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accessibility

Learning and Creating with Read&Write

August 8, 2022 by Erica Hargreave Leave a Comment

Read&Write on the Inclusive Design Series

In this first article of our new Inclusive Design series, we explore learning and creating with Read&Write, a literacy support tool that offers help with everyday digital tasks, including reading digital text aloud, understanding unfamiliar words, researching assignments and proofing written work. 

Tune into the video below for a walk through of the Read&Write Chrome Extension, including it’s features, my experiences with it, and this writer / educator’s thoughts on some of the ways that Read&Write can help individuals to gain understanding from the digital content they read, engage with the digital content that they read, and express themselves through their own digital writing.


Read&Write Tools / Features

Designed initially to help students to understand, engage, and express themselves with their digital reading and writing, Read&Write is just as useful for adults and youth, in educational and work settings, as well as for aiding individuals in achieving some of their personal goals.

Help students understand, engage and express themselves with Read&Write. Read&Write is a literacy support tool that offers help with everyday tasks like reading text out loud, understanding unfamiliar words, researching assignments and proofing written work.

Below are some of the reading, comprehension, and writing tools and features that Read&Write offers.

Reading Tools

These are a few of the tools that Read&Write offers to support users with accessing digital readings.

Text to Speech Reader

The Read&Write toolbar acts as a Text to Speech Reader, allowing you to listen to the text on your screen by pressing the play button, as well as pausing and stopping the reading. To help you in following along with what is being read, the sentence is highlighted in yellow and the word in blue.

Read&Write Text to Speech Reader in action.

The voice doing the reading and speed of the reading can be changed within the settings.

Audio Maker

By highlighting text and clicking on Audio Maker, Read&Write will create a Text to Speech audio reading of up to 10,000 characters of text, allowing you to listen to digital readings while offline and on the go.

Screen Masking

Clicking on Screen Masking will add a dark filter on your screen, with a light strip that moves with your cursor, to narrow your focus to the specific sentence or paragraph that you are reading.

Read&Write's Screen Masking in action.

Simplify Page

This tool creates a simplified page of the page that you are reading, free of images, videos, and ads. It also allows you to change the background and text colour on the page, the font, the size of the text, and the line spacing. In addition, it offers a Discover feature, which identifies keywords that readers might need help comprehending. By clicking these keywords, it provides a picture and a description of the what the word(s) refer to / mean.

An example of Read&Write's Simplify Page in action.

Comprehension Tools

Read&Write offers a number of tools to aid in research and reading comprehension, allowing readers to engage with the text that they are readings.

Dictionary

By highlighting a word and clicking on the dictionary, a dictionary description of all the uses and meanings of that word will appear in both audio and text form.

Read&Write Dictionary and Picture Dictionary response to 'mammoth'.

Picture Dictionary

By highlighting a word and clicking on the picture dictionary, a picture depicting that word will appear.

Web Search

By highlighting a word or phrase and clicking on the web search tool, a new tab will open taking you to a google search of that term.

Google search for 'mammoth'.

Translator

To see and listen to a word in a different language, in the settings, select the desired language for translations under ‘Speech’, and then click translate.

Read&Write's Translator tool sharing the word 'mammoth' in Arabic.

Highlighters

The Read&Write toolbar allows you to highlight text in a digital document in up to four colours and to clear those highlights at the click of a button.

Collect Highlights

By clicking the Collect Highlights tool, you can select which colour of highlights you would like collected, and it will collect those in a Google Document and include a link to the article that the highlights were collected from.

Read&Write's Collect Highlights in action.
Vocabulary List

By selecting the Vocabulary List tool, Read&Write will create a table in a Google Document with the highlighted words, their meaning, a symbol that represents them, and a column for you to add your notes.

An example of a vocabulary list created by Read&Write.

Writing Tools

Read&Write offers a number of tools to aid in the writing process.

Prediction

With the Prediction tool activated in the Read&Write toolbar while you are typing, it will offer a number of options for predictive text, helping writers with their spelling and tenses.

Read&Write Prediction tool in action.

Talk & Type

The Read&Write Talk & Type tool will type out the words you speak, when turned on, acting as a dictaphone.

Practice Reading Out Loud

By using the Practice Reading Out Loud tool, writers can read and record the text that they have written, and then listen to what they have read, in order to proofread their writing and catch any mistakes.


