Apple products have long been known for being universal when it comes to easy of use, but I never imaged all the features that it would have for accessibility. When looking further into the types of assistive technology that the Apple iPhone 7 offers I was blown away. I currently have an Apple iPhone 7 that runs on iOS 10.3.1 software. When visiting the Apple website, there is a whole page dedicated to the accessibility features and they are broken down into different categories such as featured, vision, hearing, physical and motor skills, and learning and literacy. A few of the accessibility features are described below.
Vision: "VoiceOver is a gesture-based screen reader that lets you enjoy using iPhone even if you don't see the screen" (Apple, 2017). This allows the user to have a description of anything that they are doing on their iPhone including apps, battery level, who's calling, what text messages say, etc. Display accommodations allows the user to adjust color and fonts, zoom to magnify, speak screen, Siri, and dictation. All features will assist those who have vision impairments or are completely blind. Hearing: "These advanced hearing aids provide outstanding sound quality, offer many helpful features" (Apple, 2017). There are models specifically made for iPhone hearing aids and volume adjustments available to balance the volume for each ear. TTY software is also available that transcribes phone calls. Visual and vibrating alerts as well as FaceTime makes sure that the user doesn't miss a thing. As technology continues to evolve, more features and forms of assistive technology will become available. I had no idea that a majority of these features could easily be used on my personal device. It is encouraging to know that these technologies are available to assist and greatly benefit those with disabilities or impairments. I assume that these technologies are available on Android devices as well as other types of technologies such as laptops or tablets. I am glad that I am now aware that such assistive technologies exist, and can now utilize these technologies both in and outside of the classroom. References: Apple. (2017). Accessibility. Apple. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/accessibility/.
2 Comments
Kevin Higgins
4/17/2017 05:46:17 pm
I didn't know that my iPhone had the capability to use a screen reader. With more and more course moving towards online or distance learning having these capabilities integrated onto a mobile device continues to allow audio or visual limited students to participate with every lesson. I think past accommodations would tie students to a certain anchored technology, the iPhone allows for assistance wherever the learning is.
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4/17/2017 08:58:43 pm
This is great information. As a steadfast Droid user I love that I now have more information regarding a device that many of my students have. This year I do not have students with vision or hearing difficulties but I have had both of these types of students in the past. I found that though they had specifics that were required in their 504 plans, sometimes the measures called for were embarrassing to the student and they would rather fall behind than have extra attention drawn to them. Perhaps if we could start to incorporate technology the student already has into the repertoire of tricks their 504 calls for they would feel more in control of their difficulty and more likely to use their resources. Thank you for sharing this information.
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AuthorReflection blog for Master's in Educational Technology course EdTech 541 at Boise State University. Archives
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