This year’s ATIA conference is a particularly special one for the INDATA Project team. One of our presentations, “Off the Shelf Accommodations for Aging,” is a recipient of the 2025 Joy Zabala Spirit Award.
The conference will take place this week from January 30 through February 1 in Orlando, Florida. We’ll have plenty to report when we get back. In the meantime, here is a preview of what we’ll be presenting.
AT in Education
The ATIA conference is an opportunity for vendors, practitioners, and people with disabilities to learn, network and share the latest and greatest in the world of assistive technology.
Our first presentation, on January 30, explores “Transition Tools for Individuals with Cognitive Impairments in Post-Secondary Education.”
A wide variety of conditions fall under the umbrella of cognitive impairments, and roughly 1 in 7 Americans are estimated to have them.
Assistive technology is crucial for students with these impairments, as they commonly impact such vital aspects of learning as:
- Visual memory
- Hand/eye coordination
- Fine motor control
- Organizing information
- Understanding social cues
Newer AT tools highlighted in the presentation include:
Helperbird: With this browser extension, users can easily adjust the size and spacing of text on any website, document or PDF. Designed with dyslexia in mind, the Reading Ruler feature breaks up the large blocks of text with which dyslexic users typically struggle. The Ruler acts as “a visual anchor, guiding the eyes across each line and reducing the cognitive load required to track text.” Another accessibility feature is Color Blindness Support, which makes links easier to see and click by underlining and outlining them. The hands-free Voice Typing tool, which converts live speech to text in real time, is “ideal for anyone with an injury or disability that makes typing difficult.”
SMMRY: Beneficial for students with dyslexia or other learning disorders, this free website allows students to upload whole articles or chunks of text for a more digestible summary of the key information.
Glean: This AI-powered notetaking tool allows students to break down class lectures in an easily digestible way. As Assistive Technology Trainer Sarah Crawford explains, “If they have ADHD and struggle to pay attention or are hard of hearing, Glean essentially creates a transcript and an audio recording of their professor’s lecture. As it’s doing that, students can add notes to look back at later or highlight a certain part like, ‘This will be on the test.’” Glean currently supports students at more than 750 educational institutions across the globe.
Gemini 2.0: Google’s largest and most capable AI assistant yet, Gemini can break down information in different formats and fashions tailored to students with different learning styles. For example, through the GenExplainer feature, you can learn what a black hole is through the use of a cooking metaphor. You can have a complex historical event summed up in a short poem. Or you can hear about the science of volcanoes in the play-by-play style of a sports commentator. To develop Gemini in the most inclusive way, Google is tapping into the feedback of educators, artists, and people with disabilities.
AT for Aging
Our second ATIA presentation serves as a fitting companion to the first in the sense that it focuses on AT that’s more useful later in life, typically after people’s academic and professional careers.
“Off the Shelf Accommodations for Aging” highlights such assistive technology and companies as:
Silverts: The leader in adaptive dressing since 1930, this company sells clothing geared toward solving common challenges of older wearers. For example, they have zipper pants that allow for catheter access and easy self-dressing for wearers with arthritis. Their open back shirts with snap closures at the shoulders “ensure easy dressing while seated, standing or lying down, providing both comfort for the wearer and ease for caregivers.”
GrandPad: Through large buttons and clutter-free navigation, the GrandPad tablet allows seniors to easily connect with their loved ones, whether over a phone call, via video or sharing photos and footage of fond family memories. GrandPad is also a helpful tool for keeping seniors active and engaged, as it comes with more than 15 fun and stimulating games designed to improve memory and motor skills. The tablet can play music as well, which has many physical, cognitive and psychological benefits for the aging population.
ElliQ: Known as “the very first proactive, empathetic robotic companion,” ElliQ was designed with seniors in mind, but she is also beneficial for people with disabilities who live alone or anyone facing social isolation. From telling jokes and making small talk to leading exercise classes and monitoring users’ mental and physical health, ElliQ is essentially a robot caregiver.
“Off the Shelf Accommodations for Aging” is the presentation that will be recognized as a recipient of the award named in memory and honor of former ATIA Conference Education Chair Joy Zabala, who earned international renown for her work on AT and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
“We’re proud and humbled to be associated with such a champion of people with disabilities,” said Easterseals Crossroads Director of Assistive Technology Josh Anderson, who will be co-presenting alongside Vice President of Adult Services Brian Norton. “By spreading the word about the power of assistive technology for people of all ages and abilities, we hope we’re helping continue the mission she led with such commitment and compassion. We thank the ATIA for this incredible honor, and we look forward to celebrating the diverse world of assistive technology at this year’s conference.”
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