Assistive Technology Resources (alphabetical)
Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff have access to a number of different assistive technology resources. Many are available to any Wesleyan user.
Additionally, Wesleyan's Information Technology Services Office has information, tips, and support available for students, faculty, and staff, as well as a technology loaner program for students who need to borrow equipment or computers to complete their coursework.
Adobe Accessibility
(text-to-speech, reading)
- Adobe provides accessible features such as reading options, page navigation options, color options, text-to-speech, and more for pdf files. Learn more about Adobe accessibility options here.
Balabolka
(text-to-speech, conversion)
- Balabolka is a text-to-speech program that accesses all computer voices installed on your system. The on-screen text can be saved as a WAV, MP3, MP4, OGG or WMA file. The program can read the clipboard content, view text from documents, customize font and background color, control reading from the system tray or by the global hotkeys.
BeeLine Reader
(reading)
- BeeLine Reader applies gradient colors to assist with eye tracking, speed, and focus while reading digital materials.
- Free for Wesleyan users, you will find the links and directions for activating three BeeLine Reader products in your WesPortal, just search for “BeeLine”.
Bookshare
(text-to-speech, reading)
- Bookshare makes reading easier by providing a large library of accessible eBooks. While copyrighted books on Bookshare are available only to people with qualifying reading barriers through Accessibility Services, membership is not required to access non-copyrighted books. Bookshare offers nearly 10,000 public domain books that anyone can read through Bookshare’s Web Reader and other compatible tools.
Capti Voice
(reading, text-to-speech, conversion)
- Capti Voice is a personalized reading support tool; the platform creates an “MP3” player interface with imported text documents
- Free accounts are available with limited features
- Access through browser, iOS app, or desktop program
- Browser extension available for reading the web or easily adding articles to Capti
- Full accounts are available to students with qualifying reading barriers through Accessibility Services
Desmos Calculator
(math)
- Desmos Calculator online for access to graphing, scientific, or four-function calculator
- Desmos Calculator app for access to a scientific calculator on the go
- Desmos Calculator for exams (test mode used in airplane mode and “locks” access to other areas of phone)
Dragon Naturally Speaking
(dictation)
- Dragon provides speech recognition for voice control of computer and voice input. Students can request Dragon as an accommodation through the Accessibility Services, and employees can request it through their department or IT.
Glean by Sonocent
(note-taking)
- An audio note taking program highly compatible across multiple devices.
- Glean is designed to make good note taking come naturally. By recording conversations and presentations (even videos in a browser), Glean enables users to capture everything while staying in the moment. Glean is intuitive, fun, cloud-based, and it takes only a minute to get started. For more information, watch this short introductory video
- Students interested in using Glean can contact SAR for more information on accessing the program.
(captioning, dictation)
- Google Slides provide live captioning during a presentation.
- Similarly, Google Docs has a built-in “Voice Typing”, a feature for dictation which can be used when you are accessing it through the Chrome browser.
- Google also has two platforms for video meetings with others:
- Google Hangout allows for group chats which can switch to video chats
- Google Meet can be used as a “conferencing” option when scheduling a meeting through Google Calendar
Kurzweil 3000 and Firefly
(reading, text-to-speech, writing, SWD)
- Kurzweil is a text-to-speech program with features that support reading and writing. Wesleyan provides access to Kurzweil for students with qualifying reading barriers through Accessibility Services
LiveScribe Smartpens
(note-taking)
- Livescribe Smartpens record audio and “link” to notes taken in Livescribe notebooks
- Echo Model Has Recorder And Microphone Built Into Pen
- Aegir model uses Bluetooth to connect to phone/tablet for recording and playback
- Students interested in using a smartpen can contact SAR for more information.
Mac Accessibility
(reading, dictation, text-to-speech)
- Mac OS X and iOS operating systems provide built-in accessibility tools such as dictation (speech-to-text), read aloud (text-to-speech), and the screen-reader VoiceOver. Learn more about Mac Accessibility here.
Microsoft Translator
(captioning, transcripts)
- Microsoft Translator allows for small groups to have conversations using each individuals’ native language. It can also be used as a live captioning/translation tool with one “presenter” and up to 100 participants for up to 4 hours.
Natural Reader
(text-to-speech)
- NaturalReader Online is a text to speech web application with high quality voices. Login from any computer to convert any written text such as MS Word, PDF files, non-DRM eBooks, and web pages into spoken natural sounding speech.
- There is also a downloadable desktop version
- Learn more about Natural Reader here
NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA)
(screen-reader)
- NVDA is an open-source screen reader for Windows developed by NV Access. Individuals can download NVDA here.
Otter.ai
(captioning, transcripts)
- Otter.ai allows a user to create a personal transcription of a meeting or conversation in which they are present. You can also upload an audio file for transcription. The free version allows up to 600 minutes of transcription per month.
Read&Write
(reading, writing, note-taking, text-to-speech, dictation)
- Read&Write by texthelp is a program which integrates into Google Chrome and can be downloaded for desktop use. From hearing emails or documents read out loud to text prediction, picture dictionaries, summary highlighters and a grammar, spelling and confusable words checker, Read&Write makes lots of everyday literacy tasks simpler, quicker and more accurate.
- Free trial gives you full access for 30 days
- After trial period, there are limited functions available for continued use
- Full accounts are available to students with qualifying reading barriers through Accessibility Services
SensusAccess Document Conversion Service
(conversion, text-to-speech)
- SensusAccess is a web application that converts documents from text or image-based files into accessible formats, such as searchable PDFs, audio & talking books, Braille, or ebooks
- Free for Wesleyan users, search for “Access” in your portal for a quick link to the Library’s Accessible Materials page.
Windows 10
(dictation, screen-reader)
- Windows users have built-in speech recognition for dictation through Windows 10
- Windows 10 also has Narrator, a screen-reading program, built-in