Chromebooks

What about Accessibility?

How easy are they to use for people with disabilities? Is it possible to connect alternative keyboards, mice, etc.? What about using speech recognition, switch access or eye gaze? Chromebooks have built-in accessibility options that can be adjusted to suit individual needs and have USB ports that allow a variety of assistive devices to be connected. Overall, the accessibility options are pretty good, though there won't be a solution for everybody - some needs will be better met by using a Windows laptop.

In addition to the built-in features of Chrome OS, the Chromebook can use Apps and Extensions to enhance access. Apps are individual, web-based programs and activities, while Extensions provide enhancements to Chrome OS working across a range of web pages and apps, in the same way that extensions add functionality to some other web browsers.

Find out more...

Craig's poster on Chromebook Accessibility and Learning Tools

Google Guardian's Guide to Tools for Children with Disabilities during Distance Learning

Google Chromebook Accessibility in Education

Supporting People with a Visual Impairment

1. Show large mouse cursor

Selecting this option provides a mouse pointer approximately three times the size of the standard pointer.

2. Use high contrast mode

This converts black text on a white background into white text on a black background. Note that images will be shown in 'negative'. There are no more sophisticated options, e.g. use of yellow text on a black background.

3. Enable screen magnifier

Selecting this option provides 2 x magnification of the whole screen, with an option to 'Keep magnifier focus on centre of the screen'.

4. Enable ChromeVox (spoken feedback)

The ChromeVox screen reader can be toggled on and off by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Z. ChromeVox, like most screenreaders, relies heavily on the use of modifier keys. The main modifier combination for ChromeVox on the Chromebook is Search + Shift, usually referred to as the ChromeVox key. Different key combinations work as the ChromeVox key in Windows (Ctrl + Alt) and macOS (Ctrl + Cmnd). Note that the keyboard layout of the Chromebook is significantly different from other platforms (see below), with Function keys replaced by Shortcut keys and other differences, such as the introduction of a Search key.

ChromeVox is less comprehensive than some screenreaders, such as Jaws for Windows, but it can meet the basic needs of most blind users. One disadvantage is that most navigation keys require two separate keystrokes, which can double the keystrokes required for a task compared with Jaws.

There is a complete list of ChromeVox Keyboard Shortcuts and an Interactive Tutorial for using ChromeVox on the ChromeVox website.

Finally, there is a very useful review written by a blind user of ChromeVox running on a Chromebook.

Device Settings

In addition to the Accessibility Features described above, some of the functions available under the Device heading in Settings can be useful for people with physical disabilities. Touchpad speed can be adjusted, making it easier to move the pointer on the screen. Keyboard Settings allow auto-repeat to be adjusted either for people who find it hard to lift their finger from a key, or who have a tremor.

Supporting People with Reading and Writing Difficulties

The speech recognition facility accessed through the on-screen keyboard is pretty decent for writing, though not up to the standard of recent versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Windows. The Chromebook will automatically detect and use a USB microphone when it is plugged in. The on-screen keyboard also has a word prediction feature which appears intermittently and disappears from the screen so quickly that it is often impossible to select a word from the screen.

Support for reading in the Accessibility Features is very limited. There are no facilities for changing text and background colours and ChromeVox is of limited value in providing text-tospeech support for a person with dyslexia. Fortunately, there are extensions that can be used to provide text-to-speech and other support for people with reading difficulties. SpeakIt gives basic text-to-speech support, while Texthelp's Read&Write and Co:Writer, along with Snap&Read, from Don Johnston provide much more comprehensive support for people with dyslexia and other reading and writing difficulties.