On Tuesday 26th April 2022, BT Group plc and AbilityNet discussed the reasonable adjustments you can make to help your employees thrive at work.

Covid-19 has increased the complexity of issues for disabled employees or mental health conditions. This webinar showed ways you can respond to the on-going changes that are affecting your employees.

The speakers discussed:

• What best practice might look like. 
• Examples of the assistive technologies that organisations are using.
• How HR professionals must consider what their employees expect, and what they can provide for them.
• Focus on ergonomic, musculoskeletal and display screen equipment adjustments since Covid

The panellists discussed these points relating to The Equality Act 2010, which requires you to make reasonable adjustments. 

Did you know that The Equality Act 2010 states that employers and service providers must make reasonable adjustments to allow disabled people access to the same opportunities and services as non-disabled people?  

This is a legal duty, and the adjustments must be effective, practical and significant.

Here are some examples of reasonable adjustments:

• Allowing absence for rehabilitation, absence or treatment
• Arranging or giving extra training
• Acquiring or modifying equipment
• Modifying instructions or reference manuals
• Providing a reader or interpreter
• Providing supervision

In the webinar, our pannelists discussed reasonable adjustments particularly in the light of Covid-19 and the effects on disabled employees.

About the webinar

This webinar included two panellists from AbilityNet, Mairead Comerford, Head of HR, and Adam Tweed, Innovation Consultant for Education and Workplace. Mairead spoke about her experiences in HR and discussed the resources available to you and how to build accessible processes. Adam went through the adjustment options and discussed how they don’t have to be expensive to make and impact. Plus, he brought to life the idea that assistive technology can empower employees.

Our third panellist, Lina Chauhan from BT, who is an Ergonomic, Musculoskeletal and Wellbeing (MSK) Specialist focused on MSK set up and approach to Display Screen Equipment (DSE) adjustments was amplified to support health and wellbeing and working from home at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

The webinar also gave an opportunity to ask questions to the panellists.

AbilityNet's website has several free expert resources about reasonable adjustments. Find free blogs and factsheets on our website. 
 

Further resources 

• Keep up to date with accessibility issues with the AbilityNet newsletter 
• Find out more about AbilityNet's free live webinar events
• Unsure where to start with digital accessibility? Speak to our experts for help.
• Other HR and workplace-related courses running soon that you might be interested in:
• How to Develop Accessible, Inclusive Recruitment
• How to Develop Accessible, Inclusive Onboarding
• How to develop inclusive, accessible customer services
• How to run accessible, inclusive meetings and events on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and more

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people. If you can afford it, please donate to help us support older and disabled people through technology.

AbilityNet's Disability Consultant Alex Barker, answers some of the commonly asked questions about stroke and technology.

Imagine for a moment that you were unable to use one side of your body. Your foot, leg, arm, or hand stop working. It could be temporary or permanent. 

These are just some of the ways that a stroke might affect you. 

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to your brain is cut off or is blocked. It can affect your ability to communicate and process information. It's a devastating blow, but there's a lot of technology that can help you.

There are approximately 152,000 strokes in the UK each year, according to The Stroke Association. That's one stroke every three and a half minutes. Famous people who have suffered a stroke include BBC TV presenter Andrew Marr, and American actor Grace Kelly.

What causes a stroke?

There are two leading causes of stroke:

Ischaemic strokes

Blockages which cut off the blood supply to parts of the brain are an Ischemic stroke. Clots occur in a brain artery or a small blood vessel deep within the brain. Without blood, brain cells begin to die. This damage has different effects, depending on where it happens in your brain

Haemorrhagic strokes

These occur when a blood vessel bursts within or on the surface of the brain. Haemorrhagic strokes are generally more severe and are associated with a considerably higher risk of dying within the first three months and beyond when compared to ischaemic strokes.

Common questions about using a computer after a Stroke

1. Following my stroke, my muscles are weak in particular in my arms, which makes it difficult to type for long periods? What do you recommend?

There are many different keyboards available. We often find that people who have had strokes tend to use the movement on one side of their body, so consequently, they can only use one arm.

Sometimes it is hard to hold down two keys at once, especially when you want to hit a capital letter. In this instance, it might be useful to use Sticky Keys.

2. I’ve recently suffered a stroke, and it’s affected my vision. Can I make on-screen text bigger?

Both Windows and Apple computers, as well as smartphones, have built-in magnifiers to make seeing the screen that much easier.   It might also be a good idea to make the text bigger on the screen.  If your vision is poor, you might find using a smartphone with either Google Assistant or Siri to be very useful as it gives you speech feedback.

3. My husband has suffered a stroke and is finding it difficult to communicate. Are there any technology tools that can help us?

Software such as Natural Readers for Windows computers or Select to Speak for Mac devices can certainly help with small pieces of text being spoken out.

There are also a lot of dedicated communication software packages available if your needs are greater. One example is Proloquo2go, and another app is Tap to Talk,

We would always say that getting the support of a speech and language therapist or other health professionals would be very useful.

4. I have issues with hitting the wrong keys on the keyboard - is there anything out there that can help me?

There are a lot of alternative keyboards available. Some have huge keys so that it’s easier for someone to identify and hit the key they want. Some keyboards are tiny, so this makes them easier to use for someone with reduced mobility. Both types of keyboards can be fitted with a keyguard, and this makes it harder to hit two keys at once. There is in fact a keyboard that can make it easier to hit the right keys, that doesn't need a keyguard.

5. I find it challenging to use the mouse as it is too fast for me. Can you tell me how to slow it down?

You can quickly slow the mouse down by going into Ease of Access within the Windows Control Panel and then slowing down the mouse. You can configure the speed of your mouse to your requirements.

