How Technology Helps People With Disabilities in Their Career Path

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Technology helps people with disabilities live better lives and achieve just as much as their peers -- if not more! From finding jobs to learning new skills to starting a business, various technologies make it easier for those who suffer from an impairment. However, technology would not be so advanced without the helpful input from people with disabilities, making them contributors to top-notch innovations that make society more inclusive. Here are a few tips from Kilogramme on how people with an impairment can use technology to improve their professional careers.

Tools to Address Employment Barriers

When seeking a job, the internet can be your best resource. You have the option to find leads through your network, classified ads, job placement services, and even disability advocacy groups. More remote work is available these days, and a growing number of job seekers prefer to work from home. Freelancing has also made great strides because of the most recent health crisis, with many people working remotely.

This new type of work standard is advantageous for most people, especially the differently abled, as it cuts commuting expenses, offers flexibility, and allows people to work anywhere — be it their own homes or a cafe nearby. With this in mind, you can pursue gigs such as web design, virtual assistant, graphic designer, and so forth. These types of work can also be very lucrative.

When putting together your CV, looking for jobs, and applying online, you can find a wide range of tech tools that make things easier for you. For instance, Microsoft's Tell Me makes it possible for a user to access commands in the Office Suite without having to remember their location or name. Another tool, Focus Assist, blocks alerts and notifications to help reduce distractions. Advances in the optical character recognition field — such as facial recognition, object recognition, and text-to-speech — are used to create new tools that deliver visual data through audio. Artificial intelligence is being utilized to identify which of the numerous bits of visual information in a particular environment are worth mentioning.

Technology to Help With Interviewing

Even though you're not lawfully required to reveal that you have disabilities during an interview, you may decide to do so. Depending on the impairment, you may want to discuss how you're using technology to help you get the job done. During your interview, for instance, there is an app that allows the hearing impaired to participate in conversations by converting what the interviewer is saying into readable text. These apps and software then make it easier for you to integrate, seek a job like any other person, and land it.

Assistive Technologies in a Career

All employees need the right technology to do their job efficiently. Employees with disabilities can then use various apps and other assistive tech tools to work more efficiently and be more productive, including ergonomic or large-print keyboards, text-to-speech software, a mouse with larger projection buttons, and headphones to mask the background noise. For those with vision challenges, magnification programs will help a lot, while a computer screen reader that can read the content of PC screens to users is essential for more severe visual issues.

Prepare the Ideal Workspace

Once you’ve landed the job or launched your freelance venture, it’s crucial to make sure your office space works for you. It should be organized and tidy, and will, ideally, be conducive to deep focus and productivity. An adjustable-height desk and ergonomic chair are both musts. And you want to implement barriers to avoid disruption from family or roommates, so consider setting office hours. Optimize your space for comfort too, and keep healthy snacks and filtered water close at hand to maintain energy throughout the day.

In a Nutshell

When looking for a job, interviewing, and working, people with disabilities can balance the scales using the right technology. Every step of the way in your career path, tech tools can help you advance and reach all your work-related targets, allowing you to reach your full, amazing potential.