Mac OS X Developers, Here's an Idea! by Cate Defrise

With the release of Mac OS X Tiger, many claim it is an impressive technological advancement, particularly in the domain of accessibility. Tiger's integrated universal access for people with special needs has set a new standard of excellence in accessible Mac technology.

While Apple has opened the door to helping people with various disabilities level the playing field, the door is really only half way open.

The real stride in the game of progress must come from the third party developers who write accessible software supported by Apple technologies.

However, apart from a mere handful of Mac OS X developers sensitive to this issue that actually make access friendly software or shareware, there's an embarrassingly huge absence in this area, leaving those with special needs at a prodigious disadvantage.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 53 million individuals with disabilities in the U.S. alone. This may be an understated, underreported ballpark figure.

For many of these people, technology is fundamentally key to functioning independently in society. Technology allows people with disabilities the freedom to work, socialize and live on their own terms. Adaptive, assistive and accessible technology has given them access to employment and independence they deserve.

There are, in fact, laws governing their rights, though largely ignored, I'm afraid. The government has enacted initiatives and regulations encouraging the development of accessible technology.

Though there are multiple degrees and types of disabilities making it nearly impossible to develop for everyone, I wonder if developers could at least make an effort in considering any number of accessibility issues when writing their future software. The possibilities are limitless --

from the simplest applications to the most intricate and complex, all are indispensable. For example, a freeware called Re-Pete accommodates the hearing impaired, so while playing this Simon clone memory game, players do not need to hear tones, rather, they have visual cues to participate. Simpler interfaces can do wonders for mobility limitations as does adding captions for the deaf. Equally, having more speech technology will open up your software world to visually impaired or blind people. Software integrating switch technology1 will allow physically challenged people the opportunity to expand their possibilities. Those are a just few ideas for developers to contemplate; there are endless examples if a little thought is involved.

Think about it, developers; use your imagination and reach a little further. Not only will you be making your products accessible to more people offering invaluable assistance in enriching their lives, but also, you could be expanding your client base, which can’t be a bad idea, right?

SuperSwitchEnsemble

Download (2 MB)
An adapted music lab transforms switches, Intellikeys® keyboard and adaptive equipment into accessible musical instruments. $175 by SwitchinTime

Magnifier

Download (964 KB)
Helps the visually impaired, and aids precision work in graphics by magnifying selected portions of the screen. Freeware by Subrosasoft

iListen

More info (no demo)
Dictation, trans-cription, editing, formatting and speech navigation within any application frees you from the keyboard and mouse. $99 by Macspeech

Keystrokes3

Download (7.3 MB)
On-screen keyboard with advanced multilingual word prediction for those who can only use a mouse or mouse emulator. $249 by Assistiveware

TypeIt4Me

 Download (1 MB)
Define a set of abbreviations representing full text entries, TypeIt4Me will expand them on the fly - even as you continue typing. $27 by R.Ettore