You can do the same on a Mac by opening System preferences and clicking on the Mouse options.

6. My Mum has difficulties making herself understood since her stroke, but she can use the keyboard. Is there any technology that can help?

Software such as Natural Readers for Windows Computers or Mac’s inbuilt  Select and Speak technology can certainly help with small pieces of text being spoken out. 

There are also a lot of dedicated communication software packages available if your needs are greater. One example is Proloquo2go. Another is called Tap To Talk

Using a tablet computer or smartphone may also help as they also include Virtual Assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant, or Cortana that can respond to commands and dictate messages.

Take a look at our webinar about How to Control Your Computer With your Voice for more details about the options.

6. My Dad now has difficulties filling out online forms. What can be done to help?

The Stroke Association has a really useful activity that can help with online form filling.

7. My Grandma has had a stroke and she feels scared of using the internet. How can I help her? 

The Stroke Association has some good tips for keeping safe online.  These were written as part of Safer Internet Day, but it is a good idea to keep safe every day of the year! 

The physical and emotional impact of a stroke

According to The Stroke Association:

• 4 in 10 people say the tangible effects of a stroke is the hardest to deal with (Stroke Association)
• 44% of stroke survivors experience severe anxiety as a result of their aphasia (Stroke Association)
• 1 in 3 areas in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland do not provide support to the carers and families of stroke survivors.
• 45% of all stroke survivors feel abandoned after they leave the hospital

Here is a link to getting Emotional Support after a stroke. 

Case Study

Jane's mum Gloria has had a stroke, and now she finds it difficult to communicate with her grandchildren. We've steered her towards some software that will help her "speak" her thoughts.  Gloria has some memory problems, too, so we've explained that there is software available that can help with reminding you about important tasks.

How can we help?

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people.

• Call our free Helpline. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff will discuss any kind of computer problem and do their best to come up with a solution. We’re open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm on 0800 269 545.
• Arrange a home visit. We have a network of AbilityNet volunteers who can help if you have technical issues with your computer systems. They can come to your home, or help you over the phone.
• We have a range of factsheets that talk in detail about technology that might help you, which can be downloaded for free. You may find our factsheets about voice recognition and keyboard alternatives useful.
• My Computer My Way. A free interactive guide to all the accessibility features built into current desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

A recent collaboration brings the cloud computing and AI smarts of Intel together with the indoor mapping expertise of GoodMaps to help overcome the challenges that people with disabilities face when trying to navigate complex or unfamiliar indoor environments.

It's always been difficult for someone who is low vision or blind, for example, to find their way around an unfamiliar and often bewildering building. It is similarly so for people with a learning disability trying to interpret signage that almost everyone also finds confusing. Wheelchair users need to know where to find lifts and accessible bathroom facilities. Successfully navigating indoor spaces can be tough if you have a disability.

Technology has long been leveraged to help. GPS disappears inside a building - and, even in the best outdoor conditions - doesn't afford you the accuracy needed for successful indoor wayfinding. Bluetooth beacons can aid orientation and provide additional information about nearby points of interest (such as where to locate the lift's control panel; "To the left of each lift at chest height") and, given enough for successful triangulation by your phone, sufficient accuracy to help you find that reception desk, doorway or staircase eyes-free. The down-side is that they require significant initial installation (you need many dozen on any given floor to be useful) and ongoing maintenance as their batteries only last so long.

A far more efficient approach is to create an accurate digital map of an indoor space and then leverage powerful AI to help interpret that space real-time. For a user holding a device - equipped with a powerful processor, camera and lazer-finding (lidar) capabilities - the upshot is access to as much information about objects, obstacles and orientation as they personally need. The good news is that all of these smarts exist in many of the smartphones we already have in our hands.

A GoodMaps and Intel partnership

Digital mapping experts; GoodMaps and chip and AI giants; Intel are combining their strengths to help make this approach to indoor navigation a reality. Initially Focusing on students at Portland State University, GoodMaps are working to create the next generation of indoor high-resolution 3D maps that will “Help solve complex tasks in dynamic environments through AI and cloud-computing capabilities” and Intel is investing, researching, and developing the key hardware and software enablers to help interpret the environment and give each user a personalised experience based upon their needs.

For more information on the project, check out a recent article on Disability Insider.
 

Give me a Clew to help me navigate

As a blind person I can totally relate to the challenges of indoor wayfinding – and the use of AI to assist me with this challenge is nothing new.

For several years now I’ve been using a brilliant app called Clew that uses your smartphone’s camera combined with the smarts of AI to map and retrace any indoor route.

The shortcoming to this approach, however, is that it only works for specific routes that have been walked before. With some assistance, you could walk several routes in buildings you need to navigate and save them in the app, but if you wanted to go off-piste (to a lecture in a room you’ve not visited before, say) then you’re stuck.

This is where the power of the above collaboration comes in. Take the limited data captured by walking a route and expand it to the entire building – every floor, nook and stairwell. Then take the AI required to recognise the objects on a single walked route (seen only from those specific directions) and expand it to be able to interpret every object within a building from every possible angle and orientation. Then consider the user’s specific needs when it comes to the type, frequency and level of information they require And, voila! You have what it takes to crack the challenge of effective indoor wayfinding for everyone.

So best of luck GoodMaps and Intel and here’s to never getting lost again.

Further resources 

• Read our article on maps and accessibility.
• Discover more on how smart home technology can help disabled people.
• Unsure where to start with digital accessibility? Speak to our experts for help.

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people. If you can afford it, please donate to help us support older and disabled people through technology. 

