User Stories

Posts containing stories of assistive technology users, and stories of people who’ve successfully deployed assistive technology for others to use.

Mike Phillips to feature on This American Life

Mike Phillips - a Mac journalist, artist, and SwitchXS user - will be featured in the first episode of the new season of This American Life on Showtime in the USA.

Using The iPod in Special Education

Louisa Muscatine Elementary school in the USA is using Video iPods to help students with reading difficulties take tests in a regular classroom environment instead of in special ed

Input via Morse Code

Use ControllerMate to let you input via morse code with a mouse button!

Assistive Technology Really Makes A Difference: Dustin’s Story

I saw a fantastic photo on One GirlFriday’s blog. When I asked her about it she said it was a bumper sticker that her brother Dustin had had attached to his wheelchair when he was in kindergarten over 20 years ago. He then had an Apple IIe, Unicorn board, Adaptive Firmware card.

More about me

I have finally finished a long document describing my own assistive technology and technology set up - all the things I could think of that involved my Mac in some way and even some that don’t.

Accessibility Changes Lives

This is the first post in a series about assistive technology. I want to show you why accessibility, adaptive technology, assistive technology, and other disability-friendly practices matter more than you think.

MacSpeech Dictate Global Commands List & Cheat Sheet for 1.2.1

MacSpeech Dictate is a great program but learning so many commands at once can be intimidating. I’ve put together two documents to help you learn and remember all the global commands found in Dictate version 1.2.1.

Dvorak Keyboard Layout - Switching

Switching to the Dvorak keyboard layout doesn’t cost anything but it does take time and effort. Here’s how to go about it, and why it’s worth the energy to do so.

Text-to-Speech in Languages other than English

OS X only offers US English text-to-speech voices, and they are not of a very high quality. Leopard’s “Alex” voice is a great improvement, but even that voice is jarring and mechanical to listen to for more than a few minutes and only offers American English. So what are your alternatives for text to speech?

All I Want For Christmas Is Power!

Power’s what assistive technology gives us, really. The power to communicate, to read, to type, to plan, to play, to control things. The power to achieve things that we couldn’t otherwise achieve. Here are some ideas for gifts to empower assistive technology users.

ATMac

Assistive Technology for Apple and Mac Users