Mobility and dexterity accessibility

- [Announcer] Hector stands in a white room with bookshelves and a fireplace. - So much has changed about the way people physically control technology in recent years. It's not just keyboard and mouse, although they are certainly the predominant input methods. As businesses around the world implement, bring your own device policies, and work is increasingly done in the cloud with great security features to protect information, this opens up great opportunities for people with disabilities to choose hardware and input methods that optimize their input. What makes a great experience? How many input methods do you use with your tech? I'm surrounded by technology. I get access to all sorts of devices in my daily life. Let's think about this for a minute. - [Announcer] A hand types on a phone keyboard. - [Hector] I use my phone with touch, with voice, with hardware button sequences. - [Announcer] On a desk, a headset with control buttons and a microphone rests next to a phone. - [Hector] I use my headset. It has buttons and key sequences and the lift mechanism to mute. - [Announcer] A tablet with a keyboard is behind the headset. - [Hector] I use my tablet with touch onscreen keyboard and with inking. - [Announcer] A mouse is next to the tablet. - I use my laptop with keyboard, track pad, mouse, touchscreen, voice, and by extension, I could use joysticks or use my number pad as a mouse. And even iControl, which is supported in mainstream PCs nowadays. But even though we have choice, there are still features and settings that can support people with physical disabilities. Presenting as limb disabilities, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, hemiplegia, muscular dystrophies, and spinal cord injury. - [Announcer] On a computer screen, the cursor selects devices on the windows settings screen. - [Hector] I want to start with typing and text input. There are a number of methods to personalize the typing experience. First, is word prediction. This is not just for onscreen keyboards. - [Announcer] The cursor selects typing from the sidebar and toggles on show, text suggestions as I type and auto-correct misspelt words I type. - [Hector] Nowadays, you can also get this for keyboard use. - [Announcer] In Microsoft word, word suggestions appear over text as it's typed. - Turn on tech suggestions and auto-correct in your typing settings and measure how many keystrokes you save. - [Announcer] On the settings screen, the cursor selects ease of access. - [Hector] Next is sticky keys and filter keys. - [Announcer] The cursor selects keyboard from the sidebar and toggles on press one key at a time for keyboard shortcuts and ignore brief or repeated keystrokes and change keyboard repeat rates. - These settings have been around for decades allowing for 100 typing and ignoring accidental double pressing of the keys. This is tremor control. Next, we have dictation. This has really improved over the last few years. System-wide dictation is available on most modern personal computers. - [Announcer] A web browser opens to a page with a search bar. - [Hector] If I press windows key H anywhere on my PC, I can type into any text box on the web, in a search bar, on a sticky note, on a to-do list. - [Announcer] A microphone icon appears with the word listening. Dictated words appear in the search bar. - [Hector] If you combine this with some really intelligent auto-correct or intelligent web search, accuracy is just not as critical. So you really don't lose any functionality. It really is the time to revisit this technology. Finally, there's full dictation in office products and by extension audio transcription in word. You can punctuate fully and add a document with voice commands. Let's try it - [Announcer] In Microsoft word. The cursor selects the dictation button at the top right of the screen. Hector speech appears in the document. - Hey Jenny comma, let's reschedule today's meeting for next week, period. New line, speak soon, period. Next let's move to the keyboard. For many people the main challenge is actually moving from mouse to keyboard or vice versa. If you use a joystick, it's often easier to utilize an onscreen keyboard rather than lift across to a physical keyboard. - [Announcer] At a desk, Hector moves his right hand from a keyboard to a mouse. - Likewise, if you rest nicely on your keyboard, you don't want to have to move to a physical mouse. I have two tips here. - [Announcer] A blank document opens in Microsoft word. - [Hector] First, look out for keyboard shortcuts. In office products, hit your Alt key and look all the keyboard shortcuts illuminate. - [Announcer] The shortcuts appear at the top of the screen. - [Hector] Learn the ones you use the most. Try this, press Alt H D. - [Announcer] The dictation button is activated. - You're now dictating in Office 365 and you press Alt H D to stop. How easy is that? Find the settings that you use the most and commit your keystrokes to memory. - [Announcer] At a desk hand types with a number pad. - [Hector] Next use your number pad as a mouse. If you don't have a large keyboard, say use a laptop then you can buy a really low cost plugin and place alongside your existing keyboard or buy a full keyboard that meets your needs. Okay. Finally I want to show you something magic in PowerPoint. Let's create a beautiful slide in seconds with a feature created by our engineers working with colleagues with physical disability. Look at PowerPoint designer. - [Announcer] In PowerPoint designer, the cursor selects the design ideas button at the top, right of the screen. A sidebar with design templates appears. - [Hector] This speeds up slide creation for everyone but it was created to deliver an equitable experience. For some, this whole process would have been exhausting or just too much effort. Now everyone creates these great looking slides in seconds. So there you have it. Take some time to think about all the different ways you can control modern technology and check out some of the features for yourself.