Accessible Assistive Technology Training for Blind and Partially Sighted Individuals by Erin Lee

Welcome to my exhibit.

My name is Erin Lee and I am a Master’s student in Inclusive Design at OCAD University. 

Currently, I am conducting a Major Research Project on the Participatory Design of Accessible Assistive Technology Training for Blind and Partially Sighted Individuals (BPSI). Over the next year, I will be working with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to conduct this project. I seek to advance work in the understanding of, development and application of accessible assistive technologies used in the employment setting for BPSI.

In addition to being a student I also work as a communications professional at the Office of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). I was largely drawn to this topic because employment is a major social determinant of health. I am passionate about working towards reducing disparities and avoidable inequities for marginalized populations. Through this research, I’d like to contribute to work that addresses issues of employment equity for BPSI.

Exhibit profile

This exhibit introduces challenges related to employment that blind and partially sighted individuals (BPSI) face. It also showcases the BPSI experience with using assistive technology in the employment setting.

The visitor will be asked to walk through an assistive technology experience by completing an activity that depicts multiple points of access that BPSI may use to gain information from an image on a screen. This activity shows just one example of many technological barriers that BPSI may face in the workplace. Visitors may also develop an understanding of what it’s like to use alternative text, particularly when engaging with something like complex images (e.g. infographics, bar charts, etc.).

Further, the exhibit asks the visitor to share and reflect on previous technology training that they have experienced for use in the employment setting. Through an interactive activity, I seek to understand the path at which learning technology naturally occurs in one’s life.

I hope that you find this exhibit informative in some way and that it may be helpful in understanding the BPSI experience of learning technology for the purpose of employment.