Disabilities and Assistive Technology

Here is a list of the different kinds of disabilities and what we can do to assist people that have such disabilities:

• Low Vision
  
  • Support larger fonts and graphics (icons) or a screen magnifier.
  • Use clearer fonts, i.e. provide the ability to replace for instance a handwriting font by Helvetica.
  • Enlarge contrast between foreground and background.
  • Remove or avoid distracting background patterns/images.
• Color Blindness
  Do not use color as the only way to express information.
• Blindness
  To assist blind people in accessing OpenOffice.org we have to provide alternatives to the graphical user interface. These can be
  • Speech output uses speech synthesis to give a textual representation of everything visible on the screen.
  • Braille display
• Hard of Hearing / Deafness
  
  • Closed captioning for providing textual representation of spoken information.
  • Visible representation of audio signals.
• Mobility Impairments
  Caused by diseases like Parkin-son's disease or multiple sclerosis or physical injuries resulting loss of limbs there is a wide variety of mobility impairments. People can be assisted by:
  • Alternative pointing devices like foot operated mice or eye trackers.
  • On screen keyboard that is operated with the mouse or alternative pointing device.
  • Speech recognition.
  • Sticky keys provide functionality similar to shift locking for keys like control and alternate. This enables the user to operate the keyboard with a single finger.
• Cognitive Impairments or Learning Disabilities
  Make the (G)UI clear and easy to understand. Provide help files and documentation (training?).
• Seizure Disorders
  Make flashing, rotating, or moving displays adjustable or provide a switch to disable them.

See these lists of the different types of disabilities and assistive technology from the Gnome Accessibility Project for more details.