Intersection: A Dream Come True

Christopher Hills, a boy with cerebral palsy, explains how he uses Tecla Shield DOS with iOS 7's switch mode and point mode to navigate the web, interact with applications, focus a camera and play a game.
Information on setting up Switch Control on iOS, see Luis Perez's Video: http://youtu.be/rLNhZsz9wH8
Follow me on Twitter @ twitter.com/iammaccing
