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Panel: Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, Tracy Castillo. Q1. Android or iOS for intellectual disability, Q2. Do we need a computer anymore, Q3. Online Checks for visually impaired, Q4. GPS Preferences, Q5. Keyboard shortcuts for Chrome OS, Q6. Wildcard: What do you use to keep track of Todos?
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Brian Norton:
Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions with your host Brian Norton, director of Assistive Technology at Easterseals Crossroads. This is a show where we address your questions about Assistive Technology, the hardware, software, tools and gadgets that help people with disabilities lead more independent and fulfilling lives. Have a question you’d like to answer it on our show? Send us a tweet with the #ATFAQ, call our listener line at 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. The world of Assistive Technology has questions and we have answers. And now let’s jump into today’s show.
Brian Norton:
Hello and welcome to ATFAQ episode 132. My name is Brian Norton and I’m the host of the show. And we’re so happy that you’ve taken some time to tune in with us this week. We have a great lineup of Assistive Technology questions for you today. But before we jump in, just want to take a moment to go around the room and introduce the folks who are here with us today. The first is Belva Smith. Belva is the vision team lead for our Clinical Assistive Technology team. Belva, you want to say hey.
Belva Smith:
Hey everybody.
Brian Norton:
I also have Tracy Castillo. She is the program manager for the end data project. The State’s Assistive Technology program here in the State of Indiana. Tracy, you want to say hey.
Tracy Castillo:
Hey everyone.
Brian Norton:
Excellent. We also have Josh Anderson. Josh is the manager of our Clinical Assistive Technology program and he is also the popular host of the ATF update podcast that we produce here at Easterseals Crossroads. Josh, you want to say hey.
Josh Anderson:
Hey, hey everybody. Welcome.
Brian Norton:
Excellent. Well, hey, we’re so glad that you guys have taken the time to tune in with us this week. We’ve got a great lineup of Assistive Technology questions, and I just want to give folks who are new listeners the opportunity to chime in and get us their questions. And so you can give us a call on our listener line. We’ve got three ways to do that. The first is our listener line. That’s 317-721-7124. You can send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org, or send us a tweet with the #ATFAQ, all great ways to get us your questions. We can also use those same ways to get us your feedback. We love to hear from you. So any of our listeners who are listening with us today as we cover these questions today we’d love to hear from you and have you provide feedback on those.
Brian Norton:
And you can do that again through our listener line, through email or by sending us a tweet. We’d love to be able to have you participate in the show in that way. We also want to let folks know that you can find our show just about anywhere you can find podcasts. We’d love to reach new people. And you can tell folks about where you can find our show by going to iTunes. You can find us on atfaqshow.com, that’s our own little website, Stitcher, Google Play Store. Really any place that you can find podcasts, you’re going to probably be able to find us. And so just want to let you know about that. So without further ado, I want to go ahead and jump into our first.
Brian Norton:
So our first question is my daughter is 17 with an intellectual disability. She can’t read or write, what system is better for her? I’m going to purchase her a new phone at Christmas. So it looks like it’s what system I’m thinking, what phone is better for her or it could be talking about apps, but I’ll just kind of open that up to the group.
Belva Smith:
Well, I think it’s similar to the question we had in our last show Brian, where we were being asked whether Android or Apple or iOS was more accessible, that’s kind of the way I’m reading it. And that again is a tough question. I think there’s more to consider than just which operating system you want to use, but basically her daughter’s 17, but does she have small hands? If so, that would have a lot to do with what size of phone you might want to get her or what type of phone you might want to get her? I would definitely want a smart phone rather than a flip phone, just because she points out that she has difficulty with both reading and writing and either way she goes, she’s going to be able to have things like text messages and emails read to her as well as have the ability to dictate the text message or the email, or even to read a web page or whatever she’s trying to access.
Belva Smith:
And I believe you can even get Siri to actually spell words for you now. But, well, I shouldn’t say that because yes, of course Siri can spell words, but I think as you are moving through the texts that you’re having read to you, if you move to the left or right, you can actually spell the words out to hear the spelling if it’s a word that’s perhaps used in two different formats so that you know which one it is. So that’s a big question that I think the easy answer is what’s going to be more comfortable for her individually as a device that she’s going to use all the time.
