New position opens doors to assistive technology

BY SALLY ACHARYA

Imagine that to finish reading this article you had to struggle with every word. The more text there was on the page, the more of a jumble it would all seem. Any photographs on the page would just add to the confusion.

Students with certain reading disabilities grapple with such challenges every day. Years ago, they might simply have dropped out of AU—or never made it here in the first place. But with the help of specialized technology, students with challenges ranging from physical handicaps to harder-to-spot disabilities, such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, can succeed in even the most demanding classrooms.

Now AU has a specialist dedicated to helping members of the campus community discover the adaptive technology that works best for them, and learn how to use it. Michele Magana is headquartered at the library but works with the computer labs and multiple departments, including Disability Support Services and the Academic Support Center, to provide her specialized knowledge to people who need it. The position is new this semester.

Sometimes, the beneficiaries of assistive technology are students with severe and clearly visible handicaps, such as the quadriplegic law student Magana worked with in graduate school. Unable to move his limbs or fingers, he was using a computer program based on voice commands to manage his law school assignments.

But other people grapple with disabilities more quietly, almost invisibly. The field of adaptive or assistive technology—it’s known by both names—is as complex and nuanced as the disabilities themselves.

There is dysgraphia (a learning disability in writing), dyscalculia (a learning disability in math), dyspraxia (a fine motor disability), and perceptual handicaps that keep people from recognizing the difference between similar words such as “cap” and “cup.” Attention deficit disorder can also manifest in a marked difference between ability and performance unless it is addressed, sometimes through assistive technology.

It’s Magana’s job to assess the student, faculty, or staff members who need assistive technology, and determine which program works for them. It’s hardly a case of one-size-fits-all, even among similar handicaps. For instance, a voice recognition program that helps a blind student by scanning books and reading them aloud might seem, on the surface, to be a promising tool for students with other reading disabilities.

Yet for some people, the basic problem is not an inability to see; it’s that they see too much. In certain disabilities, when a person encounters too many words or images on a page, their mind becomes overstimulated and can’t process the information. These students (or staff members) might be able to use a program that simply read their textbooks aloud. But that wouldn’t address the real issue, and hence wouldn’t be the best choice. Magana would prefer to try them out on another program, which scans a book and increases the space between lines, or masks part of the page to reduce the visual clutter.

People who have difficulty with eye-hand coordination, making it difficult for them to write papers, can benefit from voice recognition software or software that predicts the words from the first few letters. (It can be programmed specifically for different classes.)

Sometimes, Magana may steer the students toward technology the university already owns. She also may determine that the students should test a new technology for possible purchase by AU.

“What I love about this,” she says, “is the opportunity, and the doors it opens to individuals.”

Magana encourages those who think they may benefit from assistive technology to contact her at 885-3194, or by e-mailing her at magana@american.edu.

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