Uses of Read&Write for Inclusion and Accessibility

Read&Write offers tools that can aid everyone with their reading, reading comprehension, research, and writing, while at the same time offering solutions and workarounds for those that face difficulties and challenges with reading, reading comprehension, research, and writing.

Digital literacy accessibility with Read&Write.

Reading

For newer readers, individuals that struggle with reading, and those reading in a different language, Read&Write allows individuals to read-a-long with the text to speech reader, following the words being read aloud, being able to play, pause, and stop readings as they wish.

For those that learn better from auditory learning, that learn better while being active, who need to multi-task due to time constraints or need to limit their screen time, Audio Maker offers the ability to prepare audio files to listen to without the need of looking at a screen.

Read&Write's Audio Maker

For those that need to limit distractions while reading, Screen Masking, Text to Speech highlighting, and Simplify Page, all offer options for this.

For those that need the ability to manipulate their reading environment, Simplify Page offers this ability, allowing individuals to change text size, fonts, line spacing, and colour patterns to suit their individual needs and preferences.

Reading Comprehension

Whether learning new words, studying a new topic, or learning a new language, Read&Write offers readers the ability to build upon their vocabulary and understanding with ease. Read&Write allows readers to look up the meanings and uses of words in auditory, written, and pictorial form within the document they are reading at the click of a button with the Dictionary, Picture Dictionary, and Discover (within Simplify Page) tools. Readers can even build full vocabulary lists, curated to specific topics, using their colour coded Highlighters and the Vocabulary List tool.

For readers, reading in a new language, they can also use the Translator tool for the translation of words in audio and written format.

Research

Read&Write can aid in research by allowing researchers to highlight and colour code key pieces of information in their reading, and then curate and collect those highlights in a Google Doc with a link to the source using the Collect Highlights tool. Should the researcher wish more information on a particular topic, they can also use the Web Search tool to search terms with ease beyond the article.

Writing

Text Help character with a pencil.

Whether struggling with writer’s block or spelling, writing in a different language or simply needing a writing prompt, Read&Write’s Prediction tool can help with that.

And provided a writer is able to organise their thoughts in advance, Talk & Type can write up someone’s spoken words, aiding those that have challenges with typing or are in need of ways of limiting their screen time. It is also helpful for those unsure of how to spell a particular word.

Finally using the Practice Reading Out Loud tool after you are done writing, is highly useful in editing your writing, catching editing errors and disconnects in the flow of your writing.


Access Read&Write

Currently Read&Write is available for:

  • Google Chrome
  • Windows (US / CAN / GB)
  • Android
  • iPad
  • Mac
  • Microsoft Edge

If you are affiliate with an educational institution, check with your institution as many have a license that allows for students and staff to use Read&Write at little to no cost. Additionally, Read&Write offers free individual plans to teachers.


Share Your Experiences with Read&Write

Have you used Read&Write? We’d love to hear of your experience with it. How do you use it? What do you find it useful for? Do you have any tips and tricks to using Read&Write?

Filed Under: #StoryToGo, Accessibility, EdTech Tagged With: accessibility, inclusive design, literacy, universal design

Toolbelt Theory for Learning and Accessibility

August 1, 2022 by Erica Hargreave Leave a Comment

What's in your toolbelt? What will help you reach your goals?

A trap that so many of us have a tendency to fall into is to try and help others by pushing our ideals and what works for us onto them. This can be particularly true in how we approach children, the elderly, individuals with disabilities, and those who are sick or injured; perceiving them as more vulnerable and in need of our help in making decisions for them. We forget that we are all individuals and that what works for us, may not work for them. Ultimately the only expert in what works for them is them (not you or whatever degrees and credentials you might have).

To listen to this article, click the red play arrow on the SoundCloud recording below:

StoryToGo · Toolbelt Theory for Learning and Accessibility

Toolbelt Theory

Take for example, 3 carpentry students that are given a toolbelt. They might all start with the same toolbelt, but as they learn, experiment, and discover what works for them, it is not going to be long before each of those toolbelts are unique to each individual carpenter. This is the premise behind Ira David Socal’s Toolbelt Theory. While tools might be useful to us in performing certain tasks, how we utilise those tools and which are useful to us in the environments in which we work is very individual. Ultimately, in order to discover which tools will be useful to any one person, that person needs to know what is available to them and to have the opportunity to test the tools out in their environment, so that they can build a toolbelt that is useful to them.

