Windows 11 is here, and will be in an update folder near you soon. Find out how our Seniors can take advantage of these to make digital technology more accessible, no matter what their abilities are.
The new Windows 11 update is here and will be rolling out to our computers in the coming months. While there are some nice improvements generally, there are a number of great accessibility features which make the update worthwhile across vision, hearing and mobility-related disabilities.
For seniors that are hard of hearing there’s now system-wide live captioning. This allows for live captioning of any audio source in Windows.
For seniors with a mobility impairment or people reliant on dictation, the new voice access feature improves voice control across the operating system.
Screen reader users reliant on Narrator have also received an update with two more naturally-sounding voices being included.
While the updates are a nice addition as a free update, the voice access can take some getting used to and requires a good microphone. The narrator voices, while helpful, are currently US-based so if you prefer an Australian accent, the more robotic-sounding voices may still be preferrable.
Overall if your computer asks to update, it is worth it from an accessibility perspective and great to see Microsoft continuing to innovate.
Discover more about Windows 11 Accessibility features here.
Learn more about how Microsoft is promoting disability inclusion here – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility
If you are a Mac user, don’t worry – most of these features are already built into Mac OS so you can already start using them, or look into it more here – https://www.apple.com/au/accessibility.
Dr Scott Hollier
ASCCA Director Accessibility