ACCESSIBILITY - PART 2
Accessibility Wizard
To find the Accessibility Wizard:
- Click on the "Start" button
- Click on "All Programs"
- Click on "Accessories"
- Click on "Accessibility"
- Click on "Accessibility Wizard" (See Figure 2-10)
Figure 2-10
Options for People Who Are Blind or Have Difficulty Seeing Things on the Screen:
- You can set vision related options such as scrollbar and window border size, desktop icons, high contrast schemes, and size and color of the mouse cursor.
Options for People Who Are Deaf or Have Difficulty Hearing Sounds:
- You can set sound options such as getting visual warnings for system sounds and have captions displayed for speech and sounds.
Options for People Who Have Difficulty Using the Keyboard or Mouse
- You can set options such as turning on StickyKeys, MouseKeys, and FilterKeys, get extra keyboard help in programs, and select cursor size and color options.
You can find complete details on the Windows Accessibility Wizard here
Click here to watch a video on the Accessibility Wizard
Magnifier
To find the Magnifier:
- Click on the "Start" button
- Click on "All Programs"
- Click on "Accessories"
- Click on "Accessibility"
- Click on "Magnifier" (See Figure 2-11)
Figure 2-11
Magnifier is a display utility that makes the computer screen more readable. (See Figure 2-12) You can adjust the position, size, invert the colors, set the Magnifier magnification level, and set the Magnifier Tracking Options.
Figure 2-12
You can find complete details on the Windows Magnifier here
Narrator
To find the Narrator:
- Click on the "Start" button
- Click on "All Programs"
- Click on "Accessories"
- Click on "Accessibility"
- Click on "Narrator" (See Figure 2-13)
Figure 2-13
Narrator is a Text-to-Speech utility for people who are blind or have low vision.
You can set Narrator to:
- Announce Events on the Screen
- Read Typed Characters
- Move Mouse Pointer to the Active Item
You can find complete details on the Windows Narrator here
For more sophisticated screen reader software, check out JAWS for Windows and Window-Eyes.
On-Screen Keyboard
To find the On-Screen Keyboard:
- Click on the "Start" button
- Click on "All Programs"
- Click on "Accessories"
- Click on "Accessibility"
- Click on "On-Screen Keyboard" (See Figure 2-14)
Figure 2-14
On-Screen Keyboard provides functionality for people with mobility impairments. On-Screen Keyboard also helps people who do not know how to type. It displays a virtual keyboard on the computer screen.
You can find complete details on the On-Screen Keyboard here
Utility Manager
To open the Utility Manager:
Press the Windows logo key Windows logo key + U.
Note: You can also open Utility Manager from the Start menu (Start>All Programs>Accessories>Accessibility>Utility Manager). But if you open Utility Manager from the Start menu you will have limited program management capabilities.
Figure 2-15
Utility Manager is an accessibility utility that enables users to check the status of accessibility programs (Microsoft Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard) and to start or stop them. (See Figure 2-15)
If you are logged onto your computer with an owner account you can choose to start an accessibility program when Utility Manager starts.