Technology
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Adaptive Technology goes to the regions
Just under three years ago, Adaptive Technology Services committed to finding a way to take group training to members outside Wellington and Auckland.
Thanks to funding from the Department of Internal Affairs' Community Partnership Fund, we are now able to keep our promise.
In May, Hamilton members benefited from a week of classroom-based training. Then in June, we ran a short course on using the Internet-based auction site TradeMe. This course was a joint effort between the Foundation and Aoraki Polytechnic.
Our next venues are likely to be Whangarei and another Northland town, projects that will be collaborations with the Tiaho Trust in Whangarei.
Update on adaptive technology suppliers
In the last issue of Outlook, we were sad to report major upheavals at Christchurch-based adaptive technology company HumanWare.
Since then, the company has started to get itself back on its feet again, but in a much smaller form.
HumanWare now has Chris Frost in the North Island and Michael Rhodes in Customer Services in Christchurch. Initial contact should, at this stage, still go through Christchurch.
Meanwhile, Adaptive Technology Solutions in Wellington is now the New Zealand representative for T&T Consultants Ltd. They make the range of J-ware products, like J-Say. J-Say acts as a bridging programme between JAWS For Windows and Dragon Naturally Speaking. Without it, it's almost impossible for a screen-reader user to easily access Dragon. Now, people will be able to dictate text and commands to the computer rather than type them on a keyboard.
Finally, Pacific Vision in Christchurch is now the New Zealand distributor for the KNFB personal reader. This is an application for the Nokia N82 cellphone that reads paper documents – handy for those on the move!