Last Minute AT Holiday Gift Ideas

Iris 9000 Voice Control Unit 

Looking for last minute ideas for the holiday season? Check out WATAP's past webinars including the AT Holiday Gift Buying Guide for lots of cool ideas for people with varying abilities and varying interests. Great AT accessory ideas as well as products for everything from gardening to gaming to modifying your home environment. Get simple, low cost, low tech ideas or explore ideas for the techies in your life.  

Happy Holidays from WATAP!

Web Accessibility: Robustness

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Robustness addresses the technology implications of accessibility. It requires following web standards (e.g., valid HTML and CSS), creating content/functionality that works across various user agents (web browsers and assistive technologies), ensuring compatibility with various hardware (such as mobile devices), and considering present, future, and older technologies. While it does not mean that a web site must be compatible with all present, future, or former technologies, it does suggest that consideration be given to ensure accessibility to the broadest range of technologies feasible.

Smartphone Accessibility Comparison

Join us on Wednesday, June 8th from 10:30am-12:00pm for a consumer focused webinar on selecting a smartphone! This webinar will focus on the increasing accessibility of smartphone technologies, specifically the built-in accessibility features and some readily available apps that make using a smartphone accessible. Register today.

LookTel Money Reader App

Here is an article from the New York Times about an inexpensive App that accurately identifies the denominations of United States paper currency from $1 to $100 dollars. The Application is currently available for the iPhone and the iPod Touch with built in camera and according to the developer’s website, “Recognition will happen in real-time and without delay – there's no need to hold the device still or take a photo and wait for a result.” This reduces the need for blind people to rely on sighted folks to help them identify what is in their wallet.

The accompanying video shows a user launching the LookTel Money Reader Application on their iPhone 4, the user then hovers the iPhone over a table with various bills placed about in a grid like pattern; as the iPhone passes over a bill a voice announces the denomination of each bill. In the second part of the video clip, the user holds the iPhone in one hand and a wad of folded bills in the other; after the user launches the LookTel Money Reader App he (or she) hovers the iPhone over the wad of bills and flips through them while a voice announces the denomination of each exposed bill.

More Android Accessibility Features

Earlier this month the IDEAL Group subsidiary, Apps4Android, announced the release of Accessibility Application Installers® and Best Voices for Android®. What does this mean? This means that consumers who have purchased an Android smart device have the ability to download and install additional third-party accessibility applications that could improve your experience with the devices' built in accessibility features.

Accessibility Application Installers® allow you to easily adjust the existing accessibility settings and add additional accessibility applications such as a talking email client, video magnifier, accessible music player and GPS navigation aids. For use with text-to-speech applications, Best Voices for Android® allows you to easily comparison shop for SVOX Pico voices with a variety of language choices.

These applications are tailored per carrier and per version of the Android Operating System, so consequently not all options will be available depending upon the your phone's configuration. Despite this, the installer will walk you through the process of downloading and installing the Accessibility Application and will assist in setting up the device with the most useful accessibility applications available for the Android device.

Fastest “Hands Free” Typist

Hank Torres, a C4-5 quad, challenged the rest of the world last month as the fastest hands free typist. Using SWYPE on-screen keyboard, Sip-N-Puff mouth switch, and TrackerPro head mouse, Hank demonstrated his mad keyboarding skillz to the folks at Guinness World Records and officially set the record as the fastest hands free typist. No small feat, considering the phrase he was required to compose. Congratulations to Hank for showing us how it’s done!

How Accessible is the Droid?

Market shares for sales of the Android Operating System have been steadily creeping up past the iPhone and BlackBerry, and one must consider its accessibility relative to its predecessors. In fact, the Droid does have a few accessibility features built in:

TalkBack uses speech feedback in order to announce the actions performed by the user, and in some cases it announces the focus of the application currently in use. TalkBack will also voice synchronized events upon arrival, such as “new email”;

SoundBack provides an auditory “sound effect” type of feedback and produces different sound cues based upon the action the user is performing; and

KickBack uses haptic feedback (vibration) whenever a user selects an item on the touch screen.

Also built into the Android Operating System are Voice Dialer for the telephone component, and Voice Search for the browser:

Voice Dialer allows users to call contacts from the contacts list by speaking a call command and the contact’s name, or users can dictate individual digits in order to place calls to contacts not previously stored. Voice Dialer also allows users to access their on-device calendar by speaking the command “Open Calendar”;

Voice Search lets the user perform an internet search via the built in web browser by dictating the search terms.

Speech dictation is also built into the Short Message Service application, thus allowing users to speak their text messages rather than requiring use of the onscreen or physical keyboard.

While Google may be commended for addressing accessibility within the Android OS, by no means do these features succeed in making the Droid completely “eyes-free” or “hands-free.” However, unlike the iPhone, BlackBerry, or Palm OS, the Android OS is open source, which means developers can create applications, with little or no restrictions, and post them to the Android Market for all to upload and install.

Apps4Android, a subsidiary of IDEAL Group, is one such software development company committed to creating accessible applications specific to the Android OS. Many of their apps are free or very low cost and cover a wide range of accessibility functionality. For a list of products available, visit their website: http://apps4android.org/products.htm

Google also has a team assembled for the purpose of developing a screen reader for use in combination with the touch screen for the Droid. You can follow this project, and other eyes-free accessibility projects in development for the Android OS, by visiting their website: http://code.google.com/p/eyes-free/

Hands-free Bluetooth

For many of us, a Bluetooth headset provides additional freedom and hands-free convenience when using a cell phone. However for anyone with an upper extremity motor impairment, it can be difficult or sometimes impossible to access the small button to activate a standard Bluetooth headset.

One product that I recently tried with a client with limited upper extremity function is the NoButtonsHeadset.

The NoButtonsHeadset is a Voice Command Bluetooth headset that is designed to make and receive cell phone calls without having to push buttons. The user activates the headset by tilting their head near a magnet that is mounted on a flexible rod. The flexible rod can be mounted on a wheelchair. The user has to hold the headset near the magnet for a few seconds to activate it. Once it is activated the user will hear voice commands that will prompt them to make a call.

The client I worked with had some challenges with locating the magnet to activate the headset. Since he was not a wheelchair user, finding a functional location to mount the magnet was challenging and affected access to the magnet. Activating the headset also required some practice but after a few attempts the client was able to activate the headset independently.

This client chose to look at other hands-free options since he did not have a permanent location to mount the magnet. However, for consumers who are wheelchair users and are looking for a hands-free cell phone option, the NoButtonsHeadset would be a good product to try. Keep in mind that you should have a good mounting location for the magnet so the user can easily reach it once the headset is on the ear. Also, an individual with limited head/neck control would most likely find it challenging to use this device.

Maria Kelley, OTR/L, Senior Assistive Technology Specialist