ATU705 – Holiday Gift Guide 2024

Hi, my name’s Blake Allee.

I’m Sarah Crawford.

I’m Brian Norton.

My name is Erin.

I’m Jim Rinehart.

I’m Kaitlin Hill.

I’m Nikol Prieto.

My name is Raine Sims.

My name’s Justin Amber.

I’m Josh Anderson, and welcome to your holiday Assistive Technology Update.

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Hello, and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson, with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to Episode 705 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on November 29th, 2024.

Listeners, as you may have heard from the opening music, today is our annual gift-giving guide, our Black Friday special where we, usually, a group of us sit around and talk about some really cool tech or some different things that have come out over the last year, maybe some new things that we’re excited about, but this year we’re doing things a little bit differently.

This year I’ve been lucky enough to invite some of our amazing team from our Clinical Assistive Technology, our INDATA project, our ATLAS project, and have them come in here in studio or remote and just give us an idea of maybe something that they’re excited about, some kind of technology. It doesn’t even have to be assistive technology, just something that they’re really excited about, and then talk just a little bit about it. If you want more information on the things discussed during today’s show, you can look down in the show notes where I’ve added some links, so you can go learn some more about these devices and tools for yourself.

A huge shout-out to the folks who were nice enough to join us for the show, and really to just our entire team for the amazing work that you do every day. Since today is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I guess we’ll take a little bit of time just to talk about all the things we’re thankful for, but unfortunately I don’t want to take up the whole show. Considering that I am here at work going ahead and recording this, I will just let you know how thankful I am to be part of such an incredible, amazing team, and how thankful I am for each and every one of you for tuning in and listening. Listeners, now let’s go ahead and get on with the show.

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Folks, our first guest is also the newest member of our Clinical Assistive Technology team, but I won’t tell you all about her. I’ll let Sarah Crawford introduce herself. Sarah, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here. I’m, yeah, new at Easterseals Crossroads. Fourth week so far is what I’m in, so yeah, brand-new, but I’m in the assistive technology department, the clinical technology department. Haven’t picked a team yet, still kind of learning everything, but yeah, so far really enjoying it.

Yeah, and we are excited. You’re working out great. Yeah, don’t pick a team too quick. Just help them all out. That’s always perfect. I was paid to say that by our teammates, but Sarah, so the reason I’ve got everybody on is as we do our gift-giving guide, I wanted people’s perspective with maybe what’s a cool piece of assistive technology that might make a great gift, and then who could it help and with what need.

Yeah, so I, obviously still being new, there’s not a whole lot that I know about, but one that I learned that I thought was really cool was the Glean AI workspace, and I thought that that was cool because it can be used for students. It can be used in a lot of different ways, but specifically for students maybe in lectures. If they have to go to class and maybe they have ADHD or they struggle paying attention or hard of hearing, they can have essentially it creates a transcript and an audio recording of the lecture, for if a professor is speaking. Then you can also, as it’s doing that, go in and add notes to look back later on or highlight a certain part, like, “This will be on the test.”

I thought that that was really cool, just because I could have really used something like that in college and I did not know that that technology existed, if it even did back then. I also have a sister who is hard of hearing in school right now, and so she has a similar one but it’s not Glean. She says she doesn’t like it that much, so I had thought of telling her about Glean and seeing if Ball State University would add that into their expenses that they pay for, for students that need accessibilities.

Awesome, awesome. Yeah, and Glean is a really, really great tool. I know we’ve used it before with students, but also, yeah, with folks who may be hard of hearing, just to be able to have those transcripts. Of course, the school should always give CART or some other services, but sometimes those might fall through and it’s great to have a backup. Like you said, those other tools of being able to go back and mark my recording, not have to go listen or read the entire thing, get the important stuff from it, can be just a great, great tool.

Yep, exactly.

I don’t know how long it’s been around. It’s been around for a minute, but yes, I think it could have helped just about all of us at some point.

Yeah, I’m sure.

Because notetaking is by far not my strong suit.

Oh, no, me either, especially if you’ve got multiple classes in a day. Your brain’s probably tired.