AbilityNet is proud to be a partner in the Digital Lifeline project that supported over 5,000 people with learning disabilities during the pandemic. An evaluation report has now been published by the Good Things Foundation and the government, showing the positive impact that technology can have on the lives of people with learning disabilities, and underlining the power of partnership in addressing digital exclusion.

Closing the digital divide

People with a learning disability face higher risks from health threats like COVID-19 as well as risks of loneliness. Many also experience digital barriers.

Digital Lifeline was a time-limited pandemic emergency fund which ran from March to June 2021. Funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) it was led by Good Things Foundation in partnership with AbilityNet, Learning Disability England, VODG (Voluntary Organisations Disability Group), Digital Unite and 146 other national and community partners.

In four months the network identified and helped 5,500 digitally excluded people with learning disabilities - and the evaluation report clearly shows the benefits this brought to their wellbeing, independence and digital skills.

Ongoing support is vital

“We’re really proud to be sharing the data and lessons learned from this amazing project," said Amy Low, who led the work for AbilityNet. “The report clearly shows that getting access to a device is one part of the jigsaw - the real benefits only come when experts such as AbilityNet and other charities have the resources they need to offer ongoing support.”

"Our specialist staff provided a helpline and one-to-one assessments to identify the accessibility needs of the people in receipt of devices," explains Amy. "Our team also provided accessibility training to community partners, and our network of volunteers were connected to community partners for ongoing support."

"The pandemic exposed a deep digital divide for many people, and the disproportionate impact on disabled people. Digital Lifeline is a great blueprint for the way that charities and Government can work together to help fix the divide and build a digital world accessible to all.”

More support is still needed

As Amy explains, the evaluation report highlights the life-changing benefits which digital inclusion can bring, but also points to the urgent need for sustained support, awareness and coordinated action to fix the digital divide.

“AbilityNet worked closely with DCMS and Good Things Foundation from an early stage and in the end the Digital Lifeline Fund received requests for nearly 10,000 devices. This indicates the scale of digital exclusion among people with learning disabilities in England."

"It’s quite clear that more support is needed to sustain the benefit of the work so far and to extend a digital lifeline to people with learning disabilities and disabled people who are still facing digital exclusion.”

More information

• Read the evaluation report
• Read our resources about technology and learning disabilities
• Request free support from one of our volunteers

AbilityNet is proud to be listed on the inaugural Valuable Directory, a new resource launched by global disability inclusion campaign The Valuable 500. Having signed up 500 of the world's largest businesses this next step offers access to expertise in digital, physical and cognitive accessibility, as well as tools for inclusive recruitment and branding practices.

AbilityNet's Service Delivery Director, Amy Low, is delighted at the news:

"We are proud to be one of 77 organisations selected by an independent expert review panel drawn from the global disability community. This is the first directory of its kind as it has been created by disabled people for disabled people. Our appointment underlines our mission to end disability exclusion, and we look forward to working with the Valuable 500 companies to achieve this."

The Valuable 500 is the largest community of Global CEOs committed to disability inclusion in business, with 500 multinational organisations making a public commitment to disability inclusion in their organisation. Founded by social entrepreneur Caroline Casey the network marks a new age of diversity in business and the Directory offers access to the specialist expertise needed to deliver its vision. This includes:

• Inclusive marketing
• Organisational culture
• Accessible physical environments
• Digital accessibility
• Inclusive recruitment
• Mental Health & Safety training
• Consumer research.  

"Our vision is to build a digital world accessible to all," says Amy Low.

"We have delivered world-class services for digital accessibility and workplace inclusion for over 20 years, so we are well-placed to help organisations in all sorts of ways. This includes accessibility testing, eLearning resources and training, as well as helping with strategy through tools such as Gap Analysis and Maturity Model."

"We are very proud to be part of The Valuable 500 story - Caroline Casey has spoken at our TechShare Pro conference every year since 2019, so we have seen the amazing impact of her work and we are excited to see the next stage of that vision become a reality."

Watch Caroline's passionate presentation at TechShare Pro 2019 to learn more about The Valuable 500.

Find out more

• The Valuable Directory
• AbilityNet's Workplace Inclusion Services
• AbilityNet Accessibility Services

Further resources

• Keep up to date with accessibility issues with the AbilityNet newsletter 
• Find out more about AbilityNet's free live webinar events
• Unsure where to start with digital accessibility? Speak to our experts for help

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people. If you can afford it, please donate to help us support older and disabled people through technology.

AbilityNet’s Accessibility and Usability Consultant, Jess Cahill hosted a network session at TechShare Pro 2021 on maps and accessibility. In this article, Jess reflects on some of the issues, provides further insight into accessible maps, and discusses why they are important.

 
Part of TechShare Pro 365: Insights for Accessibility Leaders

If you're a keen follower of web legislation, you’ll know that the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR) state that public sector websites must be accessible. However they give an exemption for "online maps and mapping services, as long as essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use". In other words - making maps accessible is too difficult and you can give up. Can this be right?

Learn about the purpose of various accessibility legislations, the paths to comply with them and ways to approach claims in our upcoming training course.

Making maps accessible 

Map accessibility falls into two main areas: 

1. Accessible controls. The first is about making sure that the controls are accessible. Can you operate the buttons and zoom controls if you navigate with a keyboard because you can’t use a mouse? Can you see where the focus is? Are the symbols clear, consistent and unambiguous? DEFRA have a GitHub page with some excellent guidelines. 
    
2. Accessible information. The second is a more challenging issue: how to make the information in these inherently visual interfaces accessible to visually impaired people. You can make a map more accessible by ensuring users can zoom in, enlarge the labels etc, and that your colours have sufficient contrast to be distinguished by anyone with non-standard colour vision, but this does not help a user who relies on a screen reader to access web content. 
    

