Stacks of highlighter bookmarks with different colors. The stack on the left corner highlight a line of text. The stack on the right highlight a section of a text.

Assistive Technology: Highlighter Bookmarks 

Feature 1

The main feature of this product is the window that blocks other sentences allowing readers with disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD to focus on one line at a time. Using the social model this bookmark helps make texts fit the reading needs of people with Dyslexia and ADHD by reducing line or word skipping and increasing text comprehension. This AT improves the poor design of texts with tight line spacing and difficult to read text fonts. This also encourages students with reading disabilities to read more and removes the barrier to having a good reading experience. 

Using the economic model, increasing line spacing has also been shown to improve the legibility of texts for people with Dyslexia. This bookmark allows students with dyslexia to read more and keep up with school work and assignments. People with reading disabilities can be more productive literate members of society. 

Person reading a book with a highlighter bookmark. There are other examples of the bookmark in the top left hand corner of the image.

Feature 2

A secondary feature is the color of the window that acts as the highlighter. Using the social model, the different colors of the windows reduce eye strain and increase interest in readers with ADHD and dyslexia. This feature makes the process of reading easier by increasing the visibility of each line that is in the window, which makes texts better suited for readers with dyslexia and ADHD. 

Using the functional solutions model, this bookmark opens a market of varied items to sell to school and parents to help children diagnosed or not improve their reading. These bookmarks can be made in a variety of colors and shapes which give readers with disabilities more agency to have AT that matches their personal aesthetic. For young readers having dinosaur or pony themed bookmarks can make them more intrigued and encourage them most importantly to read. These bookmarks are low-cost and low-tech which also increases its ability to be available at many institutions such as the school, libraries, hospitals, and banks. There is a high potentiality for a large market that would benefit from increased literacy and accessibility of texts for people with reading disabilities.