Yeah, sure, most definitely. Well, Sarah, what is maybe something that you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

Well, this year I’m excited to see family. I’ve got my sisters, who I don’t get to see as often, so they’ll be in town. Then I enjoy cooking, so maybe trying a new recipe for the holidays this year. That’s what I’m looking forward to.

Awesome. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing with us today.

Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.

All right. Our next guest is Justin Amber. Justin, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.

Hello. My name’s Justin Amber, and I am an assistive technology technician on our clinical team, and I work on our blind and low vision.

Justin, what’s a piece of technology, either assistive technology or other, that you’re kind of excited about?

All right. A few things that I’m excited for have to revolve around cars, the first one being a scan tool and a code reader. That’s just a tool, just like when you go to AutoZone and it checks out what kind of error messages are on your dash. The reason why I think this particular one is cool is because it is iOS- and Android-compatible, and so when you’re using VoiceOver, you can actually use this if you are blind or low vision.

Same thing with the next device. It’s the multimeter and data logger, same thing. It runs through your car and figures out what the issues are, and it’s iOS- and Android-compatible as well. Then there’s also a talking tire gauge, so this opens up some avenues for blind and low-vision users to work on cars, and it’s something I’m a little bit passionate about.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, Justin, what’s something you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

I’m just looking forward to watching my six-year-old son open all of his gifts, and just spending time with family.

That is the best. That is the best. Thanks so much for coming on, Justin.

Absolutely.

Our next guest on the show today is Blake Allee. Blake, can you introduce yourself to the listeners?

Hi, my name is Blake Allee. I am the demo and loan lead here at Easterseals Crossroads.

Well, Blake, what is a piece of technology or assistive technology that you’re kind of excited about, and maybe who could it help and how?

Yeah, so something that we’ve had it for a little while in our library, but recently I’ve been playing more with it, it’s called the Hable One. It’s by Hable. It’s for blind or low-vision users that want to use a smartphone. You just pair it with your smartphone, and then what’s nice is it has Perkins-style keys, and you can not only type with the Perkins-style keys but you can also program gestures and shortcuts, so you can really get to a point where you’re flying around your device. If you’re using a smartphone, you have to use it with TalkBack or VoiceOver, but that’s pretty much how it works here.

Awesome. Well that’s really cool. Yeah, I know for some folks, just learning all the different gestures, all the swipes, the taps, everything, can be a little bit challenging, so having a different way to access it’s got to be a really great, great kind of accommodation.

Yeah. Some people, just swiping on a screen or the gesture is a little difficult, so that is a nice thing to have actual buttons that you’re pressing to be able to use for it. Yeah, I do enjoy it. It’s got the six keys to type with. It also has a key for backspace, space bar and things like that.

Awesome. That’s very, very cool. Well, Blake, what’s something maybe you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

This holiday season I’m looking forward to turkey, definitely.

Oh, nice.

Turkey, turkey, turkey. Yeah.

For sure. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.

You’re very welcome.

Thanks, Josh. All right, our next guest today is Nikol Prieto. Nikol, introduce yourself to our listeners who maybe haven’t heard you on here before.

Sure. I’m Nikol Prieto. I’m the education outreach lead for the INDATA project, and I spend a lot of my time just bragging about our programs and the amazing things that assistive technology can do for individuals in the State of Indiana.

She does. She is the busiest cheerleader around here, but it’s absolutely amazing. She goes around and just is a great representative for INDATA and a I guess not frequent, frequent guest on here, but one of the folks who I used to make do, spend two hours putting this whole show together, but this year she just gets to talk about one thing. Nikol, what’s a piece of technology or assistive technology that you’re excited about that could really help folks out?

Gosh, I have several things on my list, but the one I really want is a Rocketbook notebook, and it is a reusable smart notebook. I’m a person who loves to write handwritten notes. I also believe that it syncs that information to my brain. I think that’s how I’ve learned best. This, you can reuse it, and you can write your handwritten notes and then sync them to Evernote or email and that type of thing. It helps anyone who likes to do those handwritten notes but can’t keep them organized. You don’t have papers everywhere, and it’s pretty inexpensive. I think there were three sizes. The notebook was $25. There’s a planner. Think about each year you’d have a planner you could use for $37, and then there was a pocket-size for about 13.

