At first glance the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch don’t appear to be particularly accessible devices especially for those who have problems seeing the screen, after all they are touch screens which makes it harder to feel and navigate than buttons. Having said that they all come with some rather impressive accessibility features built in such as a screen reader and an option to magnify the screen. I believe Apple are trying to encourage developers to incorporate accessibility features into any apps for these devices, but at the moment I think it’s a bit hit and miss as to how accessible they are. As well as the built in functions there are also some great apps which are aimed at making the device more useful as an accessible tool. These include Dragon Dictation from the same people who make Dragon Naturally speaking voice recognition software, iCanSee which turns the device into a magnifying glass and Speak It another text to speech app which I discovered via the blog of Lillian Soon.
I know I have only scratched the surface but i look forward to finding out what other useful apps are available. Please let me know any you know about that I have missed out.
Two full reviews of the iPad, from blind users is available by clicking here.
Update
I have had a few twitter messages regarding accessibility and iPads including
IOS has fantastic#accessibility, just got myself a touch and can vouch for it, for apps see MyAxess.com and AppleVIs.com From Adrian Higginbotham
And a message pointing out a great blog post by Dave Sugden which includes a number of accessible apps and features of the iPad / iPhone operating system
JISC RSC Northwest
