A Foot on Both Platforms

Supporting Students Who Use Macs on a Windows Campus

Shawn Foster

Assistive Technology Specialist

Southern Oregon University

Why Talk About Macs?

Market share is between 5-6% overall and rising
iPod popularity, especially among teens. 72% of teens own an MP3 player, with 79% of those being iPods
Among college students, Apple is the #2 brand - 13% planning to buy a computer will buy a Mac; 21% planning to buy a laptop will buy a Mac

History of Accessibility Problems on the Mac

Loss of support
The mouse & keyboard access
Fewer 3rd party solutions

Macs and Students with Disabilities - Advantages

Built-in adaptations more robust
Somewhat simpler user interface beneficial for cognitive disabilities
Scripting capabilities and Speakable Items
Ability to run Windows

Macs and Students with Disabilities - Disadvantages

Some features more difficult to access by keyboard
Fewer 3rd party solutions
Price (this is hotly disputed)

Hardware Supports

Many hardware devices, including Braille keyboards, one-handed keyboards, and many others, are available for the Mac
USB connections work with both Macs and PCs, so if there is no driver software to load, it will probably work on a Mac.

Alternate Text Options


	Windows	Mac
Built-ins	Narrator, Acrobat Reader	VoiceOver, Acrobat Reader, Text Edit
Simple readers	Natural Reader	Text Reader
Readers w/ study tools	Kurzweil, WYNN, Etext Reader	Kurzweil
DAISY readers	EasyReader, Victor ReaderSoft, AMIS, etc.	Victor ReaderSoft, Katie Player, Aspire Reader under dev.
MP3 players	Windows Media Player , iTunes,etc.	iTunes, etc.

Operating System Adaptations


	Windows	Mac
Vision	Screen appearance, Toggle Keys, High Contrast, Cursor Options, Mouse Keys, Magnifier	Display contrast, Mouse Keys, Mouse Controls, Keyboard Access, VoiceOver, Zoom, Talking Alerts, Speakable Items
Hearing	Sound Sentry, Show Sounds	Flash, Visual Alert
Mobility	Sticky Keys, Filter Keys, Toggle Keys, Cursor Options, Mouse Keys, On-screen Keyboard	Sticky Keys, Slow Keys, Mouse Keys, Mouse controls, Keyboard access, Speech Control
Cognitive	Combinations of above adaptations	Combinations of above adaptations; VoiceOver captioning

3rd Party Applications


Windows	Mac
JAWS, Window-Eyes, HAL	VoiceOver
Dragon Naturally Speaking, ViaVoice	iListen
Kurzweil, WYNN	Kurzweil
ZoomText, MAGic	Zoom
Inspiration	Inspiration
Read & Write Gold	Read & Write Gold

Personal Supports for SWD on a Mac

iChat AV
allows Deaf/Hard of Hearing students to chat via sign language rather than text
Voice chat
iMovie can create captioned movies without extra software

Universal Design Concepts for a Mac-User-Friendly Windows Campus

Web information
Print & electronic information
Mention Mac equivalents in orientations, intake appointments, etc.
Know Mac locations on campus and what OS they are running
Be prepared to install accessibility software as needed

What’s the future for Mac accessibility?

Leopard promises new support for accessibility
BootCamp offers possibilities for access to 3rd party accessibility software that isn’t available for the Mac
As Apple continues to gain market share, will developers of AT software & hardware follow???

Mac Accessibility References

Apple Accessibility page (includes Sec. 508 VPATs) http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
Macpedia wiki: learning location for “blind, visually impaired, low vision, and learning disabled who want to learn about Mac OSX.” Great tutorials on VoiceOver - far better than the official manual. http://blindtechs.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Interesting (though somewhat dated) look at accessibility on the Mac http://db.tidbits.com/article/06311

For further information

Shawn Foster

Assistive Technology Specialist

Southern Oregon University

1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520

(541)552-8449 voice/TTY

Fosters@sou.edu

blogs.sou.edu/fosters

www.sou.edu/access/dss/athome.shtml