Chico's well stocked tool belt from Chris Monroe's book Monkey with a Tool Belt
Chico certainly has a tool belt unique to him. Read on in Chris Monroe’s book Monkey with a Tool Belt.

Toolbelt Theory is based around the idea that as humans we are tool users, and that we choose tools most effectively when that choice begins with the Task at hand, and then considers the Environment in which that task must be performed, the Skill set of the individual (the tool chooser), and the Tools which are available. (Thus the acronym TEST).

~ Ira David Socal

Exploring Toolbelt Theory From the Perspective of Pain Management

As someone who has spent the last 9-years learning to manage pain and 5-years learning to manage post concussion syndrome, this makes a tremendous amount of sense to me. Key to what I have learned from the medical specialists, group pain management classes, and from my fellow patients is that what works for one person in their pain management, does not necessarily work for all. In teaching pain management to patients, medical specialists are essentially presenting patients with a number of tools (although in this case, we are not necessarily discussing physical tools) for managing their pain and asking the patient to experiment with the different pain management tools to figure out which methods of pain management work for them. In essence, each of us patients are creating a pain management toolbelt.

Avoiding the Pitfall of the Misguided Notion that the Educator Knows Best

The key here is allowing the individual to figure this out for themselves, which for whatever reason can be a hard for some educators to understand, perhaps due to the misguided notion that by limiting options, we are keeping things simpler for the student or saving the student time. I just need to look to my Masters to see examples of this. In asking the Accessibility Centre for help in finding ways of managing the online course readings without aggravating my concussion symptoms, I was presented with one solution – Read and Write Gold. Only after that did not work for me, was I presented with a second option on having real voice audio recordings made of my course readings. The latter helped but only with the course readings, for everything else I was left proceeding with extreme caution, walking a fine line with each course in not aggravating my symptoms too badly from all the online reading. And this leaves me with no solution for consuming online readings and research after I’m done my Masters. Fortunately in taking GDSE 584 on Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design and exploring the UDL Resource site, I am discovering a number of tools to navigate screen based devices to learn, research, consume content, and create content in a way that will minimise the aggravation of my concussion symptoms. Basically, instead of being given one bandaid of the brand and shape that someone else thought would work for me, I am being welcomed into a whole holistic clinic in which I am being introduced to the tools that are available, shown how to use them, and being left to experiment with them, in order for me to find which tools work best for me and in what way. Discovering these tools and recognising the possibilities that they hold has left me with such a feeling of relieve that I’ve actually cried.

Crafting My Toolbelt for Digital Learning and Creating

As I begin to create my own toolbelt for digital learning and creating, I’ve been reflected on who I am, how I learn, what my challenges are, what my strengths are, and where my passions and interests lie.

Personal Reflections on my Inclusive Design Action Plan Brainstorming Mind Map

To give you, dear reader, a bit of an overview of me as a learner, I am dyslexic, and manage chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and post concussion syndrome. I am also highly inquisitive, creative, a problem solver and an experimenter. I love storytelling, am discovering a new passion for audio storytelling, and am a biologist and educator by training. My main love in science is steeped in nature. Time in nature and with my cat are the two greatest calming influences in my life.

My current needs include:

  • mind mapping to organise my thoughts
  • tactile ways of thinking and organising
  • calming visuals that aren’t too loud
  • calming audio
  • natural voice readings
  • reminders to limit work and screen time
  • regular offline / calming breaks
  • healthy relationships
  • dimmed lighting
  • an environment in which I can control my work position, lighting and sound
  • audio recordings for remembering details from interviews
  • time in nature
  • cat snuggles

I am still fully immersed in TESTing (Task – Environment – Skills – Tools) tools with different tasks, but thus far, these are some of the tools that I am finding to be useful for me for my toolbelt for digital learning and creating:

  • f.lux – to control the brightness of my computer screen
  • Voice Control on my Apple devices to limit my time looking at screens
  • mind mapping / concept visualising tools like Concepts
  • Immersive Reader Chrome Extension as a more natural sounding text reader
  • Audiobooks
  • Fireside Chat App for limiting screen time while conducting public interviews
  • Cognitive Accessibility features on Apple Devices
  • Magnifier on iOS Devices
  • Voice Memo for recording non-public audio interviews
  • Background Sounds on Apple Devices to allow me to focus on calming sounds and blockout sounds that are potentially aggravating my concussion or nervous system
  • Vielight Neuro Alpha – a light device that helps manage my headaches and improve my concentration

Next up on my TESTing schedule for my toolbelt for digital learning and creating are:

  • experimenting with and finding a dictaphone app I like, like Voice Note II or Dragon Naturally Speaking
  • trying out Lip Surf
  • finding a helpful and calming break reminder

In highlighting the individual nature of one’s toolbelt even when you have individuals with the same challenges, a colleague in my Masters also has post concussion syndrome and in asking him how he manages the online readings, he uses text to speech readers, which typically for me aggravate my symptoms. In addition, he also follows strict meditation practices, which is something that I find does help me.