Brian Norton:
Yeah, I would agree. It’s a big question for sure. And I think you mentioned this point, I would say maybe 10 years ago, I would’ve had a real concrete answer for it. I would’ve said iPhone. Buy an iPhone, no problem. These days it’s a lot different. I think accessibility is pretty evenly matched and they push each other. They’re pushing each other in the right direction to make accessibility kind of a foundational piece of what smart devices or smart phones, tablets, whatever smart device you use. They’re finding accessibility is being more and more incorporated into kind of the ecosystem, the software, the operating system to make it better for everybody. And so today, I would say it’s kind of a toss-up, look at what are people using around you, who’s going to be able to support you.
Brian Norton:
I think there are some app differences, and I think we talked a little bit about this in our last show as well, but look at the different apps that are available for basically reading and writing. Apps that I would consider that I’ve used in the past one is Clara PDF. I believe that’s available on both Google or Android or iOS. And I think other ones seeing AI, we talked about Google Lookout. Those are very comparable programs. They can do text recognition and read it aloud to you. Handwriting recognition, those types of things, the reading piece. I think it’s a toss up. I think you’re right, Belva.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. And unfortunately this isn’t a phone, particularly isn’t a device that you can go to your local Assistive Technology act and try to borrow because most of those places don’t have phones because they require a service for you to really be able to see and feel exactly how they work, though you may be able to get a tablet to get some experience with the particular apps or whatever. It still isn’t the same as being able to use the phone and place a call and that kind of thing. And I think that’s probably another thing to consider too, is she going to be using this obviously from placing calls and receiving calls? So how comfortable is it for her to hold it in her hand and listen to the conversation? Or will she be using the speaker phone and that kind of thing, because some of the phones have better speaker phones than others. In fact, I’ve seen some of the Android phones that just really have excellent speakers better than the iPhone actually. But others that are not so good. So that’s something to consider with the phone conversation.
Belva Smith:
I wouldn’t [crosstalk 00:08:32] lending library, but though she said, this is going to be Christmas present, and right now is the time to start looking because if it’s just an opinion, if you have an Android phone, you probably want to get her an Android phone because if you have to do anything with it, you’re going to have to do something with her phone. You might want to know a little bit about it, but now this, we are getting into the holiday season. A lot of those cells are going to shop and start popping up at your local phone places, T-Mobile and all those other ones that we’re not compensated to say their names, but still, they should start happening. And I do know also that prime day is getting ready to start. So that happens next month. So I would keep my eyes on the ads that are starting to show up and then you’ll probably be able to get her a really nice phone for Christmas. And I hope she doesn’t hear this podcast.
Brian Norton:
No. And I’ll piggyback up on what Belva said just a little bit earlier, just about hardware, camera, I think you’re right. Speakers, camera, depending on what you’re looking for to read and write. If you’re taking pictures of something. Again, 10 years ago, cameras would have been a big difference on these devices. Now I think cameras, they’re better than what we ever had before. I don’t think you’d get a better camera than what you can get on a smartphone. So unless you’re really paying some good money for Sony or an icon or other types of devices, but anyways hardware would be definitely a consideration for that as well. But I’d love to open this up to our listeners. If you guys have any feedback or information you’d like to pass along to this particular mom, who’s trying to buy a phone for her daughter and looking for it to be able to do some reading and writing for her. Love to hear from you, give us a call at 317-721-7124, or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Talk to you soon. Thank you.
Brian Norton:
All right. So our next question is, do you think one can just use a mobile device, like a tablet to communicate with others, surf the internet, store files in cloud storage, attend classes online or meetings without the need to buy a computer anymore? That’s a good question.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. [crosstalk 00:10:59] I mean, I don’t know. I think there’s still a need for computer in some situations, but do I think an individual can perform each one of those tasks that this particular listener is asking? Absolutely. And can they do it with ease? Absolutely. And in a lot of ways, easier than using a computer, way cheaper than using a computer. Brian, I know you and I have had this conversation. Todd, who happens to be visually impaired, used to use a computer with screen magnification software and a reader. And then he tried to make the transition to [inaudible 00:11:42]. And to this day, now he’s a small business owner. He does not use his computer at all. He does everything on his tablet and his smartphone by the way. But yeah, he does all of his online business ordering, business communications, all of that stuff with a tablet and probably hasn’t touched his computer.
