Assistive Technology

Ease of access on PCs and laptops is essential for learners with both sensory and cognitive disabilities. Assistive technology facilitates ease of access, and as Edyburn and Robyler (2016) explain, allows disabled individuals “to complete tasks more efficiently, effectively, and independently than otherwise possible” (p. 408). All operating systems on the market today offer built-in ease of access features. The Microsoft Windows 10 operating system includes a wide array of options that can be enabled to make the use of the Windows interface possible for disabled learners.

Most of the features that function to increase accessibility on the Windows OS are aimed at assisting learners with sensory impairments. The following features are available for learners who are partially sighted:

• Audio Description - An on-screen narrator describes the action that is occurring in a video. (Not available for all videos.)
• Background Image Removal - This feature removes unnecessary images and any overlapping content to increase readability.
• High Contrast - This feature increases contrast to make text and images easier to read and see.
• Keyboard Shortcuts - This feature allows the user to navigate through windows using alt key and ctrl key command combinations rather than using a mouse.
• Mouse Cursor Enlargement - The mouse cursor can be enlarged to make navigating through menus and multiple windows easier.
• Narrator - This feature can be turned on so that all onscreen text is narrated.
• Screen Magnifier - This allows any part of the screen to be enlarged, making text and images easier to read.
• Speech Recognition - This allows the user to control the PC using only voice commands.

The following features are available for learners who are blind:

• Audio Description - An on-screen narrator describes the action that is occurring in a video. (Not available for all videos.)
• Narrator - This feature can be turned on so that all onscreen text is narrated.
• Speech Recognition - This allows the user to control the PC using only voice commands.

The following features available for learners who are hearing impaired or deaf:

• Replace Sound with Visuals - This feature replaces sounds with visual cues. Visual cues include a flashing active caption bar, flashing active window, and flashing desktop. Also, spoken dialogue is text captioned.

The following features are available for learners who are physically impaired:

• Keyboard Shortcuts - This feature allows the user to navigate through windows using alt key and ctrl key command combinations rather than using a mouse.
• Mouse Keys - This feature allows the user to navigate the screen using the number keypad rather than a mouse.
• On-screen Keyboard - This feature replaces the traditional keyboard with a visual keyboard which is manipulated using the mouse cursor. No touchscreen is needed.
• Speech Recognition - This allows the user to control the PC using only voice commands.

The following feature is available for learners who have reading difficulties

• Narrator - This feature can be turned on so that all onscreen text is narrated.

References

Robyler, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Upper Saddle 
River, NJ: Pearson.