Keypads and Keyboards

We depend on keypads and keyboards to communicate with our devices, to make phone calls, and to do so much more.  Keypads and keyboards have shrunken in size over the past years and as technology continues to zoom along, some manufacturers are now using touch screen technology to emulate keypads.  Touch screen technology is fast becoming a way to use a keypad and all that I ask is that manufacturers remember those who are unable to see, and those who have problems with their hands when developing keypads and keyboards of the future.

 

Blind persons depend on such things as keys with raised dots, keys with cut edges, and larger sized keys to help them navigate keypads and keyboards.  For those with some vision, keys with contrasting colors are also of help.  If the keys are flat, then a blind person has difficulty distinguishing the keys.  If they are raised, then it's a great help.  If the keys are jammed packed together, it's also difficult for blind persons to use them. 

 

My wish is that manufacturers come up with ways to accommodate all persons and with a little bit of hard work and thought, it can be done.  If you'd like to learn more about how blind persons go about using keypads and keyboards then please visit www.acb.org.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and share my blogs with the rest of the world.

Those Little Dots Often Save Me

If you take a moment to look at your computer keyboard or even the keypad on your home phone or your cell phone, you should see that more often than not, certain keys are marked with either a dot or some sort of cut edge.  For the phone's keypad, there is often a raised dot on the #5 key and on several computer keyboards, there are cut edges placed on certain keys such as the f and j keys.  Some phone keypads may even have a raised dot on the #0 key as well and I do believe that some remotes are similarly configured; either with a dot, a raised edge, or keys of different shapes.

 

In the normal scheme of things, there are many blind persons who depend on these very subtle indicators to help them quickly locate keys on their keypads.  Keys with dots, cut or raised edges, and keys with different shapes often save me from pressing the wrong key and I am grateful for them.  Now, if only we could find a way to standardize all keypads in this way and if it is already a standard then I do apologize.  Blind persons need keypads to help them communicate with their devices; they are unable to use devices with touch screens.  What would be ideal is if manufacturers were to come up with accessible ways for blind persons to be able to communicate with touch screens.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and share my blogs with the rest of the world.

Visit www.nfb.org to learn more.