Belva Smith:
Well, I know for a fact since last December, because I spent a large amount of money to update his software foreign thinking that he was going to use it and I was dead wrong. So I think a tablet has… And I think I got to be more specific about that. I think an iPad has every opportunity to replace the need for a computer. Not all tablet, tablets are equal. For example, I bought my grandkids a $89 tablet last year for Christmas, probably [crosstalk 00:12:44] that you want to try to use for all that stuff, but wait for them to play on. And I think also having a tactile keyboard to go with it, also just makes it feel more like you’re working on a laptop, but as far as the processing speed and the hardware to be able to do all of those things, absolutely. Absolutely.
Tracy Castillo:
And [crosstalk 00:13:08] Josh.
Josh Anderson:
That’s fine, go ahead.
Belva Smith:
This was a great question. Everybody’s dying to get it. [crosstalk 00:13:13]
Tracy Castillo:
[crosstalk 00:13:13] So Belva, I’m going to go one up on you and say the, yes, I don’t think people need computers anymore. And I am going to even say we don’t need data plans anymore. All that are messaging apps and phone calls, phone calls can now be done over wifi. I’m just going to say, yeah, I think the computer it’s seen [inaudible 00:13:40] with the Apple, even the schools nowadays are using the tablets inside the classroom.
Belva Smith:
Not all of them, my grandkids are using Windows PC for their online classes. Yeah. I was shocked because all the schools that I had heard of in the past were either using the Chromebooks or tablets, but no, they’re doing the online academy and they’re required to have a Windows PC.
Josh Anderson:
Well, I think that goes class by class. Because I know some of the folks I’ve worked with, some of the teachers I’ve worked with, it’s like they get a iPad up to some grade, a Chromebook after that, a laptop after that. And I think they kind of do that, but it’s funny that you guys ask this question today because I’m driving back from meeting with a student that I’ve worked with for a while who’s in her senior year and she’s only used an iPad Pro the entire time, never touched a computer, never had to, uses the accessibility features built in, doesn’t even use any extra apps and doing just fine.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. And that’s why I say it could be cheaper because if you think about it, especially for our blind users, let’s say they buy the $700 computer. Then they’ve got to pay a $1000 for their screen reader. They got $1,700 right there. That’s without Microsoft Office and that’s without any other stuff, you can go buy an iPad. I mean, a really good iPad for what seven or $800 it’s going to have everything you need, as far as your screen reader, your screen magnifier, your dictation and all that stuff is going to be right there in one device.
Josh Anderson:
Well, not only that, it’s a document camera, it’s a scanner. It’s all of those other things, but otherwise to capture hard copy documents, you have to scan [inaudible 00:15:35] into the computer, then have something to read them. It can do all that just by hovering it over. So, yeah, you can do a lot of stuff with it. Truth be told, especially now that a lot of schools use the online Google tools or those kinds of things, you don’t even have to have Office really that much anymore.
Brian Norton:
Right. I’m in a grants with all of you. I think the biggest challenge for a lot of folks is just taking the time to make that transition. It’s a transition again. You’ve been using a computer for years and now you’ve got to move to a tablet and you got to figure out how to do all the things that you used to do. And you may figure out that some of the things you used to do, aren’t all that important. You don’t really need to do them. And you can make modifications or tweaks to your kind of workflow and make things work just as well with a tablet and get all your work done the way it should be.
Brian Norton:
I have a laptop and I have my iPad. And I’ve got the keyboard with the built-in mouse for my iPad and it works really great. I still, at this point prefer my MacBook, but just because… I don’t know, maybe it’s just something I’m used to, maybe I’m tactile. And I just like the way it feels or whatever. I really don’t know. But I think I probably could switch over to my tablet and get most of everything I need to do to work the way it should. So to be able to do my jobs directly from there. And I know my boss, our boss, our bosses boss is using that as well. So, he’s trying to move completely to iPad.
