When I attend professional conferences for assistive technology and computing, I often find myself overwhelmed trying to “do it all” by attending all of the sessions for a given day, trying to run around the exhibit hall to meet everyone, and attending networking and post-conference…

Everything at my dorm desk, complete with shopping links

Recently, I had the opportunity to give a talk at the Inclusive Design 24 Conference (ID24) called “Why Everyone Should Design For Chiari Malformation,” in honor of Chiari Malformation Awareness Month. This talk was especially meaningful for me, as I ended up giving it the…

Using applications and settings to reduce eyestrain from blue light.

Here is how I explain my brain condition, Chiari Malformation, to people

While I did learn how to tie my shoes when I was in elementary school, I have great difficulty tying shoes due to poor coordination in my hands from a neurological condition called Chiari Malformation, as well as generally poor hand strength. However, I do…

I love wearing necklaces and earrings, and I can find my favorite pieces in less than a minute thanks to learning strategies for organizing jewelry with vision loss. I’ve experimented with a few different systems for jewelry organization over the years, including the use of…

Math assignments often use multi-column layouts and place text or page elements close to each other to save space, which can be challenging for students with low vision that are already dealing with the high demand visual tasks that come with studying math. While some…

I recently came across a conversation thread on social media talking about how difficult it can be to keep a dorm room clean with chronic illness and how having a messy dorm can be frustrating not only for visitors, but for the person living in…

I use dictation as assistive technology frequently when I am using mainstream technology devices such as my computer, phone, and tablet. Also known as speech-to-text, dictation tools take spoken words, numbers, punctuation, and other formatting information as input, and transcribes the audio as text that…

Even though I have lived with a chronic pain condition for many years, it wasn’t until recently that I fully realized how my condition influences how I interact with websites, applications, and other digital content, and how there aren’t many resources available that talk about…

I love the look and feeling of a freshly-made bed, but I’ve found that many of my Chiari Malformation symptoms like neck/shoulder pain, headaches, and poor strength/coordination in hands are aggravated when I make my bed using traditional methods. Over the years, I’ve received tips…