Few people who use computers in their daily lives ever think much about the cursor, but keeping track of it can be a struggle for a person with a visual impairment.One solution is a little piece of software that will draw a circle around the cursor, making it easier to spot.According to Scottish occupational therapist Margaret McKay, this is one of many tools that can open up technology to people with visual challenges and disabilities. This free technology can even be used by people with normal vision whose eyes are tired and want to read the screen a little easier. Ms McKay is an eAdvisor for accessibility and inclusion at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She is involved with the university’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) TechDis Centre, an advisory service that focuses on technology and inclusion of people with disabilities.Ms McKay was recently in Bermuda as part of Techweek 2011, to talk about assistive technology.While here she talked with around 200 people including occupational therapists, teachers, learning support staff, people with disabilities, members of the Lions Club, physiotherapists, nurses and the Human Rights Commission.She started her career as an occupational therapist (OT) with Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire health boards.“When I worked as an OT I became involved in vocational rehabilitation. That is helping people returning to work after mental health problems or physical disabilities. That got me working with college, universities and employers and that was the conduit to this.”Her relationship with Bermuda started when she became friends with a Bermudian OT working in Glasgow, Joanne Pratt.‘She lived and worked in Glasgow with myself. She was involved with this whole area of rehabilitation. I stayed with her family in Shelly Bay, and she introduced me to all the contacts in Bermuda. Unfortunately, she died a few years ago, but she has left a wonderful legacy.”She said it was especially moving to be helping people on the Island because of that relationship.“My role in the United Kingdom is to look at technology as a tool for inclusion,” said Ms McKay. “Technology can be a really powerful way of removing barriers in education, work, and society.”She said in these austere financial times people may not be able to afford commercial assistive technology packages, which can cost hundreds of dollars. Her message is that there is plenty of helpful free software available on the Internet, whether it is programmes that convert text to speech, tools that magnify a screen or tools that help change the colour of text and background. “A teacher or administrator in a school or college might say ‘I don’t have any blind or dyslexic students right now’,” she said. “First of all, one in ten people are dyslexic. A lot of people don’t disclose that they are dyslexic or even know it. If you know that you have created something that is accessible to someone with a visual impairment, it might be that six weeks or six months down the line someone might use a piece of technology to access that. You won’t need to go back and retrofix it. It’s already fixed. If people start taking steps to make sure their documents are accessible, that is just best practice. There is a growing range of fantastic tools that will help. There are planning and organisation tools, mind mapping tools, and tools that will help you plan an essay or weekly tasks.”She said one “fantastic” programme will convert a text file into an MP3 file, allowing the person to listen to it at their leisure. To help things along she has brought along and handed out numerous free universal serial bus (USB) flash drives containing several programmes helpful to people with visual challenges.This is part of JISC TechDis’ AccessApps programme that involves handing out flash drives with over 50 open source and freeware access programmes on them that can be run right from the flash drive with no installation onto the computer required. The user can simply take the flash drive on to the next computer. “A lot of times these programmes are portable,” Ms McKay said. “You can just carry them around on your flash drive, so you have power in your pocket. We are looking at technology for people with disabilities, but a lot of assistive technologies can be helpful to everybody because they can help you personalise what you are reading. Sometimes older people might use them, or people who maybe are less confident readers.“The Bermuda National Office for Seniors and Physically Challenged is very keen to promote assistive technology. It can be fantastic for everyone. Technology can be a real enabler. A lot of these tools are really powerful for employers to think about in terms of how they can make information more accessible for their employees and clients.”She said the satisfaction of her job is seeing people finally able to access something that they couldn’t get to before. She likes to see that dawning realisation that accessing a document, website or publication, is not that difficult.For more information see the website www.jisctechdis.ac.uk.