Interactive learning content · M3-T3-MLC1

AI-supported accessibility and assistive technologies

Fewer barriers, greater independence – with the learner and human support at the centre

Author: Zsolt LengyeliTStudy Hungary Training and Research Centre
Reviewer: Mária HartyányiiTStudy Hungary Training and Research Centre

A learner surrounded by symbols for vision, hearing, reading, writing, mobility and communication. — Improving access starts with the learner’s needs.

Learning objective

Many barriers to learning are not in the learner but in the form and structure of the learning material, the environment or the way information is presented.

The aim of this learning content is to introduce AI-supported accessibility and assistive technologies that help reduce such barriers in vocational education. By the end of the material, teachers will be able to describe how AI supports vision, hearing, reading, writing, mobility and interaction, select technologies according to learners’ needs, learning goals, classroom context and accessibility principles, and use them in a way that improves access without labelling, excluding or replacing human support.

By the end of this material, you will be able to

Recognise barriers in learning materials and the learning environment.
Select and try tools that improve access according to learner needs and the learning goal.
Offer useful support to everyone, without labelling or excluding learners.
Check AI output and data handling while preserving the role of human support.

From special devices to everyday tools

Six areas of barriers around the learner: vision, hearing, reading, writing, mobility and communication. — AI-supported tools can reduce barriers related to vision, hearing, reading, writing, mobility and interaction

Assistive technology used to mean expensive, specialised devices. Today many assistive functions are built into ordinary phones, laptops and browsers, and artificial intelligence has made them far more capable. A phone camera can describe a scene, a laptop can caption speech in real time, and a browser can read any web page aloud in a natural voice. For schools this means that powerful accessibility support is often already available, free, on devices that learners and teachers carry every day.

An important starting point is the idea that disability arises from the interaction between a person and barriers in their environment. A video without captions is a barrier for a learner who cannot hear it; a dense worksheet is a barrier for a learner with reading difficulties. Accessibility technologies remove or reduce these barriers, and they often help many more learners than those for whom they were designed.

The barrier may be in the environment

Consider improving a video without captions or a dense worksheet. The same support can be useful in several different learning situations.

Vision: from the screen to the camera view

A phone camera views a printed document; AI turns the content into a spoken description. — A phone camera and an AI model can describe a document, a label or a workspace aloud

Screen readers (VoiceOver, TalkBack, Narrator) and magnifiers are built into the major operating systems. AI adds scene and text description: apps such as Be My AI in Be My Eyes, Seeing AI or Google Lookout describe photos, read printed text and labels, and answer follow-up questions about what the camera sees.

Multimodal assistants can work with a live camera feed in some modes. The availability of such options in ChatGPT or Gemini depends on the device and service. AI can also draft alternative text for images in teaching materials, which the teacher then checks.

Further information: Be My Eyes – using Be My AI.

Hearing: captions and transcripts

Live captions are available in several systems and applications, including Windows, Android, iOS/macOS and Chrome, and in video-conferencing tools such as Teams and Meet. Features and language support vary between devices.

Live captions

Audio or speech appears as text. Captions can help learners follow a video, explanation or online conversation.

Live transcription

Live Transcribe on Android turns speech in the room into text on a phone and can alert users to sounds such as alarms or a doorbell.

A noisy workshop

Captions and transcripts make spoken explanations accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners and can help everyone in a noisy workshop.

Check language support and technical terms!

Always test whether captions or transcription are available in your language on the device you use. Check technical terms and the effect of noise with a familiar video. Recognising speech and translating captions into another language are different functions.

Further information: Microsoft – live captions in Windows.

Reading and writing: multiple ways to access content

Read aloud and reading settings

Read-aloud tools such as Microsoft Immersive Reader not only read text aloud but also highlight each word as it is spoken. Adjusting the spacing, line focus and colours makes reading more comfortable.

Understanding text and expressing knowledge

Language models can simplify and summarise a text and explain terms. In writing, dictation, word prediction and spelling support help learners who struggle with handwriting or spelling to express what they know.

Support should fit the learning goal

Reading a mechanics text aloud can help learners understand its technical content. If the aim is to assess reading ability itself, consider separately which forms of support are compatible with the task.

Mobility, interaction and organising tasks

Voice control, such as Voice Access on Android and Voice Control on Apple devices, allows a device to be operated by speech. Eye-tracking and switch access are also built into some mainstream devices.

