Technology access Resources
Everyoneon
Find low-cost internet and computers by Zip code
Affordable Connectivity Program
A government program that helps many low-income households pay for broadband service and internet-connected devices like a laptop or a tablet. Eligible for those below the 200% of the federal poverty line or if an individual has government benefits.
Assistive Technology Resources
KURZWEIL 3000
Kurzweil 3000 is an educational technology that assists with reading, comprehension, writing, assignments, and exams. Operating on multiple platforms, including desktop, iPad, online, and within Google Chrome, Kurzweil provides students, staff, and faculty with tools to organize, notate, read aloud, comprehend, translate, and cite research articles and books. While utilizing Kurzweil’s writing tools, students can increase their vocabulary and writing style to better meet the requirements of their program, whether undergraduate or graduate.
The Chicago School offers Kurzweil 3000 to students for FREE - find out more and how to register for a student account on the Kurzweil page linked here.
VISION
Aira
A service that connects people who are blind or have low vision to highly trained, remotely located human agents. Through an app on your smartphone, Aira delivers instant access to visual information. Users need to choose plans best suited for their use.
Be My Eyes
Free mobile app with AI-powered visual assistance for instantaneous image-to-text generation powered by OpenAI's GPT-4. Users can send images via the app to an AI-powered Virtual Volunteer, which will provide instantaneous identification, interpretation, and conversational visual assistance for a wide variety of tasks.
Can You See Me
A free tool that offers guidance on webcam placement to people with limited amounts of useful vision. Based on simple verbal feedback given by the tool, a user can independently position themselves appropriately in relation to their webcam before attending online meetings such that other sighted participants are able to see them.
Color Enhancer Chrome Extension
A customizable color filter applied to webpages to improve color perception, for people who are partially color-blind.
Fokus Chrome Extension
Emphasized text-highlighting; Fokus emphasizes anything you select by covering the rest of the page with a semi-transparent black overlay. You can try it out here http://lab.hakim.se/fokus/ before installing.
High Contrast Chrome Extension
Change or invert the color scheme to make webpages easier to read.
Lookout – Assisted vision Application
Lookout uses computer vision to assist people with low vision or blindness get things done faster and more easily. Using your phone's camera, Lookout makes it easier to get more information about the world around you and do daily tasks more efficiently.
National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled
A free braille and talking book library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical or perceptual disability that prevents them from reading or holding the printed page. This includes individuals with reading disabilities. Through a national network of cooperating libraries, NLS offers books the way you want them: in braille or audio, mailed to your door for free or instantly downloadable.
NVDA Website
NVDA allows blind and vision impaired people to access and interact with the Windows operating system and many third-party applications.
Tap Tap See
A mobile camera application designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users, powered by the CloudSight Image Recognition API. TapTapSee utilizes your device's camera and VoiceOver functions to take a picture or video of anything and identify it out loud for you.
HEARING AND AUDITORY
Ava
An application that provides live captions of audio in-person and Online. Available for Max, Windows, web, and iOS and Android. Free and paid versions are available.
CaptionMate
A free app that instantly transcribes both sides of a phone call. This real-time captioning service is free to anyone with hearing loss.
Live Transcribe & Sound Notifications
Google Play application that provides live transcription and sound notifications available for Android phones or tablets.
Otter.ai
Otter provides real-time captions and notes for in-person and virtual lectures, classes or meetings. Free and paid versions are available.
Rogervoice
A mobile device application that provides live transcriptions of your phone calls. Free and paid versions are available.
DICTATION, SPEECH-TO-TEXT, SPEECH RECOGNITION
Dictation for Gmail Chrome Extension
Dictation.io
Using speech recognition voice commands, this free Google Chrome dictation tool transcribes your speech to text in real-time. See the full list of supported languages. You can add new paragraphs, punctuation marks, smileys, and other special characters using simple voice commands.
Dragon Anywhere
Mobile dictation mobile application that allows you to create documents at any length and edit, format, and share them directly from your mobile device. Free trial or paid subscription available.
LipSurf
Google Chrome extension that allows you to use your voice to click and navigate in the browser. Free or paid versions are available.
ListNote
A free Speech-to-text notepad Google Android application.
Speechnotes
A free web-based speech-to-text tool that enables you to quickly and accurately transcribe your audio and video recordings.
SpeechTexter
A free multilingual speech-to-text application aimed at assisting you with the transcription of notes, documents, books, reports, or blog posts by using your voice. This app also features a customizable voice commands list, allowing users to add punctuation marks, frequently used phrases, and some app actions (undo, redo, make a new paragraph).
Voice Control Apple Support
With Voice Control, you can navigate and interact with your Mac using only your voice instead of a traditional input device. Requires macOS Catalina 10.15 or later.
Voice Recognition for Windows Support
Use dictation to convert spoken words into text anywhere on your PC. Supported in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Google Voice Typing Support
Type with your voice feature in Google Docs or in Google Slides.
COMMUNICATION
Keeble
Accessible keyboard designed to make typing in any iOS app easier and faster for people with physical and vision impairments. Paid versions are available for iPhones and iPads.
Speech Assistant AAC
A Text-to-Speech communication app for people who are speech impaired. Designed for iPad and iPhone. Paid version is available in Apple App Store.
TD Talk
A free speech-generating app for people with communication disabilities. It empowers people to talk using just their eyes or fingers. Engage more actively in conversations with fast, predictive sentence construction, easy in-sentence editing, and the ability to display your typed text to your conversation partner in the rear-facing Partner Window.
WRITING
Ginger
AI-powered writing assistant that corrects your texts, improves your style, and boosts your creativity. Includes a grammar and spell checker. Free and paid versions are available.
Grammarly
AI writing assistant that works across 500,000+ apps and websites. Reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes in English. Grammarly is available as a desktop app for Mac and Windows, as a Chrome browser extension, and is available for iOS and Android mobile devices. Free and premium plans are available.
Hemmingway Editor
An application that helps make your writing bold and clear. Free browser version and paid desktop application available.
iWordQ
A reading and writing app for iPads for those who struggle with reading and writing. For writing, it includes word prediction technology and is available with standard or professional vocabularies. To help struggling readers, iWordQ offers a customizable reading area with text chunking to highlight text as you read, and Speech Feedback to read text aloud. Paid versions are available.
LanguageTool
A multilingual grammar, style, and spell checker. Free and paid versions are available.
ProWritingAid
A Chrome browser extension that provides real-time writing suggestions and a spelling and grammar checker in Gmail, Google Docs, WhatsApp, and hundreds of other sites. Free and paid versions are available.
QuillBot
AI-powered paraphrasing tool to enhance your writing. Includes both a web version and Chrome and Word extensions. Free and paid versions are available.
Voice Dream Writer Website
iPhone and iPad writing application with features such as text-to-speech, proofreading, formatting, outline view, and a distraction-free environment. A paid version is available.