Dictation Software Is Assistive Technology, Not Just AI

The article argues that dictation apps are long-standing accessibility tools, not large language models, and that disabled and neurodivergent students depend on them. The author, after a serious injury, found dictation software essential for continuing her writing and teaching work. She criticizes a New York Times piece about one such app as ableist for overlooking disability access.

Katie Rose Guest Pryal, a writer and creative writing professor, described breaking her sacrum, the lowest spinal bone at the pelvis’s center, while her chronic disability raised injury risk. Lying flat made writing hard, yet she had copyedits for two forthcoming books, two requested proposals, and articles to finish. She found Wispr Flow helpful for dictation.

Dictation tools predate current AI debates: Dragon NaturallySpeaking appeared about three decades ago, and before software, typists transcribed recorded dictation. Pryal says Wispr transcribes speech rather than composing text. She had relied on iPhone and macOS dictation, which she found unreliable. A New York Times essay by Amy X. Wang criticized Wispr, calling its speed and accuracy impressive while questioning its AI label.