The Perks of Accessibility — How I use accessibility features and assistive technologies to enhance daily life
ACCESSIBILITY @ CBC
May 28 marks the beginning of National AccessAbility Week, an opportunity to celebrate the valuable contributions and leadership of Canadians with disabilities and reflect on ongoing efforts to become a better, more accessible, more inclusive Canada. We are also launching CBC/Radio-Canada’s first National Accessibility Plan to become the barrier-free public service media organization that Canadians deserve.
Written by Veronique Leclerc, (Lead Developer — Accessibility for Radio-Canada, member of the Accessibility Steering Committee)
Have you ever stopped yourself from using an automatic door because you thought, “I don’t have a disability; this door isn’t for me!”? But what about when your hands are full or you’re pushing a baby in a stroller? Suddenly, that automatic door is a godsend. It’s from this perspective that I’d like to talk to you today about “accessibility features” — free assistive technologies that can help you in your day-to-day life.
In my spare time, I really enjoy sewing while watching a movie or TV series, but because I need to look at what I’m doing while I work, I can’t always focus on the screen. This means I end up missing a lot of information that can be critical to understanding the plot. I then got the idea to turn on the described video feature, where a narrator describes what’s happening on-screen and lets me hear what I can’t see. With some series, I found the narration too cold and impersonal for my liking; but with others, the experience was a revelation — the speaker had a warm, friendly voice, like a good friend taking the time to tell me what I was missing. I now keep the feature on all the time, whether I’m working on something or not!
Another example of where assistive technologies have helped me is in brushing up on a second language. No matter how driven I am, I still have to find time to fit language learning into my daily routine, which can be a challenge. Initially, I started watching TV shows in my target language with closed captioning on so I could follow the dialogue and make out the words being said. It’s an easy way to make language learning fun, but after I reached a certain level of proficiency, the captions became a hindrance, as I found myself reading more than listening. But then I turned on described video and quickly realized what a valuable ally it would be for building vocabulary. Most of the words used to describe the setting and characters’ actions I’d never heard before, since they rarely appeared in the dialogue.
I’m also a bit of a literature buff, and I sometimes use the text-to-speech feature to turn my e-books into audiobooks. That way, I can continue listening to the story while doing something else, without taking away the pleasure of reading the rest of the book myself when I have time. Although I’m personally not a big fan of audiobooks, the text-to-speech feature is a good option if you can’t find the audio version of the book you want to listen to.
Given how useful these accessibility features have been for me, I’m sure you too will be amazed at the many ways they can come in handy. For instance:
- Using voice commands to navigate your way through a recipe when your hands are sticky with ingredients.
- Turning on captions to continue watching a TV show while riding the subway when you forget your headphones at home.
- Increasing the font size or using dark mode on your mobile device after a long day in front of a computer, to give your eyes a rest.
- Searching a radio show’s transcript to locate an interesting tidbit of information you heard earlier in the day.
Don’t let the word “Accessibility” throw you off when checking out the settings on your computer or mobile device — give these features a try!
And what about you? Are there any accessibility features or assistive technologies that you can’t imagine living without?
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