b'Symptom ManagementMaintaining or Regaining Your Maintaining or Regaining Your Independence with Assistive Independence with Assistive Technology Technology Much of what you need may already be within reach.Much of what you need may already be within reach.By Michelle Marques, MS, OTR/L, CPACCWhatever it is you picture when you thinkuse, and the need to use a hand or nger for of assistive technology, the odds are it is onlythekeyboardortouchscreen.Additional a small portion of what is available. Just asphysical access settings also include speech someone with MS can experience any numberrecognition, to allow for a hands-free use of of a wide range of symptoms, there are assistivethe device, and a switch access (a means of technologies to compensate for many symptomsaccessing technology for those who are not and to serve many purposes. You may imagineable to utilize the above-mentioned settings). these devices are complex, expensive, andEvengazetrackingwillsoonbepossible need to be specially ordered. While some ofusing built-in device settings.these technologies t that description, othersThere are also cognitive accessibility settings, are right at your ngertips, and you may justwhich simplify the devices interface and ways not know it.to perform certain actions on the device, as Device settings well as settings for those who, in addition to Many people do not realize the tools theythe symptoms MS commonly causes, are need to improve the accessibility of their smart- experiencing hearing loss and need audio phones, tablets, and computers are alreadycaptions or to be alerted to certain sounds they cannot hear such as alarms. A large per-on their devices and only need to be enabled.centage of people who seek help with device Your devices have visual accessibility settingsaccess can be helped using the settings readily to adjust the size of the screen display (i.e., text)available on their devices. Additional assistive or to read the text on the screen. technology, such as a mobile device mount, a For physical access, there are settings tostylus,anexternalmouseorkeyboard,or accommodate tremors or poor coordination,specic inexpensive software and apps are reduced range of motion and reach, slowerall available for a low or no cost. msfocusmagazine.org 18'