Switch access is an accessibility feature that lets people operate a device with one or a few simple switches instead of a touchscreen, mouse or keyboard. It is designed mainly for people who, due to physical disabilities, cannot use conventional input devices precisely.

A wheelchair user selects icons on a laptop screen using a large switch. — Switch access: another input method for the same digital task. Source: ChatGPT.

Attention and organisation

AI tools can also help with attention and organisation: goblin.tools, for example, breaks large tasks down into smaller, manageable steps, while conversational AI can be a patient partner for practising communication.

Four questions for selecting the right technology

The best tool is not the most advanced one, but the one that fits the learner, the task and the setting. The following four questions can help you in your selection:

1. Learner needs

What barrier does the learner actually experience, and what do they prefer? Ask the learner: they are the experts in their own experience.

2. Learning goal

Does the tool support the goal or bypass it? Reading a text aloud is excellent support in a mechanics lesson, but may not be appropriate when the goal is to assess reading ability itself.

3. Classroom context

Devices, network, noise, time, school rules and data protection. A tool that only works on a personal smartphone may not be usable in every lesson.

4. Accessibility principles

Multiple learning pathways and accessible digital content support equal participation. UDL provides guidance for learning design; WCAG provides guidance for the accessibility of web content.

Four considerations – the learner, goal, setting and principles – pass through a filter to identify appropriate support. — Learner needs, learning goal, classroom context and accessibility principles together determine the right tool

Design for everyone: UDL and WCAG

UDL · flexible learning pathways

Universal Design for Learning recommends multiple means of engagement, representation, action and expression. Learners can access content, participate in activities and demonstrate their knowledge in different ways.

WCAG · accessible digital content

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines describe how digital content can be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Examples include alternative text, video captions, keyboard access and clear navigation.

Offer support to the whole group

Whenever possible, offer accessibility features to the whole group: captions on every video, an audio version of every worksheet, a glossary for every unit. When support is universal, no one needs to be singled out, and many learners benefit without having to ask.

Captions for videos

Learners can follow the explanation without hearing it, in a noisy setting or when reviewing it.

Audio versions of worksheets

Learners can work with technical content in a way that suits them.

A glossary for each unit

Several members of the group may find new technical terms easier to understand.

Further information: CAST – UDL 3.0.

Further information: W3C – WCAG principles.

Limits: accuracy, privacy and independence

Errors and missing details

AI descriptions and transcriptions can be wrong or incomplete. In a workshop, a misread label or a missed warning can be dangerous. Safety-critical information must never depend on AI alone.

Privacy

Camera images, voice recordings and documents are often processed in the cloud. Avoid photographing people without consent and do not upload personal or health-related data.

Independence and dependence

Tools should increase the learner’s independence, not create new dependence. Agree with the learner when and how a tool is used.

Availability and cost

Check whether the tool works in your language and on the devices available at school. Free versions may be limited.

Safety must not depend on AI alone!

A misread label or a missed warning can have consequences in a workshop. Check AI output with a level of care appropriate to the importance of the task.

Human relationships remain central

Assistive technology is most effective as part of a human relationship: the teacher who knows the learner, special education professionals, parents and the learner themselves decide together which support is useful. AI can reduce barriers, but encouragement, patience and pedagogical judgement remain human tasks.

AI can reduce barriers; encouragement, patience and pedagogical judgement remain human tasks.

A two-way relationship between teacher and learner, supported by a laptop and AI. — Technology supports the relationship between teacher and learner; it does not replace it

Accessibility within the institutional framework

Accessible design is a pedagogical and institutional responsibility. The two EU directives mentioned in the source cover different areas; specific obligations must be determined according to national rules and the services covered at the institution.

Products and services · EAA

The requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/882 apply from 28 June 2025 to the products and services within its scope. These include, for example, e-books and the software used to access them.

Public-sector web accessibility · WAD

Directive (EU) 2016/2102 governs the accessibility of public-sector websites and mobile applications. Member States may exempt some school content; essential online administrative functions are not covered by this exemption.

What can teachers do in their own materials?

Make text accessible, provide image descriptions and video captions, enable keyboard use and offer several ways to work with the content. Discuss institutional requirements with the responsible staff.

Further information: European Commission – European accessibility legislation.

Further information: European Commission – web accessibility.

Further information: Directive (EU) 2016/2102, Article 1(5).

Takeaways for teachers

Five ideas to take with you

Many AI-supported accessibility tools are already built into everyday devices: explore them before buying anything.
Start from the learner’s needs and preferences, and check that the tool supports the learning goal.
Offer support to everyone where possible: captions, audio versions and glossaries help many learners.
Check AI output, especially for safety-critical information, and protect personal data.
Technology complements human support; it never replaces it.

