Assistive Technology: Other Assistive Technology

With RoboBraille, the user can convert documents into an alternative accessible format:  

• Upload a file, URL or text  

• Transcribe documents to contracted or uncontracted Braille and which are delivered as ready-to-emboss files  

• Transcribe to audio – MP3 files  

• Transcribe into EPUB and Mobi Pocket (Amazon Kindle) e-book formats  

• Use accessibility services so image files can be converted into accessible formats such as tagged documents/PDFs (providing more information)  

• Work more independently  

• 28 language options are available.  

RoboBraille is a useful tool for anyone who is visually impaired or who finds reading a challenge, such as with dyslexia. 

Note: The service is available for free for strictly individual, non-commercial use: Robobraille  

Note: Institutional use by academic institutions is available through SensusAccess which requires a subscription  

FreeMind is free mind-mapping software. This software allows users to visualise ideas, concepts, projects, internet searches or idea-storming sessions. 

Benefit from fast one-click navigation, smart copying & pasting into/from various sources, cloud around branches, folding branches, smart drag & drop, built-in icons. 

Students who prefer visual representation to support learning, improve recording of information, show how ideas or facts are related and to solve problems.  

ClaroRead can be paired with Dragon (not included in package) to enable speech to text dictation.  

ClaroRead allows the user to access the following:  

• Text to speech – read words or whole documents aloud with colour highlighting  

• Spellchecker – speaking spell checker: listen to alternatives to select the word required  

• Listen later – read text into a file to read later  

• Dictionary – speaking dictionary with over 300 000 definitions  

• Screen capture – read aloud any text displayed on the screen  

• Screen ruler – tints screen and provides a ruler to help follow text  

• 80 voices and 30 languages  

ClaroRead can be useful for a range of users who might be neurodiverse or dyslexic and anyone who finds reading a challenge. 

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Use this link to access the website where you can apply for a trial of the software: ClaroRead from textHelp

Dragon is AI powered speech recognition technology which enables students to:  

• Have speech transcribed as written text  

• Edit documents  

• Work predominantly without a keyboard or mouse  

• Work more effectively and quickly  

• Speak thoughts instead of writing them  

• Transcribe an audio file with one speaker (Dragon Professional)  

• Dragon claims 99% accuracy which improves as it adapts to your voice.  

Dragon can benefit a wide range of users who might have poor or slow handwriting/typing, dyslexia or dyspraxia or physical challenges. 

Dragon Professional is designed for Windows 10 and 11; Dragon Anywhere is designed for iOS and Android.  

Dragon Anywhere: Dictation and text-to-speech app

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

MathType is an online equation editor that provides perfect quality maths formulae and equations. It can help students who are studying subjects where formulae and equations are used in documents.  

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

The features of Caption.Ed include being able to:  

• Get instant captions for any audio or video  

• Create a live transcript of what is being said  

• Highlight important information and annotate notes  

• Add additional media from other sources  

• Review notes at any time  

Caption.Ed is available as desktop or mobile app. A DSA Student version is also available. Caption.ed is designed for disabled students but could help anyone struggling to take meaningful notes while focusing fully on what is being said because of information overload.

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Notability makes it easy to organize class notes, write about ideas, record classes and review notes. It combines sketching, handwriting, audio recording, photos etc. into one interface. It would be useful for students looking for flexibility in notetaking. 

Notability has the following features:  

• Create multi-media notes with limited edits  

• PDF import and annotation  

• Audio-recording synced to your notes  

• Gallery and templates  

• Custom Stickers  

• Presentation Mode  

• Document Scanning  

• Various sharing and export options  

• Multi-Note side by side viewing  

Notability

Notability is only available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This can be downloaded for free at the App Store with additional features available for the paid Notability Plus version. 

Livescribe is a self-contained ink and audio pen. It allows the user to:  

• Record everything you hear & say while writing notes  

• Link audio recordings to your notes  

• Transfer notes to desktop/mobile application  

• Play back audio from the pen  

• Convert handwritten notes to text  

Note: this device does not have an audio transcription facility. Some users found the pen bulky as it contains a recording device. Special Livescribe notebooks are required.  

Livescribe could be useful to anyone who is able to make handwritten notes but needs the reassurance that the audio from a lecture is available to supplement these notes at chosen points. The conversion of handwritten notes to text could also be useful.  

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Glean is a software package which allows the user to:  

• Record complete lecture audio  

• Convert recordings to text  

• Screenshot online classes  

• Add notes, labels, headings, photos and slides  

• Organise notes for easy navigation  

• Refine notes after class  

Glean can be a useful tool for anyone who finds notetaking challenging or has difficulty assimilating information at the same time as taking meaningful notes.  

Glean can be used on Windows, Mac, or Chromebook, via Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and also on Android or iOS mobile devices.  

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Dictation.io is a free speech-to-text app. It types text as you talk, you can then save, copy and paste your text into documents. It may require some editing as it become used to your voice- The more you use it, the more accustomed it becomes to you voice. 

Essay Writer 3D combines mindmapping with planning strategies to help you organise your knowledge and ideas when planning and writing essays. You can add images, links and more. Once you have complete your plan, it can then convert your plan into a word document. 

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Inspiration is a mindmapping software that can help you to organise your thoughts and ideas for assignment, presentations or project planning. You can use images and colour coding to help structure and visualise your ideas and then export your plan into Word. 

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Available for iPhones or iPads, iThoughts is a visual mindmapping app that enables you to easily create mindmaps on the go! 

Charges apply please see individual website for price or free trial offers.

Dark Reader is an eye-care extension that enables night mode by creating dark themes for websites on the fly. Dark Reader inverts bright colours, making them high contrast and easy to read at night.

You can adjust the brightness, contrast, sepia filter, dark mode, font settings and the ignore-list.

You may see news about Dark Reader in the settings popup. There are Developer Tools for experienced users. Dark Reader doesn't show ads and doesn't send users' data anywhere. It's fully open-source: https://github.com/darkreader/darkreader

Before you install it, the developer recommends you disable similar extensions.

Dark Reader

Chrome Extension