak option as a text to speech alternative for ClaroRead PRO.

Mac Dictation as a speech to text alternative for Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Coloured Filters as a colour overlay alternative for ScreenRuler Download Essay Writer to your own device.

For iPad:

Speak option as a text to speech alternative for ClaroRead PRO.

iPad Dictation as a speech to text alternative for Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Coloured Filters as a coloured overlay alternative for ScreenRuler.

Windows:

ClaroRead - free Chrome extension as a web browser text to speech option.

Depending on what programs you are accessing, it is possible to use built in speech options in Word and Adobe Reader.

Dictation within Office 365 is a speech to text alternative for Dragon Naturally Speaking.

If you require coloured overlay, this can be achieved by a free program called My Study Bar. You can Download Essay Writer and MindGenius to your own device

Android Tablet:

If you’d like your Android device to speak text to you, activate ‘select to speak’ option.

To dictate your work on Android device, open any app and bring up a keyboard by tapping in the field you want to type in. Tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and start speaking.

The dictation won’t automatically recognise punctuation and you will need to remember to use the following:

Punctuation: 

  • Period (.)
  • comma (,)
  • question mark (?)
  • exclamation or exclamation point (!)
  • line spacing: Enter or new line or new paragraph

If you require coloured overlay, go to device settings and in the search tool type in: Colour lens. You will be able set a desired coloured overlay. Alternatively, you can use app called TintVision.

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