Visually+Impaired+and+VoiceThread

A little girl sits in a classroom listening to her friends talking around her and trying to hear the lesson and picture what her teacher is writing on the board. What does a letter ‘a’ look like? What does an apple look like? Is it round? Is it bumpy? The assignment is to draw a picture and write a story based on the lesson. The little girl begins to cry because she can’t see and is frustrated. This is an example of what visually impaired students went through a few years back. They had limited means for learning and telling their stories. They could use clunky Braille machines and a walking stick to help them get around but this didn’t make them fit in and have the ease of doing the assignments like everyone else.

The world of technology has opened up doors for students with disabilities, especially those that are visually impaired. As we have saw with our example, students got frustrated because the majority of lessons were done using textbooks, writing utensils and words written on a board. The day to day class was based on text which held visually impaired students back. By using sites like VoiceThread, students are able to hear the lesson and in turn write their responses by using their voice. This takes the handicap away from them and puts them on the same playing field as their peers. Visually impaired students can use VoiceThread Universal which is specifically made to use VoiceThread with a screenreader giving them more accessibility. This section of the website is great for all students because it takes all of the extra words and pictures away helping them to focus.

One huge benefit to both visually impaired students and regular education students, is that it allows them to be able to practice their oral writing and learn how to become more expressive in their writing. Visually impaired students get the tool to answer questions, tell stories, and write with the same expectations as their peers. Another great plus is that it gives visually impaired students the option to listen to their teacher and peers rather than the computer generated voice that they are used to.

One downfall, like most websites that are new to students, is that if they don’t have the knowledge of how to use the site they will need some extra help. Once they learn though, they should be able to provide their assignments and responses with their voice and feel comfortable while doing it. New technology is rapidly becoming available to help students and teacher alike. We have seen in the past few years how much these websites, apps and tools have helped all students but especially those with a disability. I am thrilled to see that sites like VoiceThread are thinking about students with disabilities from the start instead of thinking about them after the fact like they used to do.

Sources: __[]__ https://voicethread.com/universal/myvoice/ __[]__ __[]__ http://voicethread.com/media/misc/support/JTECVoiceThread.pdf