What are maps for?

So what do maps help us do, or understand? PSBAR maintains that navigational use is the only purpose you need to care about. Disabled people only need maps to get from A to B. In reality, maps are used for a huge variety of tasks. 

In fact, maps aren’t even necessarily the most efficient way of navigating.  They tell you where something is, but in a busy urban environment with complex transport options that doesn't clearly tell you how you would get somewhere or how long it would take you. Most navigational map products use turn-by-turn text instructions when giving actual directions, and that’s relatively easy to make accessible. 

Maps can even be treated as a progressive enhancement – a “nice to have” for people who can access it, but not essential.  

But what about other uses of maps? 

If a map is for finding information, say whether your house is in a catchment area for something, then a postcode checker may be a better alternative. 

A major use of maps is for data visualisation. These can often be treated in the same way as complex infographics. You can provide the data in an alternative format such as a table, and then if you want to hide it away tidily, provide a link to it. If the map is just an image, you can give it alternative text (this is announced by a screen reader), referring the user to the table. 

There’s a lot of “incidental” information you can get from maps though. One thing I love about maps is the ability to explore an area beforehand and find out what is there, places you wouldn’t have thought of that you might like to visit perhaps (as one TechShare Pro 2021 session contributor said “that’s advertising in Google Maps”). There is also the question of spatial relationships. Where is this place in relation to other places I might be interested in? This kind of exploration and building of mental maps doesn’t translate well to a linear, text interface.  
 

What do we need from maps?

Incidental information matters because what might be incidental to one person may be crucial to another, and vitally, disabled people are often more in need of advance planning, particularly before going somewhere for the first time. People may have questions like: 

• Is this likely to be a busy environment? (For example, someone non-neurotypical or with a mental health issue) 
• How long is the walk from the bus stop? (For example, a person with joint pain) 
• Is there a very near dropping off point for taxis? (For example, a wheelchair user) 
• How will I know when I have arrived? (For example, someone with sight loss) 

Not to mention how accessible they will find their destination when they do arrive. 

There are quite a few specialist tools aimed at enabling disabled users to navigate unfamiliar environments. 

Wheelmap is a crowdsourced project mapping wheelchair accessible public places. You can find out more and contribute if you can on the Wheelmap website.

Microsoft Soundscape helps visually impaired users get a sense of the street layout.  

TouchMapper is a tool for generating 3D printing files for tactile maps.  

There are also various systems for navigating indoor environments, mostly using geo beacons. 

Who makes the maps? 

As a volunteer with the Missing Maps humanitarian mapping project, I’m involved in making maps. But many or even most mapping interfaces are not built with accessibility in mind.  

If a range of disabled people were extensively involved in planning and designing maps, might they be significantly different? As a disabled person, my map of the world might be very different from a non-disabled person, in terms of what I can access and what features are prioritised. There might be large areas that are “here be dragons” because I’m never going to be able to go there. Other areas might be heavily detailed, and specific features might be extremely prominent. 

Conclusions

This article might be a start to a user research project. If you're facing challenges like this, we can help in lots of other ways too. We can audit your website or app for compliance with PSBAR or WCAG, but we can also shed light on how well it works in practice for disabled people through testing with our database of disabled users. We can review your early designs, and we can also train up your team to deliver accessible, inclusive digital products and services from beginning to end. Find out more about our services. 

Credits

With thanks to members of the OpenStreetMap Accessibility mailing list, attendees of the TechSharePro  accessible GIS networking session and Mikel Maron’s blog for OpenStreetMap: The best world map for accessibility. 
 

 
Part of TechShare Pro 365: Insights for Accessibility Leaders

How AbilityNet can Help

• More about our accessibility products and services
• Learn about our Role-based accessibility training
• Learn about our Workplace services
• More about upcoming FREE webinars
• Sign-up for regular email updates

There are misconceptions that people who are visually impaired don't engage with television. But, you can be sure that many, many people who are blind were absorbed in Game of Thrones.

Improvements in TV hardware and software, along with audio description (AD) mean there's increasingly more potential for people who are blind or partially sighted to enjoy TV.

In this blog we look at some of the ways television sets and TV programmes are becoming more accessible. We also cover what else needs to change to make TV even more inclusive for the two million people with sight loss in the UK.

Photo: A scene from Stranger Things with audio description enabled

Davinder Kullar, technology for life coordinator at RNIB, helps people with sight loss get the most out of technology. RNIB also campaigns for an increase in the amount of audio described TV, including improving the amount of AD on ‘catch up’ programmes.

TV hardware, software and talking to your TV

The most important TV requirements for someone who is blind are:

• An in-built screen reader
• Audio description

According to Kullar, the best type of TV set for someone with total sight loss is one with an in-built screen reader which can speak out everything text-based, such as programme guides and menus. “Whatever a sighted person sees, a blind person wants to hear, from choosing channels to changing colour contrast,” he says.

“Some TVs, such as Samsung models now speak everything. On other models, such as Panasonic, only some menus and programme guides are spoken. The more options to talk to and interact with your television, the better." In 2018, LG and Sony also added audio menus.

Alexa and talking to remote controls

Sky’s latest remote control has 'Voice Control' which enables someone to speak into the remote control and tell the TV to change channels and perform other tasks (a video of voice control in action follows below). Kullar says this is progressive and something for other companies to aspire to.

The Sky remote control also has larger more tactile buttons which are good for anyone older or with reduced dexterity, as well as those who struggle to see the buttons. But there's something more Kullar would like when it comes to talking to televisions. 

