Maladaptive technology!

For me and many other people with disabilities, adaptive technology is a vital part of our independence and daily functioning. Adaptive technology permeates every area of my existence as a student. So when it fails, there are so many frustrations and headaches, especially when there is no easy fix in sight, which makes me feel a bit like chicken little.

I use various forms of adaptive technology. From voice recognition software which allows me to speak into a microphone headset and have the words I say appear on the computer screen before me, to electronic text books which allow me to use a screen reader built into my computer. It speaks the words of the textbook in a digitized voice.

I occasionally use Kurzweil which works on the same principle as E-text. Instead of working off a disk, you have to physically scan the pages you want to read into the program and it will read it back to you in Steven Hawkins' voice. Kurzweil has less accuracy in word interpretation than electronic text in my experience.

For the past four weeks, these vital technologies to my academic success have been largely unavailable to me due to technological failure. I thought I could fix it with a thirty dollar upgrade, but I was oh, so wrong. I had to jump through many hoops to get my speech recognition software working again. Not being able to use my voice recognition software was very detrimental, my traditional typing skills are practically non-existant and my inability to spell drastically cuts down on my vocabulary, making it very hard for me to communicate what needs to be said.

It was also extremely difficult to meet the demands of my classes, outside of doing assigned readings because every assignment is submitted electronically. Before finding a solution to my speech recognition program difficulties, I would write out my assignments, dictate them to my mother over the phone, and then when she e-mailed them to me, I would submit the assignment. I don't like having to rely on people like that, especially for such a large stretch of time. I tried so many options and consulted with so many "technical professionals" who just didn't have answers for me. I have visited ITS technical support services eight times this semester alone.

When it comes to adaptive technology, it can be hit or miss. Technology is great, when it works, but only when it works. I am aware that unfortunately there is adaptive technology out there to which I do not have access to. As a journalism student this semester, it takes countless hours to transcribe a digitally recorded, one-hour interview. Doing so is frustrating and tedious work. Indeed, in my frustrations with this task, I recognized the need for being able to plug in a digital recorder into the computer and then be able to upload the transcript into a word document. I was told that this technology was "not open to civilians." This is very curious and frustrating, knowing that there is something out there that could help me function better, with greater independence, yet my access is denied and I cannot fill that need.

Four weeks and three hundred dollars later, my adaptive technology is up and running, nearly as good as it was before, and hopefully with a little more tweaking, I can get things back up to 100% soon. When you are so dependent on adaptive technology for academic atonomy, it is completely maddening to not have a quick fix. Hopefully, my technological sky will not fall again any time soon.