Help me a poem

[alexseanchai]

ETA: I have lots now, thanks!

I'm writing a litany that is also an ode of sorts to assistive technology. It's not meant to exhaustively list all types of assistive tech, but it is meant to broad-strokes overview such tech for as many categories of disability as I can fit in while keeping the litany reasonably brief. Two types of tech per category of disability.

Here's what I've got so far:

canes and wheelchairs
screenreaders and browser zoom
ergonomic keyboards and dictation software
transcripts and subtitles
word processors and audio recorders
to-do-list apps and timer apps
email and texting
antidepressant meds and anti-anxiety meds

I believe I want two to four more pairs. But I'm blanking.

I mean, I could fill in several more categories of medication with little difficulty (asthma meds, allergy meds; insulin, blood pressure meds; seizure control meds, meds for chronic pain), but that seems to veer into healthcare territory in a way that the non-medication items don't. I don't want to exclude meds altogether, obviously, but I don't want pharmaceutical technology to dominate the litany, either.

Anyway. What other sorts of assistive technology could I put in this litany? :-D?

Comments

[alexseanchai]

...I knew there were some really obvious things I was missing. Prosthetics! Text to speech! Thanks!

[we_are_spc]

TTS and screen readers are pretty much the same thing. That said. If you wanna go tech. Text-to-speech on things like iPhones and androids is a way to go, too. Voiceover is a lifesaver for me and is one of the main reasons we have the iPhone and are so onboard with apple products.

-Fallon~

[alexseanchai]

My impression is Stephen Hawking uses text to speech but doesn't need a screenreader?

[we_are_spc]

Does he? I wasn't sure what they called his machine he uses to communicate with the outside world. I know some people use type to-talk (They type things in and it speaks it out for them) if that TTS then I stand corrected.

LB But the reason I said they were the same thing is because a lot of people consider JAWS/Window Eyes/NVDA Text to speech readers, but if TTS is more than that, well then. :)

-Fallon~

[alexseanchai]

I'll Google this later and then we'll both know :)

[alexseanchai]

I found the source of the confusion! Broad category: text to speech. Narrow category within broad category: screenreader. Different narrow category within same broad category: voice synthesizer. I did not realize Hawking's thing had a name, tbh.

[melannen]

Ah, yeah, I was thinking of that kind of thing, although I was thinking more of what I've seen autistic and intellectually disabled people use, that are less full-on speech synthesizers like Hawking uses and more "if you press the button that says hello, a voice says hello. If you press the button that says stop, a voice says stop." We called them either text-to-speech or just communication assistance devices (for the less text, more picture ones) when I was helping in a special ed classroom but that was several years ago and I'm sure the tech has moved on.

[alexseanchai]

*nod*

I think "voice synthesizer" is not an inaccurate description of that thing. Though in the context you describe, I think the term is actually AAC, augmentative and alternative communication--though again, that is rather a broad category and the particular thing you describe is a narrow category therein.

[we_are_spc]

Oh well then. Neither did I. That's actually good to know. :)

-Fallon~