Deepi is a self-advocate and budding broadcaster from Richmond. She has been a long-time volunteer and staff member at CiTR, UBC’s campus radio station, where she produces shows bringing awareness to disability-related issues and accessibility. Her goal is to one day work for the CBC.
“I love to write, and I’m a very curious person as well,” she says.
Deepi has metatropic dwarfism, using an electric wheelchair to get around the community, and has support staff to help her with daily activities.
While producing a radio show, Deepi writes scripts and runs meetings, which involves a lot of typing. She found that she needed a better set-up with her computer and decided to reach out to Neil Squire, having worked with them in high school.
She joined Neil Squire’s Digital Jumpstart program and started working with her assistive technology trainer Jody on voice access programs. An Apple devotee, she became proficient in using the Voice Control program on her Mac, allowing her to reduce the strain from typing by instead using her voice.
“Honestly, it has made things easier for me, because as I’m growing older, I get pain in my shoulder if I’m typing too long,” she says. “Now that I can actually speak to my computer, and it can type, it has saved me from using my arm full-time.
“I could type if I want to on my own but if I get too tired for long periods of time, I could speak and it would be typing for me. And that’s a huge, huge help for me.”
Having come into Digital Jumpstart with a nine-year-old laptop, Deepi received a new laptop more compatible with the latest accessibility features, as well as a headset that allows her to speak more clearly into the computer, and Microsoft Office.
Deepi enjoyed working with Jody, and found it helpful to learn all the accessibility tools that were already on her device but that she didn’t know how to use previously.
“It was really fun,” she says. “I learned a lot of things, I didn’t know such things could be so adaptable.
“It’s just so helpful to have another tool to do something that I love to do, and not stop just because I’m in pain.”
With her eyes on a potential broadcasting career, Deepi figures the skills and equipment she received through Digital Jumpstart will help make that a possibility.
“I just wanted to say thanks to Neil Squire, and to Jody for being patient with me — she did an amazing job.”
This project is funded by the Government of Canada’s
Skills for Success Program