09 August 2012
David Woodbridge from Vision Australia recently created this short piece to help inform a group on how Apple products assist himself and his family in daily tasks. Please read how Apple technology has incorporated accessibility functions for people who are blind or with low vision, making entertainment more interactive.
David was also involved in a podcast, talking about how Apple incorporates adaptive technology and how it works for people who are blind or have low vision. Please listen here: http://www.dr-carter.com/
"My family and Apple"
Before I get started - I am a person who is totally blind, my wife has a disability and my two young boys also have a disability.
As a family, we sometimes find it hard to get out and about. To give my boys a range of entertainment options, they have my wife's and my original iPads (the iPad 1) with movies, TV shows, books, music and apps, that are educational and for entertainment. They take these iPads to gymnastics and Karate. In situations where an iPad is a bit bulky, the boys also have our 3GS iPhones, again, with all the required apps etc.
Since the boys have our old stuff (but still very functional) my wife has an iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S, whilst I have the new iPad and iPhone 4S, which I use for home and work.
My wife and I have all of our own favourite apps, movies, TV shows and music on our own devices. For me in particular, the Light Detector app is great to make sure I turn all the lights off at night time. The other very useful app is "Find My iPhone", it uses the play sound option so I can find where I put down my iPhone or iPad in the house.
Whilst I'm talking about Apple mobile devices, we have an iPod touch, which is used as a bit of a backup when (horrors of horrors) the other devices have not been charged and the boys must use something.
Since all of these mobile devices have Apples built-in accessibility (VoiceOver), I can support not only myself, but my boys and my wife.
I use the famous Triple Click option, where I press the Home button 3 times to turn VoiceOver (screen reader) on or off, when I need to help out. A great example of this is when my wife is driving and she gets an SMS, I can Triple Click the Home button on her iPhone, let her know what the SMS is, reply if need be and then Triple click to turn VoiceOver off. This turns an accessible iPhone back to a standard iPhone.
In the case of the boys, when an App on their iPad is not working, same deal with Triple Click Home, shut down the app from App Switcher, relaunch the app for them and Triple click to hand the iPad back with the app running as good as new.
I still thank Apple every now and again for giving me full access to the App Store (for purchasing apps), iBooks (for purchasing and reading iBooks), iTunes (for downloading Movies and TV shows), iTunes U (for getting access to educational content), Podcasts (to allow me to easily find and subscribe to podcasts), Find My iPhone, Find My Friends (to see when my wife is near work to go out and meet her) and the Remote app for the Apple TV - so that when my boys say "it's only got 10 minutes to go", I can always check.
When we, or just the boys themselves, want to watch a movie at home on a big screen - we use the Apple TV to either stream movies, or TV shows, from the net or our iMac in the study.
I have a talking interface on the Apple TV through VoiceOver that I can use as it's all built-in, for me to be able to browse and select movies and TV shows for my boys to watch. The speech also helps my boys pick up words that they do not know and view a summary of a particular show.
The family iMac doubles for family content and my wife's business, which she runs from home. All of our iOS devices were originally backed up to this Mac before iCloud came along. Besides iCloud to keep our files safe, we also use Time Machine to back up to our Apple Time capsule. The Time Capsule also backs up the Mac Air, which my wife uses when she is away from her desk, or out and about and both of my Macbook Pros - one for testing and the other for my home/work.
Yes, you guessed it! All of the Macs are fully accessible via VoiceOver. So I can purchase apps from the Mac apps store and do all the things in iTunes that everyone else can do: purchase/rent movies, buy TV shows, podcasts, purchase books and download more apps. The Time Capsule was fully accessible for me to setup as well. If the unthinkable happens and I have to restore any of the Macs, the restore process is fully accessible again via VoiceOver.
I also use an Apple TV for presentations using my Macbook, iPhone or iPad via the Personal Hotspot option within one of my iOS devices to act as a WiFi network, which allows me to wirelessly stream to the Apple TV. Since everything talks, I know myself that everything is working and most importantly, displayed on the screen I am using. A while ago, I gave a presentation where there was nothing on the screen and folks seemed to be too uncomfortable to say something: so at least now, I know myself.
With presentations in particular I use an Apple Bluetooth keyboard with my iPhone, iPad or Mac. When I'm demonstrating gestures on the Macbook, I use the bluetooth Magic trackpad, so folks in the audience can better see what gestures I am using. One very cool thing about the Macbook is that I can use the Magic trackpad for VoiceOver and then just leave the trackpad in the Macbook for mouse control, for those times when it is handy to use the trackpad/mouse functions.
When traveling for work, I don't always feel like taking out my iPhone or iPad, particularly when traveling on the train. This is where my other two nifty Apple devices come in handy. If I just want to listen to music or an audio book, I just pop out the iPod shuffle. If I also want to listen to FM radio, the iPod nano comes out.
The iPod shuffle has physical buttons and takes its speech accessibility from the Mac, whilst the iPod nano has a touch screen and VoiceOver much similar to VoiceOver on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. I should also mention that the iPod nano has a built-in accessible pedometer which I should really start using.
I haven't touched upon many apps I use on the iPhone/iPad or my Mac, but I can honestly say that having access to all of these fantastic accessible Apple products has not only improved my home and work life, but given my whole family access to technology that we can all share, use, and support.
To find out more about adaptive technology and the Adaptive Technology Training Service, please visit http://www.visionaustralia.org/information/adaptive-technology
Or call 1300 847 466 to speak to a consultant on the Adaptive Technology Help Desk.