"What I'd love is for TVs and remote controls to be enabled for interaction along the lines of Amazon Alexa,” he says. “So, it would be great if you could ask questions, such as what channel a certain documentary is on, or what time is Eastenders on, for example. We’re starting to get closer to this - some companies are working on introducing such capabilities.

Audio description

Audio description is available on some programmes and adverts and means that a person with visual impairment can hear a spoken narration of what’s happening on screen. By law, 10% of programmes are currently required to have AD but campaigners would like this to be increased. 
 

Campaigners are also working to ensure that AD is more available on catch up/ on demand TV. This is currently inconsistent across different channels and on demand services. 

Audio description on VOD

“With video on demand (VOD) audio description is sometimes available and sometimes it’s not,” says Kullar. “With some providers, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, you can download content and it keeps any audio description available. Then sometimes, with the BBC, you might download something and find that the audio description disappears. Audio description isn’t available on Sky downloads either. If a Sky programme has an audio description option, it can be possible to switch on audio description via your Sky box and then record on that unit and that will keep the AD. It would be great to see more standardisation with AD."

Another issue that the RNIB would like to see tackled is making it easier for two people to enjoy a programme together, with only one of those people (the person with visual impairment) hearing the audio description through headphones. To make that happen at the moment is very convoluted," says Kullar.  "Some cinemas do offer such an option, where a blind or partially sighted person hears AD through a headset and. At some point we think this will become easier for standard TV programmes."

Changing text size and contrast

For people who are partially-sighted, the main accessibility requirements, explains Kullar, are the ability to easily change certain elements including:

• Increasing text size on screen
• Changing to a clearer font style if needed on screen
• The option to change colour contrast on screen
• Screen magnification options

Again, not all TVs have these options, so it is worth doing your research, encourages Kullar. He explains: "Sales people and shop assistants unfortunately don’t always have full knowledge of accessibility options with products, but it's worth asking and also doing your own research to find out what the latest models do." 

Looking for help?

• Call the AbilityNet freephone helpline on 0800 048 7642 for free advice and information on technology and disability
• You can also call our helpline to request a trusted volunteer to come to your home and help with your technology
• Or contact the RNIB helpline on 0303 123 9999 – they can provide free information and also have trained volunteers who can visit your home
• Read more about audio description on the RNIB website. 

Arthritis is a long-term condition that causes pain and inflammation in the joints. If you have pain from either osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) there are numerous apps available, which claim to offer help. 

We've reviewed ratings from other users in selecting these apps, but they are no substitute for medical advice. 

We've rounded up ten arthritis-related apps for iPhone and Android.

Apps for RA and osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the commonest form of arthritis and affects roughly 9 million people in the UK. Apps for osteoarthritis are more focused on healthy exercise programmes and habits.

Rheumatoid Arthritis affects around 400,000 people in the UK. It is a common condition and can cause fatigue. Apps for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) tend to focus more on tracking the condition and monitoring habits to create a detailed picture of the condition over time.

However, many of these ten apps could be used by people who are living with either or both conditions.

What are the best apps for Osteoarthritis

The apps we've selected include apps for tracking and managing the pain of arthritis, apps to aid sleep and apps for exercise and to aid meditation.

1. Pathways Pain Relief, iOS/Android, Free (with some in-app purchases)

Alleviate and eliminate the pain of arthritis

Pathways Pain Relief app claims to alleviate and even eliminate pain by changing the way that your brain perceives it. It aims to help you retrain your brain using diaphragmatic breathing, visualisationsand stress-reducing exercises. The app also aims to improve positivity and confidence through physical exercise, music therapy and more.

It receives some of the best reviews on the Apple and Play stores of all those we've mentioned. One reviewer writes: “Pathways has enabled a 42 year old arthritis sufferer return to a normal existence. Pathways gave me the means to overcome my association with pain and allowed me to enjoy a life where I have control over my body again.”

Download Pathways Pain Relief for iOs

Download Pathways Pain Relief for Android

2. Jointfully Osteoarthritis, iOs/ Android, Free

Track and manage your arthritis over time

Jointfully Osteoarthritis is designed to help you track and manage your condition. The app includes physical therapy exercise tutorials, and lets you record activity goals. You can also log your medications, weight, mood, pain levels, and blood pressure to share with your doctor and create a treatment plan with them.

The concept is that you start to learn what works to minimise pain for you.

You’ll receive daily tips to reduce pain and you can share your progress with the people you trust.

Jointfully asks for permission to get some data from internal operating system sensors. Makers say this will show how much factors, such as walking distance or atmospheric pressure, have an influence on your symptoms.

One reviewer writes: “(The app) Helps me to remember to take my arthritis meds. Also keeps up with where I am hurting from day to day.”

Download Jointfully Osteoarthritis for iOS

Download Jointfully Osteoarthritis for Android

3. Knee Pain Relieving Exercises, Android, Free

Strengthen knee muscles to relieve pain

Created by an orthopaedic surgeon the Knee Pain Relieving Exercises app is designed to help strengthen knee muscles and the surrounding muscles of the knee with a series of specific exercises. 

The surgeon claims that in the majority of cases, simple exercises can result in huge improvements, with results starting to show after two months.

One reviewer comments: “As a dietitian, I definitely recommend this app. Some of my clients were suffering from knee pain. So I recommended this app to them and it was of great help. This app explains all the Do and Don’ts for knee pain. Each and every step of an exercise is mentioned with pictures.”

Another says: “Very Informative and just the right exercises for me. I have some knee problems and I have been trying these exercises and they are really effective and build strength in my thighs and help me walk more confidently when am outside home.”

