1. Awareness of assistive lab Equipment's WP4-D4.1.
Tools for Facilitating ICT Access
Prepared by: Shams Eldin Mohamed
Ahmed Hassan

2. Agenda Assistive Technology Definition
Assistive Technology Accessibility
Assistive Lab Equipment's
Speech recognition tools
Special keyboards
Alternative Input Devices

3. Assistive Technology Definition
It usually refers to the devices or services aimed at compensating for functional limitations, facilitating independent living, or enabling older people or disabled people with activity limitations to realize their full potential.
In the context of SWING, we focus on ICT AT. Information Communication Technology drives Assistive Technology.

4. Assistive Technology Definition
Assistive technology is an umbrella term that includes assistive,
adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and
also includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them.
Assistive technology promotes greater independence by enabling people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to, or changing methods of interacting with, the technology needed to accomplish such tasks.

5. Assistive Technology Definition
AT are mediators وسيط (between the person and the context)
Disability is always an interaction between features of the person and features of the overall context in which the person lives. Within this interaction AT can be either barriers or facilitators (ICF model)
ACTIVITY LIMITATIONS
PARTICIPATION RESTRICTIONS
Activities and Participations Domains (ICF)
مجال النشاط والمشاركة
IMPAIRMENTS
Body Funcitions and Structures (ICF)
AT TOOLS
Contextual and environmental Factors
(Barriers or facilitators, ICF)
REDUCTION or decrease
PROMOTION or increase

6. ICT tools and services
Used by students with disabilities in order to perform learning activities and participate to university life.
Used by academic staff for their teaching activities and that can be useful for students with disabilities.
Used by administrative staff in order to provide university facilities and that can be useful for students with disabilities

7. Assistive Technology Accessibility
AT are interfaces (between human and environment)
Every AT solution is a combination of hard and software interfaces (e.G. Icons, buttons, visual and sound feedback, etc). Accessibility depends on design and interaction of these interfaces.
Universal Design
The most pertinent definition on universal design today is put forward by the united nations (UN) convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
“Universal design” means the design of products, environments, programs and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.

8. Assistive Technology Accessibility
There are seven principles of Universal Design
- Equitable Use: The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
- Flexibility in Use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
- Simple and Intuitive Use: Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
- Perceptible Information: The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities.
- Tolerance for Error: The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.

9. Assistive Technology Accessibility
3. The seven principles of Universal Design
- Low Physical Effort: The design can be used efficiently and comfortably with minimum fatigue.
- Size and Space for Approach and Use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of the user’s body size, posture, or mobility.

10. Disability Type of Equipment Product Name Short Description URL
Language Supported
Visually impaired
Software
JAWS and NVDA
Software screen reader with speech output and braille output
Arabic & English
Hardware
Braille Star 40
Can be used as 40-cell braille display with a Windows PC using most common screen readers
Low Vision
Zoom Text 10.1
Window Magnifier
Magnification software for the visually impaired. Available for Windows 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
All
Large KB
Large Print QWERTY keyboard with high contrast keys.
& Low Vision
Kurzweil 1000
Transform the none-readable text into accessible text through Scan, recognize and read
English and Arabic
OLYMPUS DM-5 Digital Voice Recorder Daisy Player
It is used as a basic voice recorder, in addition it can also play DAISY books. It also includes voice guidance to inform the user of menu actions.
via speech.
English
Smart Board
i3BOARD
Teachers and students can write, erase or perform mouse functions by touching the SMART Board interactive whiteboard with a finger or a pen.

11. Disability Type of Equipment Product Name Short Description URL
Language Supported
Visually impaired
Hardware
Everest-D V4
100 characters per second-High-quality single & double sided braille-Horizontal and vertical-High Resolution tactile graphics
English & Arabic
Software
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Voice Dictation
Arabic & English
Acapela TTS
Infovox 4
Arabic and English Text To Speech
Visually impaired and low vision
Microsoft Surface Pro3
Surface pro 3, With a 12” display
Hearing Aids
FM Transmitter and Receiver
ListenPoint 
classroom amplification system that allows students to hear clearly and learn better.
All

12. Speech recognition tools
The new PC power tool
In computer science and electrical engineering, speech recognition (SR) is the translation of spoken words into text. It is also known as "automatic speech recognition" (ASR), "computer speech recognition", “speaker identification”, or just "speech to text" (STT).
Some SR systems use "speaker-independent speech recognition" while others use "training" where an individual speaker reads sections of text into the SR system. These systems analyze the person's specific voice and use it to fine-tune the recognition of that person's speech, resulting in more accurate transcription. Systems that do not use training are called "speaker-independent" systems. Systems that use training are called "speaker-dependent" systems.

13. Speech recognition tools Applications
Usage in education and daily life
In-car systems
Health care (Medical documentation-Therapeutic use)
Military (Military-Helicopters-Training air traffic controllers)
Telephony and other domains
People with disabilities
Further applications(Robotics-Video games ….. etc)

14. Models, methods, and algorithms
Neural networks
Deep Neural Networks and Other Deep Learning Models
Online Dictation

15. Software Speech Assistant
Application name
Description
Dragon Dictate
Mac OS and Windows
MacSpeech Dictate Medical
Medical dictation product
Macspeech Dictate Legal
Legal-focused dictation
Speech Assistant
Provides communication between customers and employees.
iListen
PowerPC Macintosh
Speakable items
Included with Mac OS
ViaVoice
IBM Product. Support ended 2007.
Voice Navigator
Original GUI voice control (1989)
TalkText
Adds the convenience of converting voic to text to all your business locations and for everyone in your company.
iSpeech Translator
Mobile app that recognizes speech by sound or text and can translate from web pages, communications, and more.

16. Dragon NaturallySpeaking
 Is a speech recognition software package developed by Dragon Systems of Newton, Massachusetts, and later acquired by Nuance Communications. It runs on Windows personal computers. The most recent package is version 13, which supports 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7and 8. The Mac OS version is called Dragon Dictate or Dragon for Mac.

17. Features NaturallySpeaking uses a minimal user interface
The software has three primary areas of functionality
Dictation
Speech-To-Text
command input
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 is available in the following languages
US English-UK English-French-German-Italian-Spanish-Dutch-Japanes and Arabic

18. Alternative Input Devices
Alternative input devices allow individuals to control their computers through means other than a standard keyboard or pointing device. Examples include:
Alternative keyboards—featuring larger- or smaller-than-standard keys or keyboards, alternative key configurations, and keyboards for use with one hand.
Electronic pointing devices—used to control the cursor on the screen without use of hands. Devices used include ultrasound, infrared beams, eye movements, nerve signals, or brain waves.

19. Alternative Input Devices
Joysticks—manipulated by hand, feet, chin, etc. and used to control the cursor on screen.
Trackballs—movable balls on top of a base that can be used to move the cursor on screen.
Foot Mouse

20. Alternative Input Devices
Touch screens—allow direct selection or activation of the computer by touching the screen, making it easier to select an option directly rather than through a mouse movement or keyboard. Touch screens are either built into the computer monitor or can be added onto a computer monitor.

21. Special keyboards
 Alternative Keyboards including keyboards with large, color-coded keys, oversized keyboards, unique keyboard layouts and keyboard protection. 
On-screen keyboards provide alternatives for special needs users with severe physical disabilities who are unable to use a standard keyboard. These computer aids provide a customizable keyboard on the computer screen and some include scanning and switch accessible input. 

23. Alternative Input Devices
No Hands Mouse Allow complete, hands-free computer control through natural head movements with the reliable and accurate No Hands Mouse alternative.

24. Thank you