Aiding Students in Building their Toolbelt for Learning

If toolbelts for learning are so individualistic, how do we as educators or parents help our students to build their toolbelts for learning, without falling into the trap of simply providing them with what we think they need?

What's in your toolbelt? What will help you reach your goals?
Image created with the aid of Vector Portal.

In contemplating this, this again has me reflecting back on my experiences with learning to manage my chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and post concussion syndrome in which the ChangePain Clinic, Complex Chronic Diseases Program, and Brain Injury Society of Toronto offered me different classes in learning to manage my conditions. While the classes introduced me to the tools and how they could be used, the homework in between the classes gave me the opportunity to test out tools in my own environment to see which worked for me and in what way. This is essentially what the TEST is in Toolbelt Theory.

To aid your students in creating their Toolbelts for Learning, teach them to TEST. Based on the Task they need to do, in the Environment that they need to do that task, with the Skills they have, have them try out the Tools that are available, so that they can determine which tools are the best fit for them and in which way.

Resources for Creating Toolbelts for Digital Learning and Creating

For many educators part of the challenge in aiding students in creating their toolbelt for learning, rather than simply telling students what tools / solutions they should be using, is taking the time to find what is available for their students to meet their various needs. Fortunately, Dr. Paul Hamilton has created the UDL Resource site to help with that.

A toolbelt full of digital tools for learning, creating, and exploring.
A Digital Toolbelt of Gwyneth Jones, the Daring Librarian.

One of our goals over the next few months with our StoryToGo Community Resources is to build a Library of Accessibility Resources and an open, self paced course in the StoryToGo Classroom on Building Your Digital Accessibility Toolbelt. In addition to this, we aim to create a video and blog series on StoryToGo giving people an overview of different accessibility tools and how to use them.

If you have resource suggestions for the series, library, and / or course, we’d love to hear about them in the comments. We’d also love any advice you might have on helping students to develop their toolbelt for learning.

Thanks so much!

~ Erica

Filed Under: #StoryToGo, Accessibility, EdTech, Tech Tips Tagged With: accessibility, inclusive design, toolbelt theory, universal design

Exploring Universal Design for Learning and the Evolution to Inclusive Design

July 20, 2022 by Erica Hargreave 1 Comment

Accessibility : make sure that learning is accessible to all citizens

In recent years, I have become increasingly interested in exploring Universal Design for Learning and its evolution to Inclusive Design. While I have always held a desire to make the courses, lessons and media that I create as accessible as possible, my newer disabilities from two car accidents have made me much more aware of accessibility issues in digital design. This has lead me to focusing some of my Master of Educational Technology work on exploring ableism, disability language and thinking, and universal design and inclusive design, so that I can both explore ways of challenging ableist thinking through my storytelling and improve the design of both my course materials and the digital storytelling content that my team and I create.

To listen to this article, click the red play arrow on the SoundCloud recording below:

StoryToGo · Exploring Universal Design For Learning And The Evolution To Inclusive Design – a StoryToGo Read

Readings on Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design

To process my thoughts and understanding around Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design from readings and videos from:

  • GDSE 584 Online
  • Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice by Anne Meyer, David H. Rose, and David Gordon.
  • What is Inclusive Design? from the Inclusive Design Research Centre
  • The Inclusive Design Guide
  • Inclusive Learning Design Handbook

… I invited colleagues, friends, and deep thinkers Lori Jones and Carrie Posner Sniderman to join me on an episode of the Encounters in EdTech Podcast to discuss and explore Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design. Tune in to that conversation in the video below or listen to the replay of the podcast on Fireside.

Exploring Universal Design and Inclusive Design in a Podcast Discussion

*Please stay tuned for the updated Closed Captioning, which will be available later this week. Current Closed Captioning is auto-generated and has errors that will be fixed.


