Assistive Technology

Recently Google added advanced voice search to the Chrome browser . Google's advance voice search feature was previously only available for Android and iOS , but is now available on Mac and Windows . The feature is similar to Apple's Siri ,but works on your computer as well as mobile devices. To access the feature, navigate to Google using the Chrome browser and press the microphone icon to the right of the search bar. Then you can search by voice and Google will speak back select results. I have found the voice recognition to be very fast and accurate. One of the most notable features for struggling spellers is that you can ask how to spell a word and then Google will speak back the correct spelling. Google will also provide spoken responses for many other queries as well. Watch the above video to learn more.

This year iOS accessibility did not get the prime-time attention that it did during last year's WWDC Keynote, but iOS 7 still includes many new accessibility features. When iOS 7 launches in the fall, users of all abilities will find beneficial features. iOS 7 is still in beta so Apple can always add or remove features before the final release to the public. Through the Apple Keynote and other sources a number of accessibility features have been detailed. These new features will improve on current accessibility features such as VoiceOver , Guided Access , Speech Selection , Assistive Touch , and Zoom . This post will be updated as new information becomes available on iOS 7 accessibility. Click read more to learn about iOS 7 accessibility. Customize Captioning iOS 7 will also allow users customization the font and size of subtitles. Currently the subtitles are small and can be hard to read particularly on the iPhone and iPod touch. In iOS 7 the font, size, and color of subti...

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference ( WWDC ) starts Monday June 10th. At the event Apple will detail "the future of iOS and OS X." Apple is a leader in integrated accessibility with their VoiceOver screen reader and numerous other accessibility features such as Guided Access , Speak Selection , Zoom , and Assistive Touch . That being said Apple still needs to improve their accessibility features to remain a leader. New accessibility features have routinely been added to new versions of iOS. Last year, Apple added Guided Access along with other accessibility improvements. A new version of iOS is exciting not only because of the cool mainstream features but the lesser known, but no less important accessibility features that make the devices usable for so many. Make sure to visit The Assistive Technology Blog after the Keynote for all the iOS 7 and OS X accessibility news. In the meantime check out my iOS 7 Wish List video below.

Fleksy the eyes-free typing app that originally debuted for iOS is now available in beta for Android . Fleksy uses gestures and text prediction to allow users to type without looking a the screen. Fleksy can be extremely helpful for the blind and visually impaired and can dramatically increase typing speed people who cannot see the screen. Unlike the iOS version the Android version can replace the default keyboard and be used with any app. In iOS you cannot use Fleksy in an email app or with the messages app but on Android you can. Besides integration with Android apps the Android version will be similar to the iOS version. Android users can try the Fleksy by visiting the Fleksy Beta Google+ page. Click read more below to view a video about Fleksy.

Prizmo 2.0 for iOS was just released in the App Store. Prizmo now works on the iPad as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch. The update includes many exciting new features. The original version of Prizmo included optical character recognition ( OCR ) but did not include the ability to scan documents to a PDF or text file. The PDF files are not just images but include searchable text. Prizmo 2.0 also allows users to export the documents to other apps. To create a new document in Prizmo you can simply take a picture of multiple pages. Prizmo will automatically detect the edges of the page. In version 2.0 you no longer have to crop documents manually. Once you have captured all of the pages you can recognize the text of the document which is surprisingly fast and accurate. If the Prizmo does make a mistake you can edit the OCR zones or manually edit the text. After the text has been recognized you can email or export the document as a PDF or te...

NaviDys is a web browser for the iPad . The app allows full customization of a website's font, line spacing, letter spacing, and text size. Currently it is only available on the iPad not the iPhone or iPod Touch. While it feels very much like the built in Safari browser that comes with the iPad, NaviDys has features that make it easier to read the web. For people with low vision the ability to enlarge fonts and increase spacing is beneficial. Also, for dyslexics NaviDys includes the Dyslexie font. But using a third party browser does not come without trade offs. You cannot open links from other apps directly into NaviDys. Unlike Safari NaviDys does not include a reader  mode to remove distractions from web pages. NaviDys costs $2.99 from the App Store. Click read more below to view screenshots of NaviDys.

Today Amazon updated their Kindle iOS app with VoiceOver support. VoiceOver   is a gesture controlled screen reader for the iPhone , iPad , and iPod Touch designed to help the blind and visually impaired. The text-to-speech feature can benefit people with dyslexia as well. Amazon describes the new features as follows, "Accessibility features make it easier for blind and visually impaired customers to navigate their Kindle libraries, read & interact with books, and more. Enable VoiceOver in your device settings to begin." VoiceOver support for the Kindle app comes shortly after the Nook app was updated with VoiceOver support. Despite VoiceOver support it is possible that certain books may have accessibility issues that make them inaccessible. Irronically, the Kindle iOS app is now more accessible for the blind and vissually impaired than physical Kindles. Kindle for iOS is avalible as a free update in the App Store . Click read more to view screenshots of the...