Why Can't I Access my Information?
What stops a person with a Learning Disability from fully accessing their information? There are many different reasons why a person with a LD (Learning Disability) cannot access the information that they need. The definition of information from the access Ontario laws are defined as the following: "information" includes data, facts and knowledge that exists in any format, including text, audio, digital or images, and that conveys meaning, ("information") Information needs can be and need to be available just about anywhere like at School, University, Libraries, etc. The information needs for each person are always unique especially when it comes the Learning Disabilities.
Looking at the text and focusing one's eyes can be very overwhelming for certain types of Learning Disabilities. For example if someone had Dyslexia the text can look very overwhelming because letters like “b” and “d” and “m” and “w” can be flipped. Also the text can be all over the place making it hard for them to focus their eye. Another type of disability that has a hard time focusing their eyes is people with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Tex can look very overwhelming and be all over the place. To focus the eyes and follow the text can be quite the task.Text to speech software like TextHELP or Kurzweil can sometimes be a solution to this problem or essential for some.
For information of any type to be accessible to people that use text-to-speech software it needs to be in an Electronic format. Text to speech software can be an essential tool for some but beneficial for everyone. There are many studies that have been done that prove that when anyone uses text-to-speech software they can better understand and memorize information. Here are a few articles stating the benefits of text-to-speech software:
Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities
Daisy Universal Design
Quick video of the 5 benefits of Text-to-speech software
Another reason that accessing information can be hard for people with LDs is because we want to be able to Comprehend and understand the text. For certain types of LDs comprehending information needs to be presented depending on the information need and type of learning style. I want to be able to Understand the meaning of the text and have it presented in the format I need. I will give an example of myself and my type of learning disability (or learning style). I am extremely visual and auditory learner. So when something is presented with a visual and the audio I can understand and comprehend information that much more. For example if I’m going to go pick up a hardcover book on reptiles a may need to read the information over three or five times until I fully understand it. Also as I mentioned before my eyes can have a very hard time focusing and following the text because of my ADHD. Now, if I had this book loaded onto a text-to-speech software I could read it once and understand/comprehend the information instantly.
This can only happen when we start Making information Accessible in all aspects. PDF or Rich Text format needs to be available everywhere so that it can be loaded onto text-to-speech software or any other assistive technology software or devices. Publishers and information creators have to work with the public to create and make these formats accessible to everyone.
Unfortunately on many occasions the formats available are not accessible to every type of learning style. As mentioned before the information needs are Unique to each person. We all have such different information needs and we need to start making it accessible to everyone. Everyone deserves to have access to the information and education they want and to deserve to have lifelong learning.