Oh, wow. No, that’s very, very affordable. Yeah, especially for folks who like to handwrite those notes and actually be able to have something they can really look at. Nikol, what’s something you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

I am looking forward to time off with family. Yeah, absolutely.

I have to agree. That’s a very common answer, and I think everybody’s looking really forward to that. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing today.

Thank you.

Listeners, our next guest is Jim Rinehart from our Clinical AT team. Jim, can you go ahead and introduce yourselves to the listeners?

Yeah. Hi, everybody. As Josh said, I’m Jim Rinehart. I’m a assistive technology specialist here at Easterseals Crossroads. I’ve been here about ten and a half years. Most of my work is with the vision sensory team. Most of my folks are either visually impaired or are blind. I live and work out of the northeast part of the state, and most of my work is done in that trapezoid between Fort Wayne and South Bend.

Yeah, Jim is slightly north of what I like to call the snow belt here in Indiana. When it starts getting cold, it seems like it’ll be halfway sunny down here and maybe we get flurries, and somehow the farther you go north in the state, the more those flurries turn into inches and inches turn into feet. We’re so happy for all the work that you do up there. Well, Jim, what’s a piece of assistive technology or maybe technology that you’re really looking forward to, or you think might make a good gift or a good tool for somebody this year?

Yeah. A lot of people have probably heard a lot about artificial intelligence or AI, and one thing that’s really caught my attention here of late has been the Copilot app that’s part of the Windows operating system. If you’re buying a new computer, it should come loaded on it already, but if it’s not, you can get it through the Microsoft Store. Again, it’s free, and it does all kinds of cool stuff, everything from if you want a recipe for something, you can ask it for a recipe on how to bake chocolate chip cookies or whatever.

I’ve got a person who’s been using it to create children’s stories, yes, of varying kinds. In fact, I tried something out last night with the Christmas season coming, and I said something like, “Tell me a story, a Christmas story, with three kids in it, maybe ages five to ten,” and when you hit the Enter button to make it work, it takes a few seconds and then it’ll just spit out a whole Christmas story. It always starts with, “Once upon a time,” but it includes the three characters, and they were all asleep and they heard a noise. They came down, Santa was at the house and the whole bit, so it was all … and his sled was stuck and the kids helped him get his sled unstuck, and it was just a really cool story. It does that kind of thing, which is really slick, I think.

Also the same procedure basically, and ask it to either make you a picture, or something that a customer of mine has been working with is making a coloring book page. You ask it to make a coloring book page of something, of Santa Claus or something, and it should generate one of those that you can actually download, and download it to your downloads folder and then print it off, save it to another folder or things like that. It’s free, so the price is right as well. Just hard to put a bow on it unless you’re getting a new computer as part of it. Yeah, I would encourage everybody to try it, and it’s good for just about anybody. I’ve used it with a couple of my people that are security users, and they’ve had pretty good success with it as well.

Nice. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I love artificial intelligence and just all the great things they could do for folks with all different kinds of disabilities. Well, Jim, personally, maybe what’s something you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

Oh, well, you’ve got [inaudible 00:14:46] coming up, and we’re starting to work on it a little bit. I play trumpet, have since I was 11 years old, and I’ve got a couple of Christmas programs at different churches that I’m playing in, so that’ll be kind of fun. It always is. It’s a lot of work, but when it all comes together, it’s just a lot of fun. Of course, like many people, looking for just a little bit of time off through the holidays, but don’t tell my boss about that.

Your secret is safe with me, Jim. Your secret’s safe with me. Hey, thank you so much for coming on the show and talking. Jim, thank you so much for everything you do for us here every day.

You’re welcome, Josh.

Our next guest today is Raine Sims. Raine, welcome to Assistive Technology Update.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. Can you go ahead and introduce yourself to our listeners?

Yeah. My name is Raine Sims. I am an assistive technology specialist with the ATLAS program.

Our ATLAS program is one of our newer programs, which is Assistive Technology Library And Services, and they help out the schools here all around Indiana. We’ll probably talk about them some more on another show, but that’s not why we have you here today. Today we’ve got you here, can you tell us about a piece of technology or assistive technology that you’re excited about, and maybe who it can help and how?

