Having a disability or being chronically ill in college comes with many challenges: time management, memory, missing class, taking notes, studying, typing papers, reading textbooks and more! While this by no means will be an extensive list, here are some applications, software, and modifications that you might find helpful broken down by task. *Note: if you have an IEP/504/ College Disability Accommodations, some of these may be available to you for free through your school or may be covered under insurance so talk to your case managers!*

Time Management:

Timeglass (Free)

This is a simple application that allows for the use of multiple timers at once, including multistep timers, repeats, customizable icons, and a visual timer. There is a limited feature free version on iTunes.

 
VisTimer Lite (Free)

Another simple visual timer application that has customization options such as display size, circle color, alert sound, and time warnings. Available in iTunes Store here for free with ads, upgrade available. Compatible with iPhone and iPad.

 

 

Things 3 ($9.99 iPhone/Watch)

I have tried many to-do list-esque applications over the years and while most start off great I find I stop using them after a week or so because they are too complex, don’t sync well between devices, or don’t help. Things 3 is the exception. It has iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and iMac/Macbook compability, iCloud, Reminders and calendar syncing, it clean and easy to use and helps me immensely with homework, projects, things I need to buy, and my “remind me to think of…”. It is available here.

Why I love it:

• items are easy to move, categorize and mark as complete
• a log book is kept for your completed items for the inevitable “oh shit I didn’t actually do that” moments
• it syncs well with devices
• it syncs with iOS Reminders, Calendar (including google), iCloud, and various devices flawlessly
• You can set due dates, reminders, and assign a time to complete it
• You can make subcategories
• It helps a lot with packing and grocery lists too

Taking Notes:

Microsoft OneNote (Free)

Microsoft OneNote is part of the Office365 suite and is like Word, Powerpoint, and a Notepad combined. It offers the users to create subject sections, draw freehand, add tags such as “question” “to-do” or “follow-up”, simultaneously record and take notes, highlight, change page color, and more! Additionally, if used on Windows, “Learning Tools” is a free package download that includes features such as text-to-speech, focus mode, font-spacing, page coloring options, reading tools for low vision, dyslexia and other print disabilities, and more! I find OneNote to be the most useful one touch screen devices, especially for working out things like math problems that are hard to type out correctly or quick sketches. OneNote is also integrated with Office Lens (below).

               

Notability ($9.99)

I have only just started using Notability by Ginger Labs instead of OneNote and while the two applications have large amounts of crossover in terms of functionality, I prefer Notability’s design as well as ease of integration of pictures, better functionality of audio recordings, more functional highlighter, and overall more functional to use and sync.

Writing/ Reading

Wrise ($59)

Wrise is an accessible word processor for Mac that includes word prediction, text-to-speech, tags, and an export to iTunes feature. It is made by Assistiveware and is switch compatible. It also has tools to help people who struggle with similar sounding words, spelling, and reading.

Dragon Dictation (Naturally Speaking- $69.99)

Dragon provides one of the best speech recognition/dictation softwares out there. For those with fine motor issues, hypermobility in fingers, or who just prefer to talk rather than type, this is an amazing software. Dragon works with most common word processors (Word, Notepad etc) and can also be integrated into social media and web browsing.

Studying

Quizlet (Free)

Quizlet is a free study tool that allows the user to make e-flashcards, practice tests, and learning games all from a study set. The free version allows for pictures to be used on flashcards as well but you are limited to a small database. Additionally, study sets can be shared with classmates, worked on collaboratively, or you can search for pre-made study sets by other users. Some of the really beneficial tools of quizlet are: web based with app options, several different modes for learning from traditional “flashcards” to an adaptive learning course that prepares you for your exam. As someone with a learning disability, the ability to have the cards/ questions read to me when I want to is a major plus.

Crash Course Videos (Free)

These videos are fantastic! While you are limited to the topics they cover, I find them informational and think they do a great job of summarizing and presenting information without being too complex. These are great reviews for science courses, history, and other introductory courses. Also just fun to watch to learn something new. They even have videos on study skills!

Khan Academy (Free)

For more specialized informational needs, especially in math and science, Khan Academy does a good job of summarizing, providing examples, and covers more discrete topics.

Other

Office Lens (Free)

Office Lens is a free mobile application (integrated with OneNote) that gives you a scanner and optical character recognition (OCR) in one application — and for free. I use this app all the time!

Things it can do:

• take a picture of a whiteboard at an angle, auto-crop it, and perform OCR (scans and converts characters to type)
• take a photo
• take a picture of a business card, crop it and perform OCR
• save anything you snap to camera roll, OneNote, PDF, email attachment and more
• scan and read a document to you
• scan a document, perform OCR, send document to OneNote, then edit the document
• compatible with VoiceOver and switch access
  

Keeble Accessible Keyboard ($24.99)

Another product of Assistiveware, Keeble is for anyone with vision issues, limited use of hands, dyslexia, and switch users this app is an accessible keyboard that can be added just like a foreign language or emoji keyboard and allows for customization of color, font, word prediction, quick phrases, auditory feedback (speaks what you type), Open Dyslexic font, ALL CAPS, and arrangement (ex. switch user making keyboard in frequency order as opposed to QWERTY).

 

 

Hope some of this helps!