Nuance Communications has been developing Dragon speech recognition software for many years to provide a user-friendly method of helping disabled people turn their thoughts into words – crucial for success in education and the workplace.

Webinar / roundtable conference on 16 June 2021  
Nuance invites disabled people as well as businesses, schools and colleges and other organisations, to join them at their first webinar / roundtable conference on 16 June 2021. Visit: https://nuance.zoom.us/webinar/register/5116220185381/WN_PPwMI-IkSaCum7h27xIVlQ

A key advantage of Dragon is that it’s easy to learn to use as well as being highly accurate. Disabled people have sometimes struggled in aspects of life based around the printed word. The fact is, that while we can’t change the world, we can improve the way that disabled people are enabled to engage with it and achieve their full potential – based on their strengths.

Most of our demonstrations prove how simple and effective the technology really is. On many occasions, within around five minutes, it becomes clear to the user that this is going make a big difference to them!

Speech recognition software can be extremely helpful to students with a range of different disabilities. You might’ve thought that it would really only benefit people with physical disabilities, but in fact it’s helpful for people with cognitive conditions such as dyslexia or dyspraxia, mental health issues and a wide range of other conditions that can have anxiety associations. Empowering disabled people through technology is a way to level the ‘playing field’ and help them shine as individuals.

Some of the different scenarios in which we tend to recommend Dragon, include, where using a mouse or keyboard can be difficult, or perhaps where a person faces obstacles in translating their ideas into writing easily but can verbalise words and thoughts. It’s exciting to consider that there’s an injustice here that can be irradicated by Dragon, since such individuals are enabled to express and apply their intelligence to a range of projects and activities.

Furthermore, because the technology is so easy to apply it alleviates much of the anxiety around being able to communicate quickly and clearly. Not being able to do so can have a devastating effect on person’s confidence and self-esteem and can worsen the holistic challenges of their disability. The freedom Dragon represents encourages self-expression, energy, enthusiasm, motivation and ideas, from people with a great deal to contribute in variety of settings. In this sense, the potential impact of the technology is beyond traditional measurements.

Dragon simply brings disabled people an opportunity to efficiently convert the spoken word to editable text. One demonstrator said, “the disability effects essentially disappear for most people.”

The best ideas are simple ideas – but small things can make a big difference!

More:
Nuance invites disabled people as well as businesses, schools and colleges and other organisations, to join them at their first webinar / roundtable conference on 16 June 2021. Visit: https://nuance.zoom.us/webinar/register/5116220185381/WN_PPwMI-IkSaCum7h27xIVlQ See our accessibility page at: https://www.nuance.com/en-gb/dragon/business-solutions/accessibility-solutions-for-business.html