Older people and people with disabilities may be able to use assistive technologies to help them to stay independent and manage their daily lives.

Some people may find it difficult to use a computer keyboard because of reduced eyesight or lack of digital skills and confidence. Voice activated systems or “virtual assistants” such as Amazon Echo (Alexa) and Google Home can open up new opportunities for people who might otherwise be digitally excluded.

ReachDeck is a free software used by many websites, including the Preventing Diabetes website. It reads the content of the web page out loud, and can even be translated into one of the available languages. First, click on the straw man icon which is usually in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

This will open up the ReachDeck toolbar.

Here you can select whether to have the text read out in English or have it translated into another language.

Finally, you highlight the text or the entire page and begin.