Released OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion GM New Accessibility Options For Apple Impaired Users

The latest GM (Golden Master) copy of Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion which includes the newly and enhanced accessibility options for Apple impaired users.  Yes, it looks like Apple is getting better and better for our brothers with sight, hearing and motor skills health problems.  The campaign actually started with Apple OS X 10.4 Tiger where Apple added a voice interface for users called VoiceOver.  Apple’s VoiceOver was previously a 3rd-party option loaded as a built in screen reader for users with poor eyesight or impaired eyesight problem.  The application helps these users to navigate menus, folders and windows through voice commands.  The VoiceOver was further enhanced with the release of OS X 10.5 Leopard that was able to support 30 more different languages.

With Apple OS X 10.5 Leopard, our Apple impaired users was given more options with the added Alex voice which makes the VoiceOver application more useful.  There are more voice in the selection to choose from with newly loaded dialects.  The VoiceOver was bundled with other features that can assist those Apple impaired users such as the screen zoom, display adjustments, adjustable cursor size.  Also there are options for Hearing, Keyboard, and Mouse & Trackpad.

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Everything changed with the new OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a total facelift option to aid people with disabilities but are still able to work with computers.  The new Accessibility option or preference pane bears a new look and options like the Display, Zoom, and VoiceOver for people with impaired eyesight.  Audio for Apple users with impaired hearing. And the Interacting menu that enables people with motor skills problem to adjust the keyboard, Mouse & trackpad, and Speakable items.

In addition to this enhance features,  Apple added more options to its VoiceOver such support for press and hold buttons, dragging items, and drag and drop modifier keys.  The new and enhanced Accessibility option can be accessed with a new universal shortcut – Option+F5.  All of these looks promising and will surely help our dear brothers to still work with Apple computers despite of their physical conditions.

Kudos Apple!

[Source: AppleInsider]

Tags: Apple, Disabled Users, Impaired Users, Mountain Lion, OS X 10.8