The World Wide Web offers a wide range of information and opportunities. But many people have no access to this information because they can not read and write good enough to use the Web.
Smartphones and Tablets give those people the opportunity to use the World Wide Web who has not enough reading and writing skills or have not much experience with the computer. Their graphical user interface is based on icons and react on touch. The operating systems are very simple constructetd.
Talking with the computer
Modern Operating Systems like Mac OS X or Windows have embeded speech control or speech input. With this software you are able to give the computer instructions like starting or ending a program. There are also commercial solutions like Dragon Naturally Speaking, which are made to convert spoken text into written text.
In 2011 Apple introduced the intuitive speech input Siri. Siri accepts instructions in normal language instead of defined instructions. Android is following this way by developing the apps Alice and Iris.
Google also develops a speech input with the name Majel.
For Not-Readers speech-input is the only way to interact with the computer. The speech input have to allow the user to search after Websites in search engines, search after videos, convert speech input into text for mail writing and so on.
The answering machine
However talking to the computer is not enough. An interesting thing for people with low reading skils is a Screeneader. This is a program which conterts text into spoken language or braille for blind users. Apple implemented the Screenreader VoiceOver in his OS. VoiceOver make it possible for blind people to control the computer. It tells you the name or function of an icon, when touched an it reads text in the web or eMail. Android has similar functions, but they are not working quiet well in the old version 2.x.
People with reading disabilities will probably need assistance for the first steps with the computer. All people must learn how to search after information in the web or how to create an mail account. But after this they will be able to take part in the information society better than before.
Further reading
- Adaptive Technology on Apple iPad Helps People with Autism Communicate
- How Tablets can help Your Child’s Learning Disability
- How Tablets are Helping Children with Autism and Learning Disabilities