[Trainer-Talk] Remote assistive technology training

[skylar covich]

Hi, I'm new to this list, but I have been around NFB and the assistive
technology field for a while. I was reminded about the list because of this
week's virtual career fair. I live in Santa Barbara, California, and was
lead Technology Instructor at the Braille Institute before that position
was cut last year. I have done a variety of part time work since, including
working with a few assistive tech clients through a local agency that is a
vendor for California Department of Rehab, and a few remote private clients.
Even my local agency does a lot of remote training now; I actually just did
my first in person home visit recently, which I enjoyed, but remote work is
going to be more sustainable most of the time in my area.

I am trying to revive a thread from last month about remote assistive
technology training; not sure if this message will do that or create a new
thread. I am currently looking in to becoming a California Department of
Rehab vendor, and also seeking more remote private clients, either through
my own new company or as a contractor for other companies. Someone
mentioned the Blind Professionals Network as a potential source for work at
the career fair, but they've got a lot of broken links on their web site,
so I'm curious if anyone has updated information about how they are doing.
I do not have a certification, and am leaning toward avoiding that at this
time.

While I am happy to do more traditional training on JAWS, Voice Over,
braille products, etc. I am most passionate about teaching new AI tools;
not just image description, but also research and document generation. I
completely understand this can lead to people taking too many shortcuts,
which for students and those new to vision loss, can particularly mean they
don't learn core fundamental skills. Yet these tools have lots of workplace
applications that may open up a lane for me in the field especially with
state vocational agencies, and I also find that people who struggle with
assistive tech are motivated by opportunities to do more tasks
independently. I also have used AI tools a lot for more complex tasks like
invoice generation and job applications, and have enjoyed sharing that with
clients.

Thanks for reading this, and I'm happy to connect about these ideas.
Skylar

-- 
Skylar J. Covich, Ph.D., Political Science
Vice President of the Board of Directors, Xavier Society for the Blind
Member of Santa Barbara Access Advisory Committee
Freelance assistive technology trainer, AI advisor and public policy
researcher