Brian Norton:
Wade who used to be a regular contributor on the show uses an iPad and has made that transition pretty successfully at this point to using his iPad for a lot of things. He still has a computer, like us all, but I think for the most part, his productivity tool is a tablet device. So great question. And something I thought this might get a lot of play with just our answers and stuff like that, because I think it’s a question that we all kind of struggle with. We’re all looking for the least expensive way to be able to kind of get our work done and we’re seeing tablets become more and more readily available, cheaper and more affordable for folks. But I do think you’re right, Belva. There are differences when you think about tablets, fire tablets, probably not going to work for you, iPad, maybe in Google, sorry. A Samsung Galaxy tab could probably do quite a few things for you.
Brian Norton:
Obviously, Surface Pros, they’re tablets. But they’ve got a full version of windows on them. Sure. Why not? That could do everything you’d definitely want to do with it, but definitely something to think about when I think at this point, love to hear from folks what they think. You can give us a call on our listener line at 317-721-7124, or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org, or send us a tweet with the #ATFAQ, love to hear what your thoughts are on the ability to be able to make the switch to a tablet and not need to be able to use a computer anymore for all of the other things that you need to use the computer for. And so can you make that transition successfully?
Belva Smith:
Hey Brian, before we conclude this question, I had in the last few months recommended, I can’t think of the name of the device, but it is an iPad Pro and that iPad Pro with a Bluetooth magic keyboard is all the tools that these students are going to use for their classroom environment, for their online environment and for just their research and homework and all that. Plus it’s going to double as their CCTV. So it’s that one tablet that’s going to be the only tool that they’re going to use for school. And they’re excited about it because it’s everything they need in one device folded up like a laptop, throw it in your backpack and go.
Brian Norton:
Wow, that’s cool. Excellent. All right. So our next question is I am looking for a solution for a client that would enable him to fill out checks using his printer. He doesn’t have an online service like Quicken or QuickBooks. Are there any templates in Excel or Word? He basically wants to be able to type into the edit fields and to be able to create checks that way, talks about his handwriting being too shaky. And so he wants to be able to fill those out on his computer locally. And so I’ll just kind of open that up to folks as well.
Belva Smith:
Well, I know that they said standard bank checks, but then also templates. I think you have to… You can’t just print a check on any kind of paper, it’s got to the right kind of paper to print it. And you’ve got to make sure that the payers are going to accept typed checks, but yes, there are templates that you can find in Word and online to print checks, but you also got to know what check you’re using because the templates got to fit that check. I did find online too with a quick Google search that there are, it’s called checkdepo.net., and from them you can actually order bank approved blank checks that can be printed. And then also they will print your checks for you as well.
Belva Smith:
And they say most of them ship within 24 to 48 hours. So, I don’t know, I think getting a stamp for your signature rather than a type signature, because I think having a type signature is going to create a problem in lots of different areas. I would also suggest obviously the individual is a computer user. So I would also highly consider perhaps looking at paying bills online. I bank at Thorn, I pay everything, everything, even if I owe Josh 10 bucks, I’m going to send it to him through my bank account. So I could not tell you the last time I wrote a check, because no matter who I’m trying to pay or what I’m trying to pay, I can just pay it online.
Belva Smith:
And my handwriting doesn’t matter. My signature doesn’t matter. So I would look into that as well as the possibility of being able to print them. And then I think didn’t I also see something about them wanting to be able to type the money orders.
Brian Norton:
Correct, yeah.
Belva Smith:
I think that… I don’t know. Because you got to be able to feed that into your printer. And I would think that, that would probably take a special kind of printer to be able to print and go through the carbon. Because don’t money orders have a carbon?
Brian Norton:
Yeah. And with money orders, you actually have to hand the cash in someone. So I don’t think you can do money orders from home. Because money orders take cash, I think in order [inaudible 00:23:04] from your bank. But I don’t believe that you can actually do those. Because there’re cashier’s checks, the cash has to change hands for the paper to kind of do… As opposed to a check where somebody gets to check the positives, then the money comes out. So I don’t know if you could really do that.
Belva Smith:
Now there are… And I actually did just buy some of these. There are those plastic check templates. In fact, Tracy, I had talked to you about printing the one on our 3D printer because there are those actual plastic check templates that you can use that might… Nobody’s going to be judging the handwriting that much, but with one of those, you just lay it over the top of the check and it’s cut out in the area where you’re going to fill in the pay to the order of, and where your signature goes in the memo section and all that. So it kind of controls where your handwriting can go. And I actually have created a couple of those out of cardboard many, many, many years ago when everybody was still writing checks, but really writing checks, it’s kind of a thing of the past. So I highly suggest whoever you’re banking with, talk to them about possibly paying your bills online.