Yeah, so I’m really excited about this program called Glean. It’s an AI-powered notetaking tool. It’s designed for students and professionals who may struggle with traditional notetaking, whether due to attention, memory or processing challenges. I think that Glean is particularly helpful because it allows students, or any user really, to focus on understanding what’s happening in real time without stressing out over capturing every single detail.

Yeah. That is something that I know we can all use assistance with. I know notetaking is not my strong point and never really has been. I feel like if I take good notes, I’m not paying attention, and if I pay attention, I don’t take good notes. What a great tool. Raine, what’s something that you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

I’m really looking forward to slowing down and spending time with family and friends, along with maybe getting a little extra time at the pottery studio. Yeah, that’s something I’ve been really into lately, but yeah, the holiday season always feels like a nice reset.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on.

Perfect. Thank you so much.

Our next guest today is Kaitlin Hill and she’s actually recording this on her birthday, but I won’t tell you what year because I know a little bit better to not do that. Kaitlin, could you introduce yourself to our listeners?

Sure. I’m Kaitlin Hill, I’m an occupational therapist, and I am the lead assistive technology specialist for ATLAS. I’ve worked with kids through adults, but right now I’m focusing on assistive tech for kids in public schools in the state.

We are so happy to have you, not just as part of the team but also on this show today. Kaitlin, what is a piece of assistive technology or technology that you’re really excited about, and maybe whom could it help and how?

I am actually wearing them today. These are Kiziks, and they are hands-free shoes. I love them because they’re a really good example of universal design. They are helpful for a wide variety of folks, not just individuals that have disabilities, but also anybody that just wants to be able to easily get their shoes on and off or has their hands full. I actually got these when I was pregnant, so that I didn’t have to bend over to put my shoes on anymore. They’re great because you can just slip your foot right in.

They have a patented heel design so that the heel doesn’t collapse when you slide your feet in. You can have them pre-tied, so individuals that aren’t able to manage the laces themselves can have a caregiver do those for them. They’re really handy for individuals that need a little bit of extra help getting their shoes on. Maybe they’re post surgery, maybe they’re not able to bend their hips quite as well as they used to, or maybe they have a baby in their hands and they don’t want to have to put the baby down to slide their shoes on.

Oh, those are absolutely awesome, and thanks for bringing them too, so I can actually see them. I know they don’t translate that well into the podcast, they can’t quite see them, but very, very cool. Kaitlin, what’s something you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

Well, I have a six-month-old, so he is just starting to eat solid foods, so we’re really excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with him, and also to go to Winterlights and see what he thinks of all the Christmas lights.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Our next guest today is Erin McCreedy, and she is from our ATLAS project as well. Erin, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Yeah, my name is Erin. I’m the loan library lead for the K-12 ATLAS project. Basically, you probably heard Raine earlier, and Raine has deemed me the czar of the lending library. Basically, I handle all of the items. Inventorying, some procurement, making sure that loans get to where they need to go.

Yes, and Erin actually came to us with library experience, and I must admit I’ve never met someone who enjoys cataloging and doing stuff like that so much. We’re so happy to have you as part of this team, but really the reason we have you here today is to talk about maybe a piece of technology that you’re excited about, maybe who it could help and how.

Yeah. I’m excited to talk to you about the Xbox Adaptive Controller. This has been around for quite some time. We actually have a few in our lending library, and you might be asking yourself, “Why does a K-12 lending library have a device for video gaming?” Well, I thought the same thing, and I think this device is really helpful for everyone.

It not only makes video gaming just accessible for the average person who wants to play on their Xbox, but it also could be helpful for eSports clubs at schools. Maybe you have a student that has access needs, primarily physical. Maybe you have a student who uses a wheelchair who needs a mounted controller, things like that. This device has a lot of different switch ports. It’s very customizable. You set it in front of you. It’s probably like a foot by half of a foot, and then you plug your different switches in, any kind of switch, and then it’s customizable. You can mount it onto a wheelchair. It’s great.

Yeah, it is very cool. I think it also shows that that shift, as the big companies try to make things that are a little bit more accessible for folks, always makes it a lot nicer.

