Chosen IT tool for
visually impaired user:
The most suitable IT tool for a visually impaired user will
be chosen based on his/her disability type (poor vision, partly blind or
completely blind). For a person with poor vision the Windows Magnifier will be the
ideal IT tool because of:
Free and accessible:
Windows Magnifier comes already built in the most popular operating system in
the world. It can be found on the accessibility tools panel.
Easy set up: one
of the best Windows Magnifier advantages is its easy set up requirements, to
run it, you can simply search it on the start menu search bar and click on the
result for the tool to start functioning.
Screen parts
Enlargement: Windows Magnifier can enlarge specific parts of the screen as
the cursor hover over them, the size of the magnified area can be modified in
the tool setting, this will help altering the functionality based on the degree
of the visual impairment.
Chosen IT tool for
the text reading:
For the text reading tool, I would recommend the “Natural
Reader” because of its numerous qualities such as:
Free to use and free to download: This
tool is free to download from the developer’s website (http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.php)
and completely free to use unless the user requires further advanced features
available to whom ready to pay.
Reads and opens
multiple types of documents: This tool has the capability reading out text
directly from Microsoft Word, PDF and other documents formats.
Floating bar: the
floating bar helps controlling reading text from a variety of other software
application.
Change reading speed:
this feature helps adjusting the speed of reading to suit people with different
hearing abilities.
Speech with different
voices and accents: the user can select one from different voice types
based on factors such as sex of the voice (male or female) and the local
accents (example: American English or British English).
Chosen IT tool for
On-screen keyboard:
Because the two previously mentioned on-screen keyboard tools
are with absolutely the same functions and features, we cannot pick one based
on quality as both are related to different types of operating systems. Because
Windows is the most popular operating system, I will state some of the
advantages of Windows On-screen Keyboard.
Easy to set up:
to open the on-screen keyboard on windows, you simply need to type “On-screen
keyboard” on the search bar in the start menu and click on first result.
All you need buttons:
the buttons provided by the On-screen keyboard are not only for writing
characters, digits and symbols, but also for opening some utilities and execute
some functions.
Easy to use: to
press a button on the On-screen keyboard, you simply need to move the cursor
over the desired button and click the right button.
Chosen IT tool for physically
disabled user:
Taking into account that a physical disability would
probably leave the user unable to use some input devices such as the mouse and
keyboard. The tool I have chosen was the Windows Speech Recognition tool as it
enables the physically disabled user to perform commands to the computer
vocally. Some of the best features of this tool are:
Full control over
computer: Speech recognition has the ability to listen to commands said by
the user and respond to them simultaneously. After each command given, the
computer responds with executing it and output the convenient result.
Write and edit text:
if the user was willing to type a text on any application, speech recognition
will instantly translate the words spoken into written text on the computer. The
user can also edit the text written by performing certain commands.