Download Knee Pain Relieving Exercises for Android

4. Manage My Pain Lite, iOS/ Android, Free (with some paid in-app purchases)

Track pain using insights and charts

This app is highly recommended (on Play and Apple Store) for various conditions including arthritis. You can track pain, get insights through statistics, charts, graphs, and also get support from a responsive team and detailed user guides.

One reviewer comments: “This has really helped with accurate communication with my doctor. Because I often have brain fog, I can't communicate as I'd like to for full effective treatment. This is a complete record of symptoms also allowing me to add other symptoms not listed. Best app for recording daily results.”

Another adds: “This is the best pain tracker I've found in nine years of Centralised Pain Syndrome / chronic pain.”

Download Manage My Pain Lite for Android

Download Manage My Pain Lite for iOS

5. Yoga for Beginners: Down Dog, Android/ iOs, Free

Yoga can help to build flexibility and strength

Yoga can be great for flexibility, building strength, creating muscle tone, relaxation, anxiety and stress reduction and improving sleep. If you’re new to yoga but want to develop more flexibility and strength, this app features clear videos and instruction with a choice of six different yoga teachers to guide you and a variety of relaxing music.

One reviewer comments: “This app couldn't have come at a better time. I had some bones fused in my foot and haven't walked in six months. Regular yoga is too much for me. There was no way I’m going to be able to do any session in the regular Down Dog app for a good long while. This app's beginner yoga 10 min sessions are even too much for me, but it tells me how to adjust all the poses to my limited strength and mobility. This is the perfect level of challenging for my weakened state. Thank you.”

Download Yoga for Beginners: Down Dog on Android

Download Yoga for Beginners: Down Dog on iOS

• Like many conditions arthritis symptoms vary according to the individual. AbilityNet believes in a digital world that's accessible to all. If you're living with the pain of arthritis, you can book a 1-2-1 home visit from one of our disclosure checked, local volunteers who can advise you on adapting existing tech, or new tech.

What are the best apps for Rheumatoid Arthritis?

1. PainScale, iOs / Android, Free

Create detailed pain reports about your RA

PainScale enables you to track pain intensity, medications, symptoms, activity, mood, and sleep. Using this data, you can create detailed pain reports about your RA.

The app was named as one of the best fibromyalgia apps of 2019 by Healthline. It has more than 100,000 chronic pain patients who manage and scale their pain and symptoms.

It integrates with Google Fit with a view to making it easier to track health and fitness activity. It also provides daily health tips and access to a library of articles, videos, and meditations.

One reviewer writes: “Super easy to use. I like the reminders and all of the different data I can document, but I'm not required to. It's easy to add custom info in most places, and I like the insights that track and compare my data.

Download PainScale for iOS

Download PainScale for Android

2. RA Monitor, iOs/ Android, Free

Share long-term symptoms with a specialist

You can use RA Monitor to track triggers and symptoms, and how these affect your ability to function. It also allows you to access the support of a specialist, as well as an anonymous community of other people with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The app produces reports so you and a specialist can see a long view of the condition over time.

It has daily news, tips and inspirations to help manage symptoms.

The symptom tracker includes options for location, function impairment, weather, menstrual cycle and stress. There’s also a medication tracker.

The app has good reviews. One reads: “Great tool to keep track of your symptoms, meds and many other things...even the weather. Very helpful to know what affects you and when. This is a complete tool, no need to go back and forth between apps. Very impressed.”

Download RA Monitor for iOS

Download RA Monitor for Android
 

3. Sworkit, iOs/ Android, Free (with some in-app purchases)

Offers specific arthritis-related work outs

Experts generally believe that some movement and exercise can reduce or alleviate the pain of arthritis, improve joint function and flexibility, increase range of motion, and boost mood.

Specific arthritis workout apps tend to get limited interest or reviews on the Apple or Play store.

However, Sworkit, a general fitness app, is extremely wide in its variety of options and fitness plans. It has video workouts and voice instructions to suit all physically abilities and levels of health.

One reviewer comments: “The workouts can be tailored to your current fitness level and the videos of each exercise are easy to follow. No matter what your current fitness level, or the type of exercise you’re used to, I would highly recommend this app.” Another adds: “I used Sworkit for the free exercises. It truly helped alleviate back pain and was a booster to my weight loss journey.”

Download Sworkit for Android

Download Sworkit for iOs

4. Pain Relief Hypnosis, iOS / Android, Free (with a one-off optional in-app purchase)

Daily hypnosis from a certified hypnotherapist

The app offers users a daily 30-minute hypnosis recorded by a certified hypnotherapist. The makers believe it can change pain in one to three weeks.

It includes relaxing music, nature sounds and binaural beats to induce your brainwave frequency into an optimal state for receiving hypnotic suggestions. The recording can also be put on loop while you sleep.

This app has received 180 reviews on the Google Play store, many offering a four or five star review.

One comments: “I have been using this app for about one year. In that time I have gone from having uncontrollable pain that traveled from region to region to having my pain under control. I can now exercise six days a week and feel a lot better overall.”

Download Pain Relief Hypnosis for iOS

Download Pain Relief Hypnosis for Android
 

5. Reachout, iOs/ Android, Free

Find support if you're living with arthritis

This app offers social support groups for various types of illness or condition, including arthritis - which is covered in the chronic pain section. It can be used by people with the condition or their carers. There’s a chronic pain diary, and users can compare other support Apps or exchange information about therapies that work in relieving pain.

It was created to help people in difficulty to gain self-confidence, receive support, build coping skills, and reduce loneliness. It receives good reviews, such as: “The community on here is kind and understanding. It has helped me so much in the short time I have had it installed.”

