AT User Guides

Explore this collection of assistive technology user guides to learn new strategies, discover tips, and enhance your digital experience. Choose a guide below or from the menu.

About this resource

• Using This Resource explains how to find your way around.
• The Accessibility Statement describes the accessibility features of this resource and how to report a barrier.

Who these guides are for

These guides were written for Langara College students and staff, and anyone is welcome to use them. Most of the tools are free or already built into your computer, phone, or browser. Some cost money, or are licensed by schools and employers.

Each tool has labels that show how to get it:

Built in: part of your device, browser, or an app you already have.

Free: free to download and use.

Free plan: free with limits. More features cost money.

Paid: you or your organization needs to buy it.

Available at Langara: Langara provides it to students and/or staff.

Select a label to reveal more information about availability.

Boxes titled At Langara apply only to Langara.

Not at Langara? Your school or workplace may already pay for some of these tools. Ask your accessibility office (it may be called Accessibility Services, Disability Services, or Student Accessibility), your IT help desk, or your library what’s available to you and how to sign in.

Reading

Tools that read text aloud or show it in an easier-to-read view, and get the text out of scans and images.

• Text to Speech Tools: have text read aloud with ReadSpeaker, Word, browsers, and your devices.
• Reading Alternate Format Material: TextAid, Calibre, Kurzweil, Speechify, and NaturalReader.
• Optical Character Recognition: get the text out of scans, images, and inaccessible PDFs.

Dictation and Voice Control

Type with your voice, or control your computer or phone with voice commands.

• Speech to Text Tools: type with your voice in Word, Windows, Android, iOS, macOS, and Dragon.
• Voice Control: control your computer or phone with your voice.

Note-taking and Mind Mapping

Note-taking methods, apps that record and transcribe, and tools for organizing ideas visually.

• Note-taking and Transcription: note-taking methods, and apps that record and transcribe.
• Mind Mapping: organize ideas visually and turn them into an outline.

Closed Captions

This page covers ways to turn on captions in video players, meeting apps, browsers, and devices, including automatic live captions for audio that isn’t captioned. Ensuring videos have accurate captions is the responsibility of whoever owns the content.

• Closed Captions: captions in video players, meetings, browsers, and devices.

Vision and Screen Enhancement

Screen reader and magnifier software for users that are blind or have low vision.

• Screen Readers: JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, TalkBack, and ChromeVox.
• Magnifiers: ZoomText and the magnifiers built into your devices.

More Tools

Browser settings, math tools, a free accessibility toolbar, and websites for finding more assistive technology.

• Browsers: accessibility settings and tools in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.
• Equatio Quick Start Guide: write math, and have it read aloud.
• Morphic: a free toolbar for your computer’s accessibility features.
• Finding More Tools: websites for finding other assistive technology.

Software changes often. If something in a guide is out of date, or you have questions or comments about these guides, contact assistivetech@langara.ca.

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Assistive Technology User Guides by Luke McKnight is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.