Accessibility considerations

[konqithedragon]

There has been a lot of talk about hardware/software.. but I don't think there has been much talk about accessibility options for the huge range of different disabilities out there.

For one thing I'd like to see the OpenDyslexic font be included in the firmware by default.

I also think during the initial setup.. at the beginning should be optional options to turn on different accessibility settings.

What other ideas do people have?

 

[Monkfish]

well as a Pandora user with a disability i can say that on the whole the unit is quite usable out of the box (i presume this would be the same for Pyra) i have motor skills and movement issues so nothing can really be done to optimise things for myself, I do think the OpenDyslexic font is a good idea. and although you can already change icon size on Pandora maybe there could be an easier way of doing this for the Pyra. I was also considering some kind of dictation software that would be able to read text on screen might be useful. maybe a colourblind theme installed as an option by default. Maybe something like the "sticky keys" option available for PC would be good for some people too.

 

[konqithedragon]

KDE's set of accessibility packages include:

• KMouseTool, clicks the mouse whenever the mouse cursor pauses briefly. It was designed to help those with repetitive strain injuries, for whom pressing buttons hurts.
• KMagnifier is a screen magnifier. You can use KMagnifier to magnify a part of the screen just as you would use a lens to magnify a newspaper fine-print or a photograph. This application is useful for a variety of people: from researchers to artists to web-designers to people with low vision. This document will try to be a complete reference manual for using KMagnifier.
• KMouth is an application that enables persons that cannot speak to let their computers speak.
• Jovie intends to be the implementation for the KDE Text-to-Speech API.

 

[WizardStan]

I recal EvilDragon (or maybe Notaz) saying thay opendyslexia font was to be included with the Pandora's firmware, once they were made aware of it. Doesn't look like that actually happened but as someone who likes to see as many people using something as possible I would encourage people to keep reminding ED so that it does get included on the Pyra from the start.

Sticky keys is a given, every DM has some kind of support for that. It's on the Pandora (takes a few clicks to get to it, but that's desktop standard) but it works just fine.

Again, as someone who likes to see as many people use something as possible, an Accessibility question in the first run seems like a good idea. We've already got a menu of things like display and autostart apps, adding Accessibility to the list would be pretty straight forward I should thing.