We proud to have some professional advice from our contributors at e-Quality Learning in the field of Learning disabilities and assistive technology. Please post us your questions and we will try have them answered. Ask here.

1. Got a Learning Disabilities question?
We proud to have some professional advice from our
contributors at e-Quality Learning in the field
of Learning disabilities and assistive technology.
Please post us your questions and we will try have
them answered. Ask here.
What Assistive Technology is there that can help blind users
navigate their home environment?
There are many traditional aids used in this area such as guide dogs
and sensors worn by the user. More recent technologies that already
exist to help in this area make use of user’s mobile phone. The app Tap
Tap See, enables the user to take photos of objects in their
environment which are then recognised by the app providing a basic
augmentation map of a room. The ARIANNA app (pAth Recognition for
Indoor Assisted Navigation with Augmented NavigatioN, guides users

2. around a previously marked out route by vibrating when it senses the
mapped out line. There are a number of other solutions currently in
development which use Assisted Vision or AI Smart Glasses. These
systems will eventually become affordable reality but most are at the
prototype stage at the moment.
In the University of Lincoln news archive – June 2015 work funded by a
Google Faculty Research Award is discussed where specialists are
aiming to “embed a smart vision system in mobile devices”. The same
press release also talks about work being carried out by the Lincoln
Centre for Autonomous Systems where they plan to “Use colour and
depth sensor technology inside new smartphones and tablets”.
My fiancé has poor motor control due to Asperger's. He is
constantly being harassed by his manager for "being too slow" at
making sandwiches. Are there any laws that cover him?
Yes the Equality Act 2010 is designed to protect people from
discrimination in the workplace. This Act evolved from several pieces of
legislation that preceded it including the Disability Discrimination Act
of 1995. Employers must allow for ‘reasonable adjustments’ for
disabled workers and recommendations around adjustments can be

3. sought via a workplace needs assessment which can be funded by the
Access To Work Scheme. Adjustments may be physical or non-physical
in nature and in this case may look at, for example; Is there a piece of
equipment that can help your fiancé and/or are targets reasonable.
Would one say there is a growth of Learning disabilities being
noticed in schools and if so what is it attributed to?
There seems to be a growth of Learning disabilities being noticed in
schools and this can probably be attributed to a number of reasons.
Firstly we are more aware now as a society than we have ever been of
Learning Disabilities and we are able to diagnose conditions which
were once incorrectly contributed to poor behaviour or lack of
intelligence. The other reason is we are testing for these conditions.
This is both primary and secondary testing. Students are tested if it
believed there is some underlying condition affecting their learning
but our teaching system now includes more benchmarking tests which
show up possible learning issues which teachers can then refer on.

4. How can tablet/smartphone apps assist with reading difficulties
or are they just gimmicks?
As with the majority of technology, there is a variety of support
available, ranging from basic to complex and each with its own range
of functions.
Mobile AT can increases self-confidence with accessing text. As long as
the user finds an app that is relevant to their preferences, it can have a
hugely positive impact. Things to consider when choosing would be
voice quality, accent, bookmarking, note taking and the ability to
manipulate text.
Apps exist for all age ranges and can work alongside other technology
such as mp3 playback, Daisy and note taking apps.
If using a text to speech app provides access to text that the user
would have previously avoided then this can be life-changing.
Examples to explore are Natural Reader, Balabolka and there is an
optional app you can activate on the task bar in MS Word 2010

5. upwards called "Speak" to enable text- to- speech, which is particularly
useful when composing.
For someone that is blind or has low vision, what advanced
screen readers are there for iPhone and android?
VoiceOver is an advanced screen reader on the Apple platform, and Siri
and Dictation help you type, launch apps and read your calendar.
VoiceOver is a revolutionary screen reader that helps you navigate your
touch screen — even if you can’t see it. VoiceOver works with the apps
that come with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
Speak Screen is another Apple screen reader you can use to read your
email, iMessages, web pages and books to you. Turn on Speak Screen
and swipe down from the top with two fingers, or just tell Siri to Speak
Screen and have all the content of the page read back to you. You can
adjust the voice’s dialect and speaking rate, and have words
highlighted as they’re being read.
There are several screen reading options available for Android. Due to
the way Google has programmed the interface on the phone, you can
install any or all of these screen readers at the same time and switch

6. between them at will. This allows you to switch to a particular screen
reader if it works better for a particular application.
Many Android phones come with Talkback, Google's free screen
reading solution. If it is not installed on your handset, it can be easily
downloaded from the Android Market. It provides basic access to many
of the phone's functions including contacts, the call log, phone
settings, and many third-party apps. If it's already on your phone, it can
be activated by going to Android Settings and selecting Accessibility.
Spiel is another free screen reader available for Android. Both Spiel and
Talkback provide similar functionality and work with a wide variety of
applications. Spiel comes with a bit more customization, and also
includes a way to write scripts for your applications to improve speech,
if you are an advanced user. Several text-to-speech voices in a variety
of languages are available either for free or close to free from the
Android Market including Loquendo and Svox.
Got a question? Ask here: http://assistivemart.com/top-ld-
topics/expert-advice.html