Accessibility & Apps for Students with Vision Impairments including

Blindness

Accessibility & Apps for Students

with Vision Impairments

REMEMBER: the iPad

is COOL… but it’s

NOT the only tool in

the ‘learning toolbox’

for the student!

How many Apps?

•As of the Apple announcement of the iPad 3 on March 7 (2012)…

•over 585,000 apps!

•over 25 billion downloads!

Accessibility & Apps for Students

with Vision Impairments

• Hard to be an “expert” on apps…

• At times, too many to choose from• New ones always added• Existing ones updated / improved • Non-popular ones removed

• Easier to be an “expert” on the built-in features

• Better yet, share “expertise” in a community of learners

The Evolving

World of Apps

for the iPad

and iPhone

Accessibility & Apps for Students with Low Vision

•Low vision features built into the iPad:

•“Zoom”•“VoiceOver”•“Large Text”•“White on Black”•“Speak Selection”•Reader in Safari•Support for Braille displays

Accessibility & Apps for Students with Low Vision

Tip #1: apply a matte screen protector

Zoom

• activate in “Settings – General – Accessibility” or set as default “Triple-click Home”

• activate with a 3-finger double tap then release on the screen

• adjust zoom level with a 3-finger double tap and hold on the screen, followed by sliding 3-fingers up or down (to enlarge or reduce respectively)

• navigate with a 3-finger single tap and hold, then move around the screen

• this feature works well in the Home Screen as the fonts there cannot be enlarged otherwise

Accessibility & Apps for Students

who are Blind

VoiceOver built-in TTS feature on the iPad:

• Turn on and set up in Settings• Flick or slide moves from one item to

another• Double tap opens or activates links• 2 finger flick up reads from top of page• 2 finger flick down reads from current

position• 2 finger tap pauses reading• 2 finger tap restarts the reading• VoiceOver on iPad also gives you

information about your device — including battery level, network signal level, and time of day. It even lets you know when the display changes to landscape or portrait orientation and when the screen is locked or unlocked.

• PLUS MANY MORE… SEE iPad MANUAL

“Large Text”

• maximum size is 56 point• only works on some built-in apps (such as

Notes, Calendar, etc.)

“White on Black”• not actually black and white contract, but

rather a reversal of all colours

“Speak Selection”• Text highlighted in most apps can be read aloud

(e.g. Safari)

“Safari Reader”• When you navigate to an article, "Reader”

appears in the address bar. Tap it, and an e-reader-style interface will appear, giving a simplified version of the text with no ads and no distracting links and the option to adjust the font size.

ALL THE BUILT-IN ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES CAN BE ACTIVATED IN “SETTINGS – GENERAL – ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility & Apps for Students

who are Blind

Rotors & Keyboarding

•Typing with VoiceOver enabled and the on-screen keyboard, the default is a double-tap on each letter

•Using the ‘Rotor’ feature of VoiceOver, “touch” typing can be enabled (let go of the desired letter)

•2 fingers in a rotating motion (e.g. one’s thumb and forefinger opening a bottle top)

•Each rotor setting can be toggled with a flick up or down

Accessibility & Apps for Students

with Vision Impairments

•External keyboards:

•“Apple Keyboard Dock” – limited to portrait orientation

•BlueTooth keyboards:

•USB keyboards? • via "Apple Camera

Connection Kit"

Accessibility & Apps for Students with Low Vision

•External keyboards:

•USB keyboards! • E.g. Crayola (at right)• via "Apple Camera

Connection Kit"

BRAILLE DISPLAYS

•iOS 5.1 (released March 7, 2012) is supposed to work with all current braille displays via Bluetooth

•Brailliant (by Humanware)

•Focus 40 Blue (by Freedom Scientific)

•etc.

•Settings… General…•Accessibility… VoiceOver… Braille… (requires Bluetooth on)

Accessibility & Apps for Students who are Vision

Impaired

• Third-party iTunes APPS

GAMES using VoiceOver• Papa Sangre… Text Twirl!... Bop It!™ for iPad… Zany

Touch… Arcade Hoops Basketball… Stem Stumper…

Additional ones from AppleVis website:• Blindshoot

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindshoot/id498792267?mt=8

• Moxie, and Moxie 2 (word games) http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/moxie-free-edition/id309662269?mt=8

• King of Dragon Pass http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/king-of-dragon-pass/id335545504?mt=8

iPads & Interactive Whiteboards/ Data Projectors

But which app does this best? And what else is needed?

Accessibility & Apps for Students with Low Vision

• iPads & Interactive

Whiteboards

•How to share the teacher’s electronic presentation on the iPad for the student with low vision…

One of many solutions: Join Me (free)

AirDisplay ($ cost $)

iPads & Interactive Whiteboards/

Data ProjectorsJoin Me

RECORDING & AUDIO

• Voice Memos (built-in… iPhone only)• List Recorder• Dragon Dictation (free)

• Note: new to iPad3 is the Dictation feature built into the onscreen keyboard – useful in almost every app!

• VLingo (iPhone app) • AudioNote Lite (free)• Hound (free) & others similar to it

WORD PROCESSING•Notes (built in)

•PlainText (free)

•Pages ($9.99)

•Quickoffice® Pro HD ($14.99)

•EverNote (free)

BOOK APPS•Print book readers:• iBooks• available as a free download• download, organize, and read ebooks.• fully compatible with VoiceOver.

• books read aloud in any of 33 languages.

• iBooks can be tailored to suit the way you read.• portrait or landscape orientation.• larger font sizes or different fonts.• It also works with the white-on-black text setting• Use VO to browse iBookstore

• Kindle: VO friendly

PDF APPS

• iBooks • kobo• GoodReader for

iPad• pdf-notes for

iPad• Adobe Reader• Perfect Reader

2-finger pinchZoom

Speak Selection

built-in speech

PDF APPS cont’d• VoiceOver friendly:

• iBooks (free)

• NOT VoiceOver friendly: • Kobo• GoodReader for iPad• pdf-notes for iPad• Adobe Reader• Perfect Reader

DAISY APPS

• VOD Lite “voice of DAISY” (free; full version is $25.99)

•DaisyWorm (99¢)

•inDAISY ($19.99)• Possibly the very 1st DAISY app…

•Read2Go ($19.99) – for BookShare books

UTILITIES•Calculators (iPhone’s built-in is VoiceOver ‘friendly’)

•BrailleTouch texting (iPhone)

•TypeInBraille

•Periodic Table of the Elements (by Kevin Neelands) is VoiceOver friendly!

• Qwiki encyclopedia

•Dictionary.com HD

UTILITIES cont’d

• iPad calculators: many options for low vision!• E.g “Jumbo Calculator”

• Large Dice

•Dice aloud

•Educreation

UTILITIES cont’d

• Dropbox! Benefits:• One user account…• Load onto the iPhone and/or iPad• Also installs on PC or Mac

computers• Files transferred easily between

the above• Files and folders can be shared

between multiple users*• There’s even a public access

folder for anyone to access a file*

* iCloud can’t do these!

WEB RESOURCES•iPad & iPhone user guides:

http://manuals.info.apple.com

•Accessibility: http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ipad/vision.html

•Accessible apps, guides & discussion for blind and vision-impaired users: www.applevis.com

•Accessible fun apps:http://appadvice.com/applists/show/fun-apps-for-blind-and-visually-impaired

Feeling disconnected?

Acknowledgement: This Presentation has been put together from several sources including- http://www.vision.alberta.ca/