When I first moved into my new dorm in undergrad, I felt super overwhelmed as I tried to keep track of a ton of information while living on my own. By the time I would get back from classes, my visual fatigue and cognitive fatigue would be so overwhelming that I wouldn’t know where to start when doing laundry or figuring out other life admin or school-related tasks— it was much less work to just go to sleep and figure everything out later. One of my best friends mentioned experiencing similar challenges with their own disability, and said that they wished there was a way to ask questions about living in the dorm without having to “bother a real person.”
My friend’s way of framing this barrier helped me figure out what I was looking for myself— a way to access the information I need without looking at a screen or having to ask someone else for help all the time. A few hours later, I created the first version of the Houseguest skill with Alexa Skill Blueprints, and my friend immediately asked me to help them create a similar skill. Here is how to use Amazon Alexa to navigate your dorm and provide spoken reminders, which can be helpful for students with visual impairments, ADHD, cerebral/cortical visual impairment (CVI), brain fog, and other chronic illnesses and disabilities.
What is Alexa Skill Blueprints?
Alexa Skill Blueprints are a free official Amazon tool that allow users to create their own custom Amazon Alexa skills. There is no coding required and the finished skills are linked to the user’s Amazon account for use across all of their devices.
Custom skills can be created by filling in text boxes or selecting options from a drop-down menu based on prompts, empowering users to personalize skills within a matter of minutes; information shared with the skill stays private and is not added to the public Amazon Alexa Skill website.
Alexa Skill Blueprints require users to have an Amazon Echo device, but does not require Amazon Prime or any other subscriptions— I have an Echo Dot and love it!
Related links
- Alexa Skill Blueprints website
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Smart Speakers
- Creating Custom Flashcards With Amazon Alexa
About the Amazon Alexa Houseguest skill
Houseguest is an Alexa Skill Blueprint designed to create a custom guide for guests or visitors who are visiting someone’s home or neighborhood, answering common questions about where to find things, how to do things, and contact information. The default command for the Houseguest skill is “Alexa, open My Houseguest Guide,” though this can be changed to any name when configuring the skill within Alexa Skill Blueprints.
I adapted this skill for use in a college dorm by changing the name to “College questions” so that I could get answers for information specific to my building and college campus quickly, with the option to adjust the volume of answers or repeat them if needed— something that is incredibly helpful for people living with auditory processing issues!
To create a new Houseguest skill, log into the Alexa Skill Blueprints website with the Amazon account connected to the Alexa device. From there, select the Houseguest skill and then select the “Make Your Own” link to create the custom skill.
Related links
- Houseguest skill on Alexa Skill Blueprints
- Dorm Room Disability Hacks For Chronically Ill Students
- Disability Accommodations For Fluctuating Eyesight
- How I Explain My Brain With Chiari Malformation
Step 1: Where to find things
After opening the skill blueprint to customize, users are taken to a page with three sections to customize, the first being “Where to find things.” When a user asks the skill “where is the” followed by the item name, Alexa reads the item location and any additional notes. Users must ask Alexa for the specific word listed in order to get the information, so I recommend having synonyms for words listed in this section— there is no limit to the number of objects that can be added.
One of my friends would use this as a “checklist” when cleaning their room to ensure that items were returned to the correct places, or to locate items they might not use as often. After I kept getting lost trying to find the laundry room, I added more specific walking directions that included visual landmarks to help me with my search.
EXAMPLE PROMPTS
- The laundry room is located on the other end of the hallway. Walk through the double doors and then keep walking straight down the hallway until you reach the second door on the left with the green paint. Don’t forget to add detergent to the laundry bin before you leave!
- Spare glasses are located in the top drawer of the desk, next to the external batteries. They are in a red case.
- The first aid kit is located on the bathroom cart on the third shelf.
- Printer is located in the main lobby next to the large orange couch
- The building is located at insert address here
Related links
- Dorms and Campus Housing: College O&M
- Tips For Doing Laundry In College With Low Vision
- Tips For Keeping A Dorm Room Clean With Chronic Illness
- How To Deal With Broken Glasses
- Managing Chronic Migraines in College
- Places Every Visually Impaired Student Should Visit On College Tours
- Campus Addresses Every Student Should Know: College O&M
Step 2: How to do things
The second section of the customization menu is for “How to do things.” When a user asks the skill “How do I” followed by the item, Alexa reads the steps for how to do the task followed by any additional notes. Again, it helps to add synonyms for common terms and an unlimited amount of items can be added to the list.
I noticed that I kept having to look up how to log into a campus database from my dorm, so I added a prompt for how to log in that included specific steps and codes for me to remember. Another one of my friends treated this as a way to work through tasks they weren’t familiar with, like how to reserve a room for a meeting, information on how to file a maintenance request, or how to document their work hours. This doesn’t mean that we have to ask Alexa how to do these skills every time, but it does help to have the information when we need it.
EXAMPLE PROMPTS
- How to request disability transportation services or typical bus schedules. I added how frequently a bus I used for class would stop by outside of my dorm (a set amount of times per hour), and I could use the time on the Alexa to estimate if I could make the next bus or not.
- Steps for accessing campus databases or logging into applications
- How to do tasks like folding laundry, downloading books for class, or other verbal prompts that can serve as a reminder for new students
- Instructions for taking medication, and which medications to take at a given time.
- Special laundry instructions for specific items
Related links
- Using Disability Transportation Services In College
- Online College Library Resources For Digital Access
- Assistive Technology For Medication Labels
- How I Set Up My College Desk With Low Vision
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- How I Document Accessibility Preferences With Low Vision
Step 3: Contact information
The third section of the customization menu is for “Contact info.” When a user asks the skill “contact info for” followed by the item, Alexa reads the name of the person listed and the phone number. Instead of having names listed twice, I decided to include a person or department’s email in the name field and add a phone number when needed. This was really helpful for finding information for my professors without having to open a new tab in my web browser, or to verify that an email I had typed was correct when reporting a scam email.
Example prompts
- Resident advisor or building staff email address and phone number
- IT helpdesk and accessibility support phone numbers for apps or technologies the student uses frequently
- Disability Services phone number
- Contact information for police/campus security
- Contact details for roommates or suitemates
Related links
- Seven Things I Tell My College Suitemates About My Disability
- Accessibility Support Phone Numbers and Low Vision
- Disability and Classroom Accommodations For POTS
- Ten Templates For Emailing Professors
- How To Recognize Phishing Attempts With Low Vision
Additional customization settings
In addition to customizing items to ask for, users can also customize how the skill will greet them and what messages will play. When I first started using the skill, I wrote out a summary of how to use the skill and some example prompts to ask for as a custom greeting, and repeat this information every time the skill is opened. Users can also customize the exit message for when they close/exit the skill, and I made mine something related to school spirit.
EXAMPLE PROMPTS
- Greeting: Welcome! To ask for a location, say “where is the blank?” To ask about a task, say “how do I blank?” Lastly, to ask for contact info, say “contact info for blank.”
- Closing: Go Mason!
More tips for using Alexa skills in a dorm setting
- I love using my Echo Dot as a study tool! Learn more in How Amazon Alexa Can Help You Study For Exams and The Best Study Tips For Visually Impaired Students
- Another option is to use an Echo Dot as a white noise machine for sleeping. This can easily be enabled by saying “Alexa, turn on white noise” with no additional skills required.
- Want to create another custom skill with Alexa Skill Blueprints? Try Creating Custom Workouts With Amazon Alexa
- I lived in a single dorm with no roommate when I was in undergrad— learn more in How To Choose A Dorm And Pick College Housing
Published October 7, 2019. Updated January 2025