Brian Norton:
Yeah, I would agree. Yeah. Your bank has usually… Most banks these days have an online payment system and they will actually, if repairs not in the system, they’ll write and print a check and send it directly to them. And so, I would just maybe look at that way, but I will say Belva, you mentioned this, there are quite a few. If you Google check templates for Word or check templates for Excel, there are lots of those available for folks if they do, but you do need special paper and you probably have to special order that paper to be able to get that to work. So great information on that.
Brian Norton:
I would love if Folks have experience in this area, or if you write your own checks from home and you have any special information or things that you want to add onto what we’ve already talked about today, we’d love to hear from you. You can give us a call our listener line that’s 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Love to hear from you. Thanks. All right. So our next question is, do you have a preference for particular GPS app, Apple, Google, Waze or other, any accessibility concerns with those two?
Josh Anderson:
So accessibility wise, I’m not as sure, but I like using Waze when I drive, because it tells me where police might be or where there’s things in the road or cars stop. If I’m walking around, I like Google Maps about the best, just because it seems to do better with the kind of in so many steps you need to turn and things like that, but really they’re all pretty good. Now I have used Apple Maps, kind of the built-in one in the past with voiceover and it seemed to work pretty well kind of when walking around, but that’s been quite a while. So accessibility wise, I haven’t used it as much and then Google Maps on their newest update, not that this is accessibility as far as the app itself, but you can search for places by accessibility. So it will tell you, if you’re going to the museum, it will tell you where accessible parking is. If the buildings accessible, kind of have only certain entrances and things like that. And it will actually have that accessibility information built in there as well. [crosstalk 00:26:44]
Belva Smith:
I’m very routine as Josh. What was the name of the app that I used to use?
Josh Anderson:
Then you use it as print out directions for MapQuest.
Belva Smith:
Well, okay. Yeah, but that was a long, long time ago.
Josh Anderson:
That was three years ago.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. But no, I upgraded, switch to maps and that’s just what I use. I find it to be very accessible. I love that I can just ask Siri to get me directions to wherever I’m going and it pulls it up and it gives me the auditorial direction for wherever I’m. And in fact, even if I know how to get where I’m going, I will still pull it up on my maps because as my mind goes off into lala land as I’m driving or whatever, having that feedback to say that I’ve got to turn in 1.5 and that gets me back on track. So I just use Maps and I think it’s easily accessible.
Brian Norton:
Yeah. I would agree with using the built-in one, I think it’s pretty accessible. I have found… Josh, I use Wazes almost exclusively when I’m on trips. So I agree with all that you’ve said about Wazes. I love how it’s a part of a social network and you get to hear about construction or reroutes or [crosstalk 00:28:06]
Josh Anderson:
[crosstalk 00:28:06] and give you directions.
Brian Norton:
Exactly, exactly. So, there’s so many cool things about that. One of the things I find interesting though is I’ve also started to use Google Maps occasionally and that’s because Google now owns Wazes. And they have started to pour over some of those features. And so I had something pop up on my map the other day about a speed trap up ahead or something like that. And so I think they’re starting to kind of pour some of the features of Wazes over into Google and you’re starting to kind of see backups and slowdowns and having it reroute you just within the traditional Google Maps apps that I use on my phone. Although almost exclusively most of the time, it’s Wazes for me. Tracy, what about you?
Tracy Castillo:
So, I have a couple of questions. One is Josh, why are you worried about where the cops are in the road and then two-
Josh Anderson:
That is none of your business, Tracy. [inaudible 00:29:09] just not worry about that.
Tracy Castillo:
I’m just [crosstalk 00:29:11] I just had to bring it up or inquiring minds need to know.
Josh Anderson:
If I may or may not have a tail light out.
