Accessing Accessibility
Four Windows features that help me be me as I age.
Hi Peers,
Well, I now shop at Forever 51 😏. That’s my way of addressing my graying hair and growing widow’s peak - or as I like to joke “my re-seeding hairline” 🌱. I recently turned 52, and this is not a pity party. It’s a small dose of reality plus adjustment. It’s time to scale up, enhance the visibility of things, type less, and turn up the volume.
“Our work starts by ensuring that Microsoft’s own products are accessible by design, so that as we advance our features and functionality, we can help everyone across the spectrum of disability be more productive.” — Brad Smith - President & Vice Chair, Microsoft (from his article, “Doubling down on accessibility“)
This article highlights four adjustments I’ve made recently to make time at the computer less squinty, less taxing. Less strain = improved comfort + greater productivity. I no longer leer on Teams call to read the fine print: ‘Leer less, collab more.’
“I like to ground in the fact that one in five people have a disability today. We are all aging into disability and frankly we all have experienced moments of temporary disability as well, right? You break your arm, you have to have eye surgery. It's about how we put accessibility and disability at the heart of the way that we design products." — Megan Lawrence, PhD - Director of Accessibility Evangelism & Intersectionality, Microsoft.
Post 51 laps around the sun, I appreciate accessibility features for myself and everyone that benefits from them - now and/or when they need them.
Scale up your screen
100% just wasn’t cutting it. I took to tactical maneuvers pulling my monitor closer to my face. Not ideal - I was running out of desk space and knew there was a better way. So, I dug deeper into Windows accessibility to learn scaling up was my friend. I initially increased it to 125%, then settled back down to a custom scaling of 115%. “Ahhh…” - said Mark’s eyes 👀.
To scale your screen, head over and select Start > Settings > System > Display.
You can also ad-hoc zoom in whenever you want using Windows Magnifier: Press Windows key + “+”, then Windows key + “+” again to zoom in or Windows key + “-” to zoom out.
Make your mouse pointer less of an eye trap
Have you ever asked yourself, “Where is my mouse pointer?” and you were Walt Disney hunting for an employee? If so, have I got a tip for you: Make your mouse pointer larger and yellow (like Swiss cheese). I also slowed down the speed, so it was slow & steady - less Speedy Gonzales. 🐭 #NoMoreMouseJokesMark ;)
You can make your mouse more visible by changing the color and size of the mouse pointer. Select the Start button, then select Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch, and choose the options that work best for you.
Type less, talk more: Ctrl + H (speech-to-text)
“Computer, take a memo!” 🗣️🚫⌨️ That’s all it takes to give your eyes a rest and let your voice do the work. For me, I’m referring to this as ChatMTK 🧔🏻♂️. With voice recognition getting better, and that we’re more comfortable using speech-to-txt with ‘Hey, Siri’ and ‘OK Google’ — why not carrying over this new muscle for speech-to-report or speech-to-blog or speech-to-email. Wherever you put your cursor to input text, try speech-to-text. It’s a breath of fresh air, and only a keyboard shortcut away: Windows + H and go.
FYI | Voice typing uses online speech recognition, which is powered by Azure Speech services. Learn more how to use your voice to talk instead of type.
And last, creep system volume closer to 11…
… because it’s louder 🔊. I used to have my overall volume set ~ 60, but now prefer it always at 70 as a new baseline. Nigel would be proud 🤘. There are a number of things you can adjust depending on your speaker or headphone setup - to optimize for your personal eardrums.
Fine tune your audio output - Settings > Sound > Properties - to match your individual audio intake.
In the end…
Accessibility cannot be a checkbox after the fact. It has to be a pillar of good design - to optimize use by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities - especially with change over time. As Dr. Seuss said, "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you." Accessibility celebrates and respects our collective diversity. Express your unique selfer than self.
We published a relevant episode of The Intrazone “Accessibility from the start” - where SharePoint, OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 apps aspire to "represent the voice of people with disabilities.” We spoke with three accessibility experts: Megan Lawrence, PhD (Senior technical evangelist - Microsoft), Eli Waalkes (Senior program manager – SharePoint/Microsoft), and Lauren Back (Usability engineering – HCL Technologies). It’s a great series of discussions if your are interested to learn more.
And to end with a little fun - even if Twitter is blocking tweets from unfurling beautifully on Substack - here’s a nice punner than pun from @DocAtCDI.
Yours, Mark
You forgot to mention the wonders of the PHONE app--I can finally read what my phone is saying on my BIG computer screen, and avoid poking those teeny tiny keys and sending jibberish because Google decided to help me. You have not spoken about how to get a MICROSOFT phone "skin" and get real work done. Please continue with these tips. No more "c u l8tr" for me!!!!
Scaling and dark mode are game changers.
Use Reader Mode in Edge. It will change your browsing habits. If their was a way to prevent hyperlink worm holes that would be amazing. I print from Reader Mode.
Please share more tips bc I am squinting all day on Azure AD