Absolutely. I think it’s great that Microsoft wanted to put that out there, and like I said, it’s been around for a couple of years. Me personally, I don’t play video games, so it’s $100, so that’s a little on the pricier side for me, but it’s a good investment. Since it’s been around for a while, Microsoft is investing in this technology, so I really appreciate that.

Like I said, you don’t have to have access needs to use this. Maybe like me, I struggle going from … my partner has a PlayStation, and the controller for PlayStation and Xbox, they’re slightly different, and so I always get confused. “Well, on this game the bumper was this, and now it’s a different button.” This could help me play video games with my partner, just making it a little more simple. That’s a great example of how I would use it.

Nice. Awesome. Well, Erin, what’s something that you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

I really love doing puzzles, and so I’m excited to spend time with my family and do puzzles. I really like crafting. I’m really into this thing called gem painting right now.

What’s that?

They have really, really small gem beads, and you get a kit. It’s the same concept of paint by numbers, except you take these little teeny tiny gems and you put them in specific spots like you would for a paint by numbers.

Awesome. Well, I can’t wait to see some of your crafting over the holiday season, but thank you so much for taking time out of your day and coming on the show.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

All right. Well, our next guest today is Mr. Brian Norton. Brian, can you introduce yourselves to our listeners, introduce yourself to our listeners?

Absolutely. Yeah, that could be selves. Lots of voices in my head. No. Yeah, I am Brian Norton, VP of Adult Services here at Easterseals Crossroads. Assistive technology is a passion of mine, a program that I was a part of for many, many years, and I love to be still connected. Yeah, glad to be here.

Yeah. We couldn’t not let Brian do this if we wanted to. Brian used to always be a big part of the holiday program, but of course with schedules and everything, and we just wanted to include more folks from the team this year. That’s why we’ve got this format, getting all kinds of folks. Well, Brian, what is a cool piece of technology, assistive technology, that you’re really excited about? Then let our listeners know who it might be able to help and how.

Yeah, so one of the things that’s really geeking me out these days is the fact that iOS 18 is here, and along with iOS 18, it came with a lot of accessibility features, improvements. What I’m loving to see in some of our mobile devices, whether that’s your phone or tablets or some of those different mobile platforms, is the addition of some of these technologies that used to be really, really expensive.

Considering eye tracking, that’s what I wanted to bring to you today, is just there’s eye tracking now on your phone. Eye tracking has been around for a long time, but it’s been a super expensive piece of technology. I’m not saying what’s now, iOS 18, the first version of eye tracking, is anything to like, “Whoa, that’s amazing. It’s going to do such an amazing job.” It is something, and it’s something to consider, and basically allows you to control your device with just using your eyes.

You can move the cursor around, you can select what’s on the screen, you can navigate, and you can find that in your accessibility settings. If you go into Accessibility, there’s a new icon down underneath there or a menu for eye tracking. Excited to see what used to be standalone, proprietary software, that would help folks with different disabilities get access to computers and things like that, coming to mobile devices. Because it’s built in, it’s lowering the cost and the entry-level cost for some of those types of products.

Yeah, it really is. Like Brian said, it doesn’t completely replace the other things for some folks, but what’s really cool is just the fact that they are building it in. I will say if you’re going to bring it up, if you’re going to play with it or use it or anything of that sort, use a stand. Use a stand. I tried to do it the other day with my phone in my hand, and you don’t realize you don’t hold as still as you think you do. Definitely find a stand and get it there. Well, Brian, what’s something that maybe you’re looking forward to this holiday season?

Man, I’m looking for a little bit of time off. I think we all are. A little time off, and I’m hoping it snows. Hope it snows on Christmas. We’re in Indiana. Sometimes you roll the dice with whether you’re going to get snow or not, and so hopefully we will, and we can enjoy some amount outdoor time, sledding and doing some stuff outside with our young adults. Now I’ve got adult children, but we still love to have fun outside.

Awesome. Well, Brian, thanks for coming on the show.

Yep, absolutely.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at (317) 721-7124, send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org, or shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAproject. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation, or InTRAC. You can find out more about InTRAC at RelayIndiana.com. A special thanks to Nikol Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule.

Today’s show was produced, posted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own, and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners or this host. This was your Assistive Technology Update. I’m Josh Anderson, with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.