IT Focus on Disability

Enabling people with special needs and disabilities to access IT

November 2006

Welcome to the latest in this series of newsletters focussing specifically on disability and special needs for computer users.  We will be dealing here with the issue of being Left-Handed.  Although being left-handed is obviously not a disability, it is a special need and certain aids that were developed with disabled people in mind, have also turned out to be especially useful for left-handers. (The author is both disabled and left-handed!)

We would appreciate any feedback about layout etc., or suggestions for future articles.  To contact the editor or if you wish one of your colleagues to receive this newsletter, please send an email to news@adapt-it.co.uk

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CONTENTS

1. Aids for left-handed people.

2. Hints and Tips

3. Administrivia

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1. AIDS FOR LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE

Left handedness is not a disability but arguably it can be regarded as a Special Need.  Most left-handers have learnt to adapt to living in a right-handed world. In the world of computing however, for some, this has had unfortunate consequences because using mice designed for right-handed people can lead to other problems, particularly Repetitive Strain Injury [RSI].

This also applies to many disabled people who may not be naturally left-handed, but who have had to become left-handed due to their impairment.  Consequently, there is a greater likelihood of them suffering from RSI.  For someone with two good arms RSI can be quite debilitating but for someone who only has the use of their left arm this can be a severe disability.  Fortunately, there have been developments in the design of mice and keyboards that can often help overcome these problems.

We stock a full range of such products – these can be found by clicking on the weblinks below:

 

Left Handed Mice

AirObic Mouse
Ergonomic optical mouse which allows the hand to work in a functional neutral position and has a built-in wrist support. Both black and white models are available.
AirObic Mouse, Black     AirObic Mouse, White

 

Evoluent Mouse
A very comfortable optical mouse to use, with the hand working in the almost vertical position.
Evoluent Mouse


 

Left Handed Keyboards

A3500 Left Handed Keyboard
A conventional white keyboard but with the numeric keypad on the left side.
A3500 Left Handed Keyboard

 

Frogpad
A small portable keyboard designed to be used with the left hand only.  Also available as a Bluetooth version.

 

Half Keyboard PS/2
Another small portable keyboard designed to be used with the left hand only.
Half Keyboard

Half Keyboard USB
As the keyboard above but with a USB connector

 

Half QWERTY Keyboard
This keyboard looks like a conventional keyboard but has the ability to be used solely with the left hand or with the right hand. Ideal as part of a rehabilitation regime.
Half QWERTY Keyboard

 

Left Handed Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
A wireless keyboard and mouse combination but designed with the numeric keypad on the left hand side.
Left Handed Wireless Keyboard & Mouse

 

Numeric Keypad
A standalone numeric keypad which can be used with a conventional keyboard on the left or right side. USB connector and available in black on white.
Numberic Keypad, White     Numeric Keypad, Black
   

Left Handed Mouse Cursors and Pointers

SwapMouseButtons

A clever utility that allows you to instantly swap the mouse buttons for right- or left-handers by just pressing Ctrl-F12 instead of going through the Windows Control Panel. It also sets left-handed mouse pointers and cursors.

SwapMouseButtons
You can download it free here
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/mtpsoft/swapmousebuttons/

 

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2. HINTS AND TIPS

2.1 (For Left-Handed people)

A real problem for left-handers is using a mouse that has been designed for right-handers.  Nowadays, although it is quite common for manufacturers of mice to offer ergonomically designed mice for left-handed people, it is also very common for these people to have to use a standard mouse elsewhere – work, for example.

Reversing the mouse buttons makes it much easier for left-handed people to operate the mouse in such a way that the risk of them getting Repetitive Strain Injury is considerably reduced.  

 

A] Using Windows Accessibilty Options

The traditional method for reversing mouse buttons was as described below: 

  1. From Start select the Control Panel
  2. If you are in Classic Mode double click on the Mouse icon.  If you are in the Category View select Printers and Other Hardware and then click on the Mouse icon
  3. On the Buttons tab, under Button configuration, select the Switch primary and secondary buttons check box to make the right button the primary mouse button.  The Left and Right buttons are now reversed.

 

B] Using the Program SwapMouseButtons

There is a really great little (461kB) freeware utility that we found recently that allows the mouse buttons to be swapped around for right- or left-handers instantly and very easily. If any right-handed people EVER use the machine a left-hander uses, or vice-versa, then we would thoroughly recommend this software. (See SwapMouseButtons above)
  1. Download ’Swap Mouse Buttons’ free here
    http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/mtpsoft/swapmousebuttons/It first of all installs an icon on your Quick Launch Toolbar.
  2. Clicking the icon once, it instantly changes your mouse buttons around. It also automatically switches the angle of your pointer as illustrated above, (it doesn’t, however, work with animated cursors.)
  3. The same effects can also be achieved by pressing Ctrl-F12 on your keyboard instead.

Although the Windows Control Panel can be used to swap over the mouse buttons as detailed in A] above, it is cumbersome when compared to this utility which is almost instant. Also, the utility works fine with specially designed mice for left-handers.

 

 

2.2 (For Blind and Visually Impaired people)

Google Accessible Search Tool

This was launched in July 2006. The new Google Accessible Search makes Google more accessible to blind and visually impaired people and was developed by a blind developer at Google.

You can find this free accessible search engine at software at Google Accessible Search (http://labs.google.com/accessible/) which can be used in much the same way as the ordinary http://www.google.com/ .  The difference lies in how it handles the ‘hits’.

A query is entered into Google Accessible Search and a standard Google search begins. But before the results are presented, they are re-ordered to prioritise those pages identified as the most likely to be accessible to visually impaired users.

In the past, screen reader users had to wade through a lot of inaccessible web sites and pages to find information they were interested in. In addition to prioritizing search results according to accessibility, Google Accessible Search also displays results in a streamlined layout that screen readers can navigate with greater speed and accuracy.  Extraneous components and information that clutter the standard Google search pages, such as sponsored links, are stripped away to optimise usability.

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3. ADMINISTRIVIA

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