Accessibility Tools 

By Mackenzie Regan

    Classrooms are made up of a variety of learners, all who have their own individualistic needs to succeed. As educators, it is our job to make sure we create a safe, inclusive, comfortable, and most importantly, learnable. There are plenty of tools at our technological advantage that can help us create this space for our children. Let's talk about some!

1. Text to Speech & Speech to Text: This accessibility feature allows students to turn text into speech so they can hear it auditory, or 

2. Closed Captions: This accessibility feature is useful in apps like Google Meet and Zoom. When meeting with students or classes, these apps offer closed captioning, for those with auditory or processing impairments. It assists them by allowing them to read what is being said in the meetings!

3. Screen Reader: This accessibility feature can be useful to the blind, visually impaired, or those with learning and focusing disabilities. It displays text through braille or speech synthesizers, allowing easier reading for those who need it.

4. Alternative Keyboards: There are many different ways a keyboard can be made accessible. Through bigger font, braille keyboards, talking keyboards, on-screen keyboards, etc. These can create easier accessibility for a wide variety of people.  

5. Translators: There are a variety of translation tools and applications at our disposal. There are some that even allow direct translation through direct messaging. There are also sign language translators that translate written or spoken words into sign language. 

6. Content tools: These tools allow for people with learning disabilities to modify things like colors, text size and spacing, and more for easier reading, viewing, and even comprehension ability.

7. Hands-free mouse: This allows people with physical disabilities to use different ways to utilize their mouse, such as face tracking. A specific example of this is Face Mouse. This application even allows for people to connect commands to types of keys, such as opening your mouth to press the enter key.