Accessibility Features For Everyone!

Accessibility features are built into our tech to help those living with disabilities use technology more easily.

But here’s the thing: These features aren’t restricted to folks living with disabilities.

In general, I find that features that make things more accessible for ANYONE make things better for EVERYONE.

Here’s how YOU can use some of these features to make your life easier, whether or not you are living with disabilities:

Google Voice Typing
- Are you a verbal processor?
- Do you find it much easier to speak than to write?
- Well, within Gsuite, you can access the “voice typing” feature which allows you to write document and even write speaker notes in your slide decks just by speaking.
Text to Speech Tools
- What about the opposite? Do you find it much easier to take in information auditorily than via reading? What about using text to speech software.
- Here’s a curated list of open source (free) software you can use for text to speech purposes.
Access the transcripts for your favorite podcasts
- Is reading easier than listening for you? Do you love learning from podcasts?
- Did you know that most podcasts also have a transcript available in the show notes?
- And if they don’t, Otter.ai gives you 600 free hours of transcription a month.
Make the font bigger
- On your phone, on your computer, on your Kindle, virtually anywhere there’s text on a screen you can make that text bigger and easier to read.
Closed Captioning/Subtitles
- Find it easier to follow along when there are captions?
- You can turn captions on by default:
Create custom gestures
- Do you want to make it easier to do a few key things on your phone? Add a task? Check your calendar?
- You can create custom gestures to do exactly what you want. Here’s how:
  - On iOS you can do this via Assistive Touch
  - Here are some options for Android