Assistive Technology

This week Apple announced a variety of new hardware and software products at media event. While Apple executives didn't devote stage time to accessibility announcements as they have in years past, the announcements still impact accessibility and assistive technology. Mac Apple previewed OS X Mavericks at their World Wide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) in June. This week Apple released the Mac operating system to the public and announced that it would be a free update. Like iOS 7, Mavericks includes some exciting accessibility improvements including enhanced dictation and Switch Control . Click to read more about each new feature. iPad The main focus of the event was updated iPads. Apple released a new full size iPad named iPad Air. The iPad Air is considerably thinner and lighter than the previous full size iPad . In addition to the slimmer design Apple included the new A7 processor which increases performance. The iPad mini was also updated to include a higher quality reti...

Apple's new and free Mac operating system called OS X Mavericks includes a new accessibility feature called Switch Control.  Switch Control allows switch users to navigate and use their Macs. Switch Control allows switch users to interact and control their Macs. Switch users are users who are only able to activate a few large buttons and who don’t have the ability to interact with the complexities of a keyboard or mouse.  For example, a quadriplegic may be able to activate switches mounted on their wheelchair with their head. Switches come in all different sizes and configurations but they give users who are unable to interact with the keyboard or mouse the ability to control their computers. It is exciting to see Apple continuing to improve OS X accessibility as well as iOS accessibility.  Switch Control on the Mac is  similar  to other switch interfaces and very  similar  to Switch Control on iOS 7. Click here to read about Switch Control for iOS...

While video chatting has helped deaf users communicate with each other, conventional video chatting runs into problem when an interpreter is involved. Google is attempting to solve this problem with its sign language interpreter app for Google+. Google+ is Google's social networking service. Google+ Hangouts now supports sign language interpreters for deaf users. With the app installed the deaf user sees the interpreter in the top right corner of the window.  When the the interpreter speaks for the deaf users, the app recognizes who is speaking and then makes the speaker the focus of the Hangout. It is encouraging to see Google vigorously improving the accessibility features in Google+.