Download Reachout for iOS

Download Reachout for Android

Get help using your computer or smartphone with stiff joints

My Computer My Way is AbilityNet's easy to use guide to the accessibility features built into your desktop PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. There could be all sorts of settings and adjustments which you can use to help you in different ways. 

IT support at home

If you or someone you know has arthritis and would like help with using technology, you can request a free home visit from a volunteer.

Read more information on managing arthritis

• Top 5 tips for managing arthritis in the workplace
• How AbilityNet volunteer helps others despite his own arthritis

Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is a UK Government grant which provides personalised support to disabled students in Higher Education, in order to ensure a level playing field. 

This is an important way for students to get help - in January 2019 the Department of Education found that 59% of disabled students who received DSA said they wouldn't feel confident about passing their course without the extra support.

However, 40% of the disabled students surveyed are still missing out on the crucial support DSA provides. The reasons they gave for NOT applying included:

• they didn't know how to apply
• they didn't think it was ‘worth the hassle’,
• they didn’t think they were eligible or
• they didn't want to go through the assessment process.

Because we see the benefits that DSA can bring we want to explain the DSA process and encourage all disabled students to claim the support they need.

Here are answers to the five most frequently asked questions:

I don’t have a physical or visible disability, am I still eligible?

Any UK student applying to or attending university with a disability, condition or impairment could be eligible for Disabled Students’ Allowance. Examples include:

• Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), such as Dyslexia/Dyspraxia
• Sensory Impairments
• Asperger's syndrome
• Physical disabilities
• Chronic health conditions, such as Diabetes and Asthma
• Mental health conditions, such as Anxiety and Depression

Not sure if you are eligible for DSA? You can find out now with our free Higher Education Support Checker!

Medical evidence confirming your diagnosis is required to support your application. To support a specific learning difficulty, you need to provide a copy of a diagnostic assessment from a qualified psychologist or specialist teacher. Proof of all other disabilities and conditions needs to be provided and signed by your doctor all consultant. You can also fill out this disability evidence form.

How long is the process from applying to receiving DSA?

Applying early is key. Many students end up completing part of their course without support in place because they are not aware of the application process timescale. DSA-QAG states that the full process from initial application to delivery of equipment can take up to 14 weeks.

Find out more about the breakdown of the timeline from sending in your application, booking your needs assessment and receiving your funding body letter confirming your approved support.

What does ‘allowance’ mean? Is it a loan?

Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs) are grants to help meet the extra course costs students face because of a disability.

It is not based on your household income, and unlike your maintenance loan, DSA does NOT need to be repaid. 

Rather than receiving extra funds directly, like a maintenance loan for example, each disabled student is afforded an ‘allowance’ which dictates the amount/level of support (e.g the types of specialist equipment of number of study skills hours) which can be given for each category.  How much your allowance is depends entirely on your individual needs and whether you are a full-time/part-time student.

They are generally divided up into three different support categories: specialist equipment allowance, non-medical helper allowance for specialist mentoring/1-1 study skills and a general allowance which can include extra travel costs and printing credits. It does not cover any disability-related costs you’d have if you were not attending a course, or costs that any student might have.

Why do I need to be assessed? Is it a test?

Support you can get is not one size fits all. DSA is based entirely on your individual needs, circumstances and course requirements, so the study needs assessment is required to identify the specific support which would suit you best. 

The assessment is a confidential one-on-one session with a professional assessor, and usually lasts no longer than two hours.

It is important to remember that this is not a test, but rather an informal chat. It is your opportunity to discuss any challenges you face in education, including the ways in which your course is assessed and taught, and is steered by the amount of information you share.

Assessors will also demonstrate a range of specialist equipment, software, as well as discuss appropriate support and strategies. The Assessor will then write a report summarising your needs and the recommended solutions within 10 working days of the date of your assessment.

• Read the advice from an AbilityNet assessor on how to best prepare for your study needs assessment.

Can changes be made if my circumstances change?

Your study needs assessment report is not final, amendments can be made if your circumstances change. Don’t worry if you end up going to a different university or you decide to live at home instead of university accommodation, these are details which can be updated to ensure your support suppliers are changed if necessary.

You should also contact your funding body if your condition gets worse, as this may affect what you’re entitled to and you could receive extra help. If you receive an additional diagnosis for a new condition you might be eligible for a review of needs assessment to identify how this impacts your course and affects the support you already have in place through DSA.

You will need to send additional evidence to confirm this new condition to your funding body in order to be made eligible for a new assessment. 

Still not sure?

If you’re feeling unsure about whether to apply for DSA check out some past student feedback to see how it could transform your university experience.

Find out more

• If you have any questions you can contact our DSA Assessment team directly for guidance and advice by calling 01926 562 671 or emailing dsa@abilitynet.org.uk
• Visit our website for more on our DSA services and how to book an assessment
• Visit the DSA pages on the UK government website to find out more about the application process 
• Find out how DSA can help students with long-term health conditions, mental-health conditions and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia 

Are you using alt text properly?

Inconsistent use of alt text is one of the most common problems found in our web audits. These golden rules make your alt tags more useful to your site visitors and mean your site is more likely to be legally compliant. These rules are aimed at content editors but may also be useful for anyone producing content on the web.

• Rule 1: Every <img> must have an alt= attribute
• Rule 2: Describe the information, not the picture
• Rule 3: Active images require descriptive alt text.
• Rule 4: Images that contain information require descriptive alt text.
• Rule 5: Decorative images should have empty alt text.

What is "alt text"?

