Hi, I’m recovering from a catastrophic stroke that I had in Aug ’24 that affected my dominant side. My question is geared toward using Apple Dictation (or any other assist) while leading or participating in a workshop. I keep thinking that toggling back and forth to dictate my notes will be distracting to the group. I would love to hear any suggestions, and I would especially like to hear from anyone who has experienced these types of features.
thank you,
Mae Stewart
Hello Mae,
Thank you for posting this question, and sorry to hear about your stroke. Wishing you the best in your recovery. Can I just clarify something though – what you refer to here as “your notes” – by that are you meaning whatever you create as new writing during a session? And is the issue that hand or keyboard writing are both challenging so you would prefer to ‘write’ by using dictation, instead?
Or have I misunderstood your question?
Cheers,
Matthew Curlewis
Hi Matthew,
Yes, exactly. I’m trying to learn dictation as an alternative to typing and handwriting since I do not have the use of my dominant hand. The notes was referring to any writing, new writing for me, or something I want to remember that was said.
Apologies, for some reason I hadn’t seen your answer. Ok, understood. So as far as participating in a workshop, I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be able to “dictate” in response to a prompt, instead of “write” in response. Especially when other participants understand you need to do this because of physical limitations. I might simply suggest though, that during ‘writing time’ you perhaps turn your video off as well as your video, to ensure your ‘act of dictating’ is not distracting to other participants. Then when it comes time to read, you can simply read from what the dictation tool has ‘written’ for you.
And if leading workshops? As a workshop leader, I never find myself needing to actually write during a workshop, other than writing in response to a prompt, along with everyone else. So… same would apply as I’ve said above. The only tricky parts might be in manipulating some of the controls – turning audio/video on or off, sharing or writing something through the chat, turning share screen on or off – those kinds of things.
I hope this helps in some way, and I would simply go ahead and try things out. So long as you explain to fellow participants why you’re needing to use dictation instead of write, knowing the “AWA way of doing things” I feel sure that people would be understanding. Please share – via dictation first, if necessary – what you discover!