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Breaking Through Barriers with Assistive Technology

Student sat at a table with a laptop, wearing a large glove that is connected by coloured wires to the laptop.
  • Written byStudent Communications
  • Published date 04 October 2022
Student sat at a table with a laptop, wearing a large glove that is connected by coloured wires to the laptop.
Student working with computing components in the Physical Computing Lab | Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Dyslexia Awareness week runs from 3-9 October 2022. The theme this year is “Breaking Through Barriers”. This gives us the opportunity to recognise barriers faced by dyslexic people and celebrate their successes.

UAL offers students screenings for dyslexia and other Specific Learning Differences. Contact the Disability Service for advice and support.

Explore helpful technology

Technology can help reduce some of the barriers students encounter when reading, writing and studying.

Assistive technology available at UAL can help with:

  • Listening to text instead of reading it
  • Reducing visual stress when reading on screen
  • Finding the right words when you write
  • Improving your spelling and punctuation
  • Organising your thoughts and ideas.

Here are 3 tools you can try:

1. Make reading easier with Immersive Reader


Immersive Reader can change the display of your document and make reading more comfortable. You can also use the Read Aloud function to have the text read back to you.

Changing the physical appearance of text

  • Use Themes to change the text and background colours
  • Choose a font and adjust the size
  • Increase the spacing between rows
  • Use the Ruler to focus on just one or a few lines at a time.

Read Aloud

Select Read Aloud to listen to the text. This is great if you prefer listening to reading. You can also use it for proofreading your work as mistakes can be more obvious when you hear them.

How to access Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader is available across Office 365 apps. You can access Office 365 with your UAL login.

More information

2. Improve your writing with Read&Write Gold

Read&Write Gold is a literacy support tool that offers help with everyday tasks like reading text out loud and understanding unfamiliar words.  It has an array of features that help with spelling and improving your vocabulary.

  • Check It can be used to check spelling and grammar mistakes
  • Similar Word Checker identifies words that sound the same and are spelt differently (homophones)
  • When you use Prediction, Read&Write anticipates what you are about to type and completes the word for you
  • Use Talk & Type to enter text to a Word document by dictating.

How to access Read&Write from UAL computers

  • Log into the computer with your UAL credentials
  • Search for Read&Write Gold in the Search window or find it under Assistive Technology in ZENworks (Windows) or UAL Self Service (Mac)
  • Double-click to download and install.

More information

3. Organise your ideas with MindView

For people who are visual thinkers and prefer to write ideas in a non-linear way, mind-mapping can help to organise ideas and information.

MindView helps users:

  • Write down initial ideas quickly and visually
  • Create visual connections and relationships between the ideas
  • Add images, links, documents to your mind-map
  • Export your mind map into Word, PowerPoint, or a web page (HTML) and create an outline for a well- structured document.

How to access MindView

  • Log into the computer with your UAL credentials
  • Search for MindView in the Search box or find it under Assistive Technology in ZENworks (Windows) or UAL Self Service (Mac)
  • Double-click to download and install.

More information

Read the MindView LibGuide or visit iView Learning for video tutorials.

For more information on mind-mapping and to see what other tools are available, visit the UAL Assistive Technology pages