I struggle to write – speech-to-text software is the reason I can do my dream job

It might sound dramatic but it’s true. 

Without speech-to-text software, I wouldn’t have the career I do. Decades ago, it simply wouldn’t have been possible for me to have a job in journalism.  

When I use the programme, I speak the words I want to write into my headset, and the computer transforms that information into written words.  

I have used speech-to-text software, at least partially, in every article I have written – including this one, because I have cerebral palsy, which limits my movement. 

As a result, I can only handwrite a sentence or two before my wrists tire.    

As journalists, we are told you have to be able to take notes. It initially put me off trying.    

We have a very set and old-fashioned view of what a writer must be and do, and gatekeeping can make the industry often seem inaccessible and ableist.      

I have been told by senior editors that I would struggle without being able to use shorthand, a method of rapid writing using abbreviations and symbols, as it can be seen as a fundamental skill for things like interviews and court reporting. 

Instead, I use speech-to-text software; recording interviews and sending voice notes wherever possible instead of taking notes or using my energy on the physical act of writing. 

This means I don’t have to consider every line painstakingly because of the energy it would cost to write by hand. 

The truth is, modern technology has evolved so much even since I started using speech-to-text software at college in the early 2000s to write papers. 

I did a law degree, and the software stubbornly refused to understand me, constantly writing ‘liar’ when I wanted to say ‘law’. 

I’ve been fortunate to grow up alongside this technology and it’s now seamless – where once it was unmanageable and often inaccurate. It’s given me the freedom to begin a career in my chosen field.     

And this isn’t just about me –  having diverse voices in the industry matters.  

According to the Diversity In Journalism reports published by NCT, disabled people are underrepresented in newsrooms. 

The 2021 data shows that 16% of journalists say they have a ‘work-limiting health problem or disability,’ lower than the 22% of the general population. 

I have always been told that I had a gift for the written word – I excelled in English Language and Literature and was obsessed, in that way that only teenage girls can summon, with poets and novelists.  

But I knew I would never write long paragraphs in notebooks or undertake any fanciful notion of what it practically meant to be a writer.  

I had a stroke before or just after birth, so I have always known and lived with physical limitations – sometimes, I forget words and phrases.  

However, the biggest frustration for me has always been in expression. So, despite knowing in my mind what I wanted to say, precisely what I wanted to write, I also knew that I couldn’t fully commit it to the page without external help.     

In school I had a scribe for all of my examinations, a person who would write my answers to questions.  

It was freeing – although it presented its unique challenges.  

Before each exam, I would have five minutes to review my approach with this person, usually a stranger, who was expected to write down every last scrap of my stream of consciousness.     

This was an often gruelling process that sapped my energy and meant that I had to focus on communicating my explanation rather than its content.   

One that decades ago wouldn’t have been possible, and it has enabled me to have the career I dreamed of as a child.    

I’m a new type of journalist who couldn’t have done it before, but technology has let me – and many others – through the gate.     

I will keep using the software because it makes my life easier, and old-fashioned ideas about being a journalist matter little. 

If older generations of disabled people had these resources – the ability to use technology – we could have had much more well-rounded, informed journalism throughout history. 

We wouldn’t have had to rely on non-disabled voices to tell our stories.  

And now we don’t.  

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