My Reflections on Universal Design and Inclusive Design from the Readings and Discussion

Defining Universal Design for Learning

CAST defines “Universal Design for Learning as a framework to improve and optimise teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights on how humans learn.”

For me Universal Design for Learning means creating with choice and accessibility in mind, so that students don’t have to ask for modifications; while at the same time creating a safe environment in which students know that they can come to the instructor should they need help or something different. This is important as every learner is different, meaning that we all have different needs, things we excel at and things we struggle with. Creating different options and pathways to learning makes sense, as it gives everyone the opportunity to excel.

Universal Design for Learning : flexible, straight forward, minimise barriers, consistent, supportive
Image care of Giulia Forsythe

This makes a tremendous amount of sense to me from my own history of experiences as a learner and with disabilities. In my young life with dyslexia, I learned that if I couldn’t achieve my goals one way (usually the way recommended in education), I just needed to find a different pathway to that goal and around whatever was creating the obstacle in my accomplishing that goal. Luckily I am stubborn and determined, so became very good at such problem solving.

Similarly as I have attended numerous medical programs to learn to manage my chronic pain, I have learned that what works for someone with a similar diagnoses to me, may not work for me, and what works for me, might not work for them. As a case in point, one fellow in my Masters similarly to me had post-concussion syndrome. In asking him how he was consuming the online reading, which were aggravating my concussion symptoms, I learned that he used screen readers, which were a helpful aid to him. Frustratingly for me, I struggle with screen readers, as they aggravate my symptoms and instead need natural voices. We did discover however that we mutually find mindfulness, breathing exercises, and meditation to be calming and to help manage our concussion symptoms.

The key here with Universal Design for Learning is remembering that there is no magic one size fits all. Rather the trick is in finding what works for you. As a teacher or designer, what this means is giving students options in learning and sharing what they’ve learned.

Accessibility : make sure that learning is accessible to all citizens
Image care of UNESCO Learning Cities

Framework for Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning is built around a framework of providing:

  • multiple means of engagement
  • multiple means of representation
  • multiple means of action and expression

Basically what this means is giving students choices – choices in how they engage with the course material and one another, choices in how students consume the course materials, and choices in how students share what they’ve learned.

Multiple Means of Engagement in UDL

As a teacher multiple means of engagement might mean:

  • discussion forums
  • ‘office hours’
  • scheduled group discussions
  • options of different tools for processing the course materials, like mind mapping or discussing over a podcast

Multiple Means of Representation in UDL

Examples of Accessible Communications, including aligning left, illustrating diversity, including captioning, adding Alt text to images, and using plain language. Everyone has the right to communicate as an individual.
Image care of Giulia Forsythe

What I am attempting to create in this post is an example of multiple means of representation of the information being shared. In this scenario, I am doing this by:

  • providing my reflections and learnings in written form
  • sharing audio readings of my writing
  • sourcing images via CC and Public Domain licenses that illustrate the ideas I’ve written about
  • adding Alt text descriptions to those images
  • creating a podcast discussion of the ideas shared here
  • making the podcast available in both video and audio formats
  • creating written transcripts of the podcast, available for download or as closed captioning (it should be noted that the initial version of this transcript is auto-generated, but will be updated to fix errors in the autogenerated transcript

Multiple Means of Action and Expression in UDL

Give students options in how they present what they have learned, with parameters, to make sure that they meet the learning goals.

Take for instance, the assignment that I am addressing with this post, we (the students) were asked:

Based on your understanding of UDL, and of why it is important to provide learners with a range of options, please explain, describe, and/or demonstrate how digital technologies might be used to provide learners with a range of effective options for: engaging with learning goals, learning tasks and learning materials, representing learning materials and information to learners, and showing and demonstrating what has been learned.

With the above assignment, we were told that we could present this in any way of our choosing, provided we shared it in a digital format that was included in a website and preferably embedded into that website. To help guide us, we were given the ideas of a slide presentation, multimedia presentation, or audio recording, but were not limited by those ideas, being invited to present in any other digital format that works well for us provided it could be included on a webpage.

As is illustrated above, Universal Design for Learning is NOT dumbing things down for students. Rather it is about empowering the student to take ownership over their education and build expertise in learning.


Evolution of Inclusive Design

For me, in this initial investigation into Universal Design for Learning, I wanted to explore a little bit further to discover what if any differences there were between Universal Design for Learning and the newer term I’ve been encountering – Inclusive Design.

