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Accessible technology has changed Juergen Manthey’s life. Usually, somebody with his disabilities would be expected to exist in a nursing home and watch daytime television which they couldn’t even turn on or off without somebody’s help. Instead, Juergen is really living.
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Almost all of the newer Mac models come with the Apple Remote control, and they can be used for a surprising amount of your computing. So what’s available for those of us who have a Mac that didn’t come with a remote, or who need a different remote for accessibility? There’s a huge range that will have an option appropriate for almost any user, no matter your assistive technology needs.
For most people, dictation results in better structured and more creative writing of letters, essays etc. than either handwriting or typing out your own thoughts. Learn the principles of excellent dictation from somebody who’s dictated documents professionally for nearly fifty years.
Keyboard shortcuts are a quick way of getting many things done without needing to access the menus or the mouse. If you know to press command-s to save your work, you’ve used a keyboard shortcut. For people who primarily use a keyboard or a switch interface, using keyboard shortcuts can save a lot of time and effort.
Trying to learn to use a new program and memorise many commands at the same time as you are learning the art of dictation is always going to be difficult. Happily, there is one thing which you can do that will greatly increase the chances that you will learn to use MacSpeech Dictate usefully.
Power’s what assistive technology gives us, really. The power to communicate, to read, to type, to plan, to play, to control things. The power to achieve things that we couldn’t otherwise achieve. Here are some ideas for gifts to empower assistive technology users.