Chapter 29: Using OS X's Accessibility Services for the Disabled
In This Chapter
Enabling visual assistance
Enabling hearing assistance
Enabling keyboard, touchpad, and mouse assistance
Setting up speech controls
Setting up the VoiceOver Utility
OS X is designed from the ground up to work effectively for everybody, including people with disabilities or special needs. People with limited hearing, sight, or ability to control a keyboard or mouse will find OS X is an extremely effective operating system.
These features are mostly located in OS X via the Accessibility system preference, but OS X's sound input and speech capabilities (found in the Sound and Speech system preferences, respectively) also are extremely useful.
A key support application for the visually impaired, VoiceOver Utility lets OS X read aloud information displayed on the screen. The application can be configured to provide the voice a user understands best when the app speaks the text onscreen. A nice touch is that VoiceOver Utility can be used to speak chat combinations such as smiley face :) or lol (which stands for “laughing out loud'). You can customize VoiceOver Utility so it reads aloud an appropriate command for your personalized text chats.
You'll find OS X is a great operating system for everyone, regardless of what abilities they possess.