The right support reduces barriers and preserves the learner’s independence.

Accessibility tour of my own devices

Teacher practice · 30 minutes · Individual work

Discover the AI-supported accessibility features already available on everyday devices and assess their quality using tasks from your own subject.

Exercise steps

Turn on live captions (or, if they are not available in your teaching language on your device, use Live Transcribe or YouTube’s automatic captions) and play a short video from your subject. Note how accurately technical terms are captioned.
Open one of your worksheets in a browser or Word and use Read Aloud / Immersive Reader. Try line focus and a different background colour.
Photograph a workshop object or a printed instruction (no people) and ask an AI description app to describe or read it. Check the description.
Dictate a short paragraph with the built-in dictation function. Count the corrections needed.
Summarise in a table: tool, what worked, what failed, which learners could benefit.

Tools and observations

Your laptop and smartphone (Windows/macOS, Android/iOS), Edge or Chrome browser, and the Be My Eyes, Seeing AI or Lookout app.

What should you record?

Tool and feature.
What worked with your own learning material?
What failed, and which corrections were needed?
Which learners or learning situations could benefit?

Lessons learnt

Many useful accessibility tools are free and already installed.
Quality depends on language, terminology and noise: testing with your own material is essential.
Knowing the tools yourself is the first step to offering them to learners.

Barrier hunt with fictional users

Classroom work with students · 45 minutes · Groups of 3–4 learners

Raise learners’ awareness of barriers in learning materials and of tools that can reduce them.

Fictional learner situations

Dani is hard of hearing.
Eszter reads slowly.
Márk cannot use his right hand.

The activity always uses fictional characters, not classmates’ personal difficulties.

What you need

A worksheet, a short video and a workshop instruction; persona cards; school devices with built-in accessibility functions.

Check school rules on camera and microphone use before the lesson.

Group work steps

Each group receives a material and two fictional persona cards, for example: «Dani, who is hard of hearing», «Eszter, who reads slowly» or «Márk, who cannot use his right hand».
Groups list the barriers the personas would meet in the material.
Each group chooses one barrier and tests a tool that reduces it: captions, read aloud, dictation or image description.
Groups present their findings: what helped, what did not, and how the material itself could be improved.

What do we learn from it?

Barriers are often in the material, not in the person.
Built-in tools can remove many barriers and help everyone.
Improving the material is often better than adding a tool afterwards.

Check your knowledge!

There is one correct answer to each question. You will also receive a short explanation after submitting your answers.

1What should be the starting point for selecting a tool?The name of the newest app.The learner’s needs and the learning goal.The largest number of automatic features.

2What can help learners follow a video when they have hearing difficulties or the setting is noisy?Captions or a transcript.Only a larger font size.Faster mouse movement.

3What does switch access do?It automatically solves the learner’s task.It requires everyone to use the same interface.It makes a device operable with a simple switch.

4Why should we offer support to the whole group?It removes the need to check the learning material.It can help more learners without singling anyone out.It allows us to dispense with human support.

5What should we do with a workshop safety warning read aloud by AI?Accept it if it sounds confident.Ignore it.Have a person check the critical information too.

6How should we use camera- and voice-based tools in school activities?Use fictional situations, follow school rules and avoid uploading personal data.Upload classmates’ health information.Use them regardless of school rules.

7What role does the teacher retain alongside assistive technology?AI takes over every decision.The teacher and those involved decide together, check the output and provide human support.Only installing the app.

References and further information

References in the source document

CAST (2024): Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0.
W3C (2023): Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council; Directive (EU) 2016/2102
WHO & UNICEF (2022): Global Report on Assistive Technology.
Lengyel, Zs. (2026): Concrete applications for content generation. VITA training presentation.

Useful links

Language support, features and terms of use may change. Testing on your own device with your own learning material shows what is usable in a particular learning situation. Images without a stated source were generated by Claude for Mac.

Credits and copyright

Author: Zsolt LengyeliTStudy Hungary Training and Research Centre
Reviewer: Mária HartyányiiTStudy Hungary Training and Research Centre
Project: 2025-1-LT01-KA220-VET-000362456
Learning content: M3-T3-MLC1

Attachments

Source material · PDFM3-T3-MLC1-TEXT-EN.pdf Practical exercises · PDFM3-T3-MLC1-EXC-EN.pdf

This work may be reused and adapted under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the National Agency.