Alt text is a text alternative defined for images. The typical image is coded in HTML in the following form: 

<img alt="text alternative">

You might never actually see the code of the page when you are editing your web site or when you are adding new content, instead you will probably use a CMS (Content Management System) of some kind. Whatever you are using to add content to your web site, when you add an image you should get asked for "alt text" or a text alternative (it may be called slightly differently, but you should be asked for some kind of name for the image, chances are this is the alt text).

Learn how to write accessible Alt-Text on our Accessibility for Copywriters training course.

Find out more 

What is the reason for alt text?

Not all users can see the images. Disabled visitors to your site may be using assistive technology like screen readers or other text to speech software which reads the page out loud, and this software will read the alt text instead of the image. There are other situations when the alt text is used too, e.g. if a user has images turned off (e.g. because they use a very slow internet connection – still happens occasionally!) then they will see the alt text instead of the image. 

There are other ways how images can be implemented, e.g. it is possible to use CSS styles to add background images, but this is usually done by the front-end developers and not by content editors, and will therefore not be covered as part of this article. We will concentrate on alt text of traditional <img> images here.

So what do you need to do?

Every image must have the alt attribute included:

Rule 1: Every <img> must have an alt= attribute 

There is no exception to this. The <img> element must always contain the alt= attribute. It doesn't matter what the image is used for, or what it shows, or even how small it is.

What text you should use for the alt attribute depends on the type of image and is explained below, but you always include either alt="" (empty alt text) or alt="descriptive text" (descriptive alt text).

And another mistake I've seen a few times on web sites:

Rule 2: Describe the information, not the picture 

In other words, you almost never describe what the picture looks like, instead you explain the information the picture contains.

Here's an example:

The alt text for this image should be alt="Twitter" or similar (depending on the context and how the image is used), but it should not be "blue bird" or anything similar.

Sounds obvious? I have seen several sites that did include descriptions of what the image shows in the alt text of an image, usually on sites that had made an effort to improve accessibility but misunderstood the requirement.

Types of images

So what exactly should the alt text be? Well, it depends on the image… 

Luckily, there are only 3 fundamental types of images you need to consider:

1. Type 1: "Active" images, i.e. images that perform an action (links, buttons etc.)

2. Type 2: Images that contain information

3. Type 3: Images that are purely for decoration

When deciding how to make an image accessible, first you need to choose which type of image it is from the above list.
 

Do you want to learn how to create accessible documents? 

Learn the steps needed to make documents accessible including correct implementation of text alternatives for graphics in our training course. 

Find out more 

Type 1: Active images

What is an Active image?

It is quite easy to check if an image is active or not: An "active" image is an image that performs an action or has some functionality. The most common example is a link image, i.e. where an image is the only content of a link.

Note: When a single link contains an image as well as text then this doesn't count as an active image here.

How to implement it?

Rule 3 states: Active images require descriptive alt text. 

The alt text for an active image should describe the action the image performs. So if you have a link image then the alt text should tell the user what the link does. If it's a link to another page then it could be the name of that page, if the link performs an action on that page then name that action (e.g. "expand" if it expands a section, "Email this page" if it's an email link, etc.)

Type 2: Images that contain information

If the image is not an active image (type 1 above), then you need to check if it contains information or not.

Sometimes this is easy, e.g. a chart or graph will contain some information, or an image of text contains information.

Unfortunately this is not always straightforward. In some cases you will need to use your judgment to decide if an image contains information or not.

The essential question is, would the user miss something if you remove the image?

If the user would miss out on some information without the image, then it is a "type 2" image.

If the image is just for decoration, or if the same information is already in the text somewhere, then it is a decorative image (Type 3).

How to implement it?

Rule 4 states: Images that contain information require descriptive alt text.

If an image contains information, then you need to offer this information to the user in an alternative format. If the user can't see the image, they need to get the information in another way. The alt text should be a brief description of the information.

There are some special cases for images containing information that are worth pointing out:

Images of text

Try to avoid using images of text. In the vast majority of cases where I come across images of text there is no need to use images, instead the page could just use normal text with some basic formatting applied. Reason? Some users increase the text size, images don't resize in the same way as text. If zooming into a page, images of text get blurred, normal text usually doesn't. There are many other reasons…

If you do need to use images of text, then in almost all cases the alt text will be the text shown in the image. After all, that's usually the information the image contains!

Charts, Graphs, etc

Graphs and charts usually contain a lot of information, too much to include as part of the alt text, as the alt text should be kept very brief. There will be a separate article here that looks at complex images.

Type 3: Images that are for decoration

If the image is not an active image (type 1), and if it doesn’t contain information (type 2), then it is a decorative image.

Images that are only for decoration should not have any (descriptive) alt text, instead you should use the empty string as alt text.

How to implement it?

Rule 5 states: Decorative images should have empty alt text.

The alt text should be the empty (null) string, i.e. alt="". The code for your image should look like this:

<img alt="">

Even if the image is for decoration, it still must have the alt attribute (remember rule 1!), but it doesn't contain any text.

If you read somewhere that certain images should have no alt text, what is meant is that the alt text should be empty. To repeat: Never define any <img> without the alt= attribute!

If the alt attribute contains no text (alt="") this tells screen readers to ignore the image.

Screen reader users don't need to know about decorative images, it would just add to "audio clutter" on the page, so by assigning an empty alt text to an image the screen reader is told to ignore it.

Remember the five Golden Rules

Whatever you're developing or delivering remember these five golden rules to making Alt text work for your site visitors:

Rule 1: Every <img> must have an alt= attribute

Rule 2: Describe the information, not the picture

Rule 3: Active images require descriptive alt text.

Rule 4: Images that contain information require descriptive alt text.

Rule 5: Decorative images should have empty alt text.

• Stefan Sollinger is an Accessibility and Usability consultant in the web team at AbilityNet.