(Assistive) Technology at the Point of Instruction: Barriers and Possibilities

Lorayne Robertson

Assistive technologies which resemble everyday communication technologies (such as text-to-speech features and predictive text) have the potential to remove barriers from the learning environment and allow more access to the curriculum for learners who need support. In the past, some of these affordances required specialized equipment but currently, applications such as predictive text are widely available in everyday life. These newer technologies enable persons with learning challenges to participate more fully in everyday communications, and the “bottom up” effect of these innovations will trickle into schools because the technology is enabling. As these digital applications, programs, and mobile devices become routinely available, and internet access for classrooms improves, more students who might have been labelled in the past as “learning-disabled” will be able to access the curriculum independently. This should support a shift in the discourse from the abled/disabled binary (which labels the students) toward labelling the learning environments instead as more or less enabling. As an increasing number of low- to medium-level tech solutions with seamless interfaces breach previous barriers such as affordability and transferability, the rates of tech adoption in schools will increase beyond the early adopters. As technology adoption increases, it will be easier to differentiate programs and classrooms toward universal learning designs. Technology in the hands of students democratizes education in significant ways and shifts the focus from digital teaching to digital learning.

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