Tracy Castillo:
Oh goodness. You better get that fixed. Hey guys, this is a little bit different, but recently, I was asked to go down to the White Cane Event down in Terre Haute. And so I’ve been looking at our new smart cane. So we have a smart cane in it and it has built in navigation and I downloaded the app and the app was free and I put it on my phone and I opened it up and it said what’s near me. And so I tapped that button. I’m sure if it was with a screen reader, it would have came up a little differently. I probably would have said it, but when I tapped it, it started giving me directions to the Arby’s and it said the Arby’s is so many meters away [inaudible 00:30:02] 11 o’clock. So I just thought I should bring that up. That’s inside the WeWALK app. And I just thought that was really neat to hear instructions given to someone who is possibly visually impaired. So I just wanted to bring that one up and get the tail light fixed, Josh.
Brian Norton:
Yeah, no kidding. It’s a company. I guess he’s in his personal car. So we’d love to hear from other folks what you guys use or what you think is a great GPS that folks should know more about. And then to really address the accessibility concerns on those. Do you find that there are accessibility concerns if you’re using any adaptive software or needing any special access to those particular programs. So give us a call on our listener line. That’s 317-721-7124, or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks.
Brian Norton:
All right. So our next question is, does anyone know of keyboard shortcuts for people with limited hand use? My daughter is using a Chromebook for school and the teachers taught her how to use the screenshot control, which basically is Control + Shift in the camera button on her device, but there’s no way she can do it. She’s got some dexterity in by motor control and doing keystrokes with multiple keys is really difficult for her. Any suggestions?
Tracy Castillo:
Does the Chromebook have Sticky Keys?
Brian Norton:
It does. Yeah. So I was going to mention that. So yeah, Sticky Keys is a part of the accessibility features. So if you get into your accessibility features, you’ll see an option called Sticky Keys. But first off to do that, at the bottom right of your screen, within Chrome, you can locate the settings button. It looks like a little gear. You can select the advanced and then you’ll select manage accessibility features. And then when you get underneath there, you’re going to see some different options. One of those options is keyboard options, and that’s where you can go in and turn on Sticky Keys. You can also open up the accessibility features or the… I’m sorry, the settings menu directly by pressing Alt + Shift + S from the desktop, if you will, on your Chrome device.
Brian Norton:
So, you can do Alt + Shift + S, go to advanced, go to manage accessibility features, go to keyboard, and then turn on Sticky Keys. And what Sticky Keys does is it basically allows you to do keystrokes that have multiple key combinations by pressing the keys individually. So if you wanted to press Control + Alt + S for some reason, you could press the Control key, let it go, press the Alt key, let it go, and then the S key, and then it would actually then perform the keystroke you’re looking to do.
Brian Norton:
So it holds those keys down until you hit the last key of that particular key combination. And so Sticky Keys is a great option for that. And so, that is a part of Chrome. It’s also a part of other operating systems too. You can find that in Windows, under the accessibility center, under keyboard accommodations there, you can also find it in the Mac under settings, go to your accessibility area. And under keyboard, you’re going to find Sticky Keys there too. So it’s just about on every platform, if you will. So-
Tracy Castillo:
Another option might be to consider SpaceSaver keyboard, or what we often call a one-handed keyboard, depending upon what Chromebook she’s using. It probably has a larger span of keys than what the SpaceSaver keyboard would have. And that would just be a USB device that you go plug into her Chromebook, which would give her a smaller area to reach for those keys. But definitely Sticky Keys is the way I would start. And with Windows, the Sticky Keys makes a sound. So if you have Sticky Keys turned on and you press Control, it makes a little sound to let you know I’m holding control. And then when you press Alt, it makes that sound again, and then you press the third key and the sound doesn’t happen because then all three keys are released. They’ve performed the action and release.
Brian Norton:
Another option too, that I don’t believe would work on Chrome, which is specifically what we’re looking at, but if you’re using a Windows or a Mac machine, there are a couple of keyboards. You mentioned SpaceSaver keyboards. Those are really great. A couple of other keyboards to think about, these are programmable or customizable keyboards. So there’s one called Stream Deck Excel and they gave you 32 customizable keys. So you can actually do keyboard macros and tie it to one key. So for this instance, if you wanted to open up the settings menu in Chrome, if it would work on Chrome, you could do Alt + Shift + S. Well, you can do a customized button where you just have to press one button and it’ll do the all three keystrokes for you.
Brian Norton:
So Stream Deck is one, and then you can also look at X-keys as another option for folks just to have a customizable, programmable keyboard, to be able to do these keystroke combinations that you use for most often. So, and I guess me, it would depend on how often am I using that if I’m going to go through that trouble with one of those programmable keyboards and pay for the expense of those, but something to think about.
Brian Norton:
All right, so I’m going to open this up to folks. If you have any experience with that or other kinds of options or accommodations that you think would be helpful for this particular individual, let us know. We’d love to get that feedback over to them. You can give us a call on our listener line. That’s 317-721-7124, or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Love to hear from you. Thanks
Speaker 6:
And now it’s time for the wild-card question.
Brian Norton:
All right, so our next question is the wild-card question, and this is a question that Belva typically comes up with, but I’ve got it for today’s show. And so here’s the question for today. Our wild-card, I am interested in how you all keep track of what is on your to-do list. And so here’s the options, pen and paper, a smartphone app, your computer, a smart speaker, that could be Google Home or Amazon Echo, or another smart speaker or a tablet app. So again, pen and paper, smartphone, computer, smart speaker, or tablet. How do you guys keep track of your to-do list?
Josh Anderson:
So I use [crosstalk 00:36:58] me first this time, Belva. [crosstalk 00:37:01]
Belva Smith:
Okay. Go, Josh.
Josh Anderson:
All right. I use three out of five of those, because I use to-do list and it links between my phone, my Mac, and my iPad, and keeps them all together. But it’s super simple. I just use the free version. So I don’t get all the really super cool features. I can’t set reminders with it or anything like that, but I set dates when things are due and I just look at it every day and I don’t know, it works pretty well. The only thing that stinks about the free version is you can’t go back and see what you’ve done. So I know I’ve accomplished like 1,112 tasks, but I have no idea what any of them are. So some days, I look and I’m like, I didn’t get anything done, but I accomplished 36 tasks, but I don’t remember what any of them are.
Josh Anderson:
So, but I seem to forget a lot less, especially those little things, like the email you just couldn’t send because you were driving or going to meeting and little things like that. But I used to do pen and paper and I still have pads of paper in my desk at the office that were really great notes that were never looked at again. So that one does not work for me, but to-do list is a great one. And like I said, I use the free version. It’s super simple. It’s not HIPAA Compliant, so I have to put just initials usually, but that’s enough to at least let me know what I need to do.
Brian Norton:
Very cool. What about you, Belva?
Belva Smith:
So unlike Josh, I have a smart speaker in pretty much every room of my house except the two bathrooms. So if I need to remember someone’s birthday or if I need to remember that the gutters are going to get cleaned on a certain date, if it’s a personal reminder, I usually use one of my smart speakers, be it Alexa or Google. But if it’s a work related thing, I usually use Siri because I just ask her to remind me that I need to call such and such before this date. And then it will say, “Oh, great. What time would you like to be reminded?”
Belva Smith:
So work, I use my Siri. Home, I use my speaker. I have never, ever been good at pen and paper, even if I was really good at writing it down, I could never find it when I needed it. I would find it six months later and be like, “Oh yeah, that’s done now.” Or, “Shoot, I forgot that one.”
Tracy Castillo:
Right. I’m kind of like the analog/digital type. I have my notebook right here. I’m having fun writing things down, Josh, if you’re writing it down, thinking it and spelling it out, it helps put it in your head too. It helps-
Josh Anderson:
It does. But then when I lose it in my desk, it doesn’t do me any good later.
Tracy Castillo:
I know because I’m like, I know later on I’m going to have to be on certain module. What module is that? What page was that on? So that’s what it’s [inaudible 00:39:48] right now. I have been recently… Brian gave me kind of like a checklist off of Excel and I’ve just been having fun with that. So kind of like analog/digital, because I’m still writing them down, but then now I’m just typing in it.
Brian Norton:
I’m an absolute mess when it comes to note taking, I have lots of… I used to-do this like Josh, I’ve got all those notes over there. Sometimes if I’m just in the moment and I’m brainstorming, I bring up the notes app on my iPhone or on my computer because those get shared between those devices. I’m also pen and paper. So if I’m on a phone call, it kind of depends on what kind of meeting I’m in and what I have available to me. And then I always do try at least a couple of times a week to consolidate those into to-do list because like Josh mentioned, it’s cross-platform and I can get to it from really anywhere. But I’m a little bit of a mess. I keep notes everywhere.
Brian Norton:
And then once or twice a week, I try to consolidate those all into one big, long list as best I can, sometimes I don’t do a very good job, but always as best I can, but there’s seemingly just so many things to keep in mind and to capture and to keep track of, and those types of things. Some things do fall through the cracks. And that’s a little bit of my mess that I have on my hands, but again, it’s whatever tool I have and what type of meeting I’m a part of, and what’s the best way to be able to capture that information. So, I thought that might be just a fun one.
Josh Anderson:
So, Brian, I guess I kind of do that too. I just try to when I put things in to-do I make sure they’re actionable items. So I still have a bunch of stuff in notes. I keep the questions for this and in case I read them, I put them in notes, [inaudible 00:41:39] they don’t have to search for the email. I can easily just open them no matter where I am. And some other things. And I guess I do take notes on paper whenever I’m on a phone call, but then I try to look at it and make actionable things. And truthfully, if you’re really looking for a great way to be able to have to-do lists and do it right, that getting things done that Wade made us all read, is kind of a great way to do it too. And you can look that up online just GTD or Getting Things Done, and it will give you an overview of it.
Josh Anderson:
Really it’s just getting all those thoughts out of your head, all the things you need to do, and then putting them as actionable items for things I can do in five minutes. Things that’ll take a little bit longer. On to-do list I have two folders, one called someday and one called probably never, which unfortunately are both getting much bigger than they should be, but just because when something sits there and you just keep moving into the next day, it’s like, “All right, someday I’ll fix that.” And then some are just probably never, but it seems to just make it easier.
Brian Norton:
Right.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. If I’m on a phone call or just working with a consumer or whatever or not, and something comes up, I’ll use notes to type that. And I do have an awfully lot of notes in my files, but that’s different than to-do. Because the to-do is just, I got to remember that this has got to be done.
Josh Anderson:
Yeah.
Belva Smith:
Unfortunately, I guess I’m just really bad about to-do’s, I think doing a to-do, like you guys are talking about the to-do list thing, to me, that’s just another thing you got to do. So that’s why I like just the spoken, “Hey, remind me that the gutters are going to be cleaned on Tuesday at four.”
Tracy Castillo:
And I like that too, and I’ve tried it, but my technology has failed and I almost burned this tanks. Because I told her to remind me in 15 minutes to turn the gas down on this grill. And do you know what? She never heard me even say her name. What’s that smell?
Josh Anderson:
That’s because she’s vegetarian. She just doesn’t tell you that.
Tracy Castillo:
[crosstalk 00:43:46] what happened.
Josh Anderson:
Totally vegan. Yup.
Brian Norton:
That’s awesome. Well, hey guys, thank you for today’s show. Really appreciate all the great feedback and answers that you guys provided today. I want to give you guys the opportunity to say goodbye to our listeners. So we wrap up the show today. Belva, I’ll start with you.
Belva Smith:
See you guys next time.
Brian Norton:
And then Tracy.
Tracy Castillo:
Bye everyone. Thanks for having me.
Brian Norton:
And Josh.
Josh Anderson:
Till we meet again.
Brian Norton:
Alrighty guys. Well, hey, would love for everyone who’s listening today to chime in, provide some feedback, send us your questions. You can do that again in a variety of ways, you can send it to our listener line. That’s 317-721-7124. You can do it through our email, that’s tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. And you can also send those our way by sending us a tweet to the #ATFAQ. Love to hear from you. Thanks for listening and being a part of our show, without you, we don’t have a show. And so we’re so grateful and thankful for all of you who are listeners today. Have a great one. And we’ll talk to you guys in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 6:
And it seems like every week we have at least one blooper. So here you go.
Brian Norton:
Yeah, I can hear the dogs, but you’re good. Get muted, get muted.
Speaker 6:
Information provided on Assistive Technology FAQ does not constitute a product endorsement. Our comments are not intended as recommendations nor is our show evaluative in nature. Assistive Technology FAQ is hosted and produced by Brian Norton, gets editorial help by Josh Anderson and Belva Smith and received support from Easterseals Crossroads in the end data project. ATFAQ is a proud member of the Accessibility Channel. Find more of our shows at wwwaccessibilitychannel.com.