As defined by the Inclusive Design Research Centre, “Inclusive design is design that considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human difference.”

They stress 3 dimensions of inclusive design:

  • recognising diversity and uniqueness
  • ensuring an inclusive process and tools, meaning including individuals who have a lived experience of the “extreme users” the designs are intended for, respecting the edict “nothing about us without us”
  • encouraging the broader beneficial impact, beyond the intended user
A mixed community of people of different colours, genders, and ages - together and alone; walking, in wheelchairs, with walkers, pushing strollers, with guide dogs, with canes.
Designing inclusive cities, care of the Government of British Columbia.

While all of that sounds highly beneficial, I was skeptical that the term Inclusive Design was not simply tied to misunderstanding of Universal Design for Learning or perhaps a degree of ego, especially as the Inclusive Design Centre states that the “most important difference <with UDL> is that we do not need to design one-size-fits-all”, which in reading Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice and reviewing CAST’s materials is not the model for Universal Design for Learning either. In reading the “Why not use the term Universal Design?” section of What is Inclusive Design? from the Inclusive Design Research Centre and discussing with Lori Jones on the podcast, I am realising that this shift is not so much about Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design for Learning being at odds with one another in their approach to accessibility, but rather a move away from past misinterpretation of Universal Design for Learning as being one-size-fits-all model, based on the evolution of societal thinking towards disability and systemic ableism.

Given the above, the way I am interpreting Inclusive Design is the next step in the evolution of the aspects of Universal Design for Learning that focus on digital design, acknowledging the inclusion of all in our design thinking.


Person with multiple thought bubbles.

What’s Your Perspective / Interpretation?

As I stated above, both with Inclusive Design and the broader topic of Universal Design for Learning, this is how I am currently interpreting what I am learning about Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design from my readings and discussions. Do you have a different perspective or interpretation of Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design? If so, share it in the comments below.

Share Your Stories / Experiences with Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design

I would also love to hear about your stories / experiences with Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design in the comments below.

Filed Under: #StoryToGo, Accessibility, EdTech, Encounters in EdTech, Podcasts Tagged With: accessibility, inclusive design, universal design

Resource App for the Visually Impaired : Be My Eyes

February 1, 2019 by Lori Yearwood Leave a Comment

It makes us so happy to be able to highlight a FREE App that is of great use to the global community of the visually impaired, and uplifting to its volunteers. This app is accessible in more than 150 countries and in over 180 languages. The resource App Be My Eyes provides a connection between its approximately 113,800 blind/low vision and 1,919,500 sighted members. The blind can activate a call within the App using the VoiceOver accessibility feature. The call rings on a randomly selected volunteer’s phone that is matched based on language and time zone. The two are then connected via live video for the volunteer to help with a variety of possible scenarios. It is completely anonymous and users have said they feel relief knowing they are not bothering the same person over and over again for help, encouraging them to use it more.

A testimonial from the Be My Eyes App
Actually App user quote from the Be My Eyes press resources.

I myself (Lori) am a volunteer on the App and I recently answered a call where the visually impaired individual was about to put a big salmon in the oven, but couldn’t be sure that they had set the oven to the correct temperature. The individual held the phone up towards the oven where I was able to see that it read 420 degrees, instead of the 425 it was supposed to be. They adjusted the oven again and it was then 430 degrees. One more try and it was just right! The whole call took about 1 min and the individual on the other end was beyond grateful and thanked me for the work everyone is doing on Be My Eyes.

Visually impaired man video chatting to check the expiry date on a milk carton.
There is no way to check the expiry date on a product without the use of your eyes. Here, a visually impaired App user demonstrates making a call for help with that. (Image courtesy of the Be My Eyes press resources.)

There are stories featured within the App each week, sharing the many different ways the blind have used Be My Eyes for assistance. Some great examples include: reading the numbers on a blood pressure monitor, checking the colour of a tie, a call from a video transcriber to get context of the footage, distinguishing between shampoo and conditioner, helping to convert a PDF file into Word format, enabling a download to a phone where VoiceOver could read the document later, finding dropped items, and many other conundrums that many of us might take for granted.

With so many volunteers a call gets answered within a maximum time range of 30 seconds. As a volunteer you will not receive a call very often. Please consider becoming a part of this loving helpful community, but more importantly, spread the word within the visually impaired communities as human connection is so very important.

Filed Under: #StoryToGo, Our Community, Tech Tips Tagged With: accessibility, human connection, voiceover, volunteer

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