Assistive Technology: Accessibility in Microsoft Vista

Accessibility is a term used to describe the degree to which a product is useable (accessible) by everyone. People who are disabled deserve equal access to every product, service and facility that anyone else enjoys. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA 90) holds private and public business accountable for making sure that their products, services and facilities are accessible to all. The disability rights movement does not seek to allow disabled persons an advantage over anyone else, rather, the movement is about advocating for equal access to products, services, and facilities so that disabled people can enjoy the same quality of life as everyone else. Not only can the utilization of Assistive Technology (AT) play an important role in leveling the playing field for disabled individuals, it can also make work much more productive for anyone. We all know that the Microsoft Corporation (MS) is on the leading edge of technology but what a lot of people don't know is that Microsoft is dedicated to making those technological advances accessible for all. Here is a run-down of the some of the popular AT programs available in Vista, Microsoft's latest Operating System (OS):

Speech Recognition - The SR software is marvelous. It allows users to interact with their computer utilizing their voice. I'm actually "writing" this article utilizing my voice and a headset microphone.

Text Captions & Display Captions - this program will allow for a closed captioned (cc) computer experience. Although it is not as comprehensive as the cc that one may be used to in TV it will still provide text captions for audible dialogue and visual equivalents for sounds.

Mouse Keys - Use the arrows or numeric keypad to command the mouse function instead of actually using the mouse. Sounds confusing I know but it's probably because I'm not wording it correctly. Luckily, if you click on the program name I'm sure that MS does an excellent job of describing their software.

Keyboard Shortcuts - Here we have yet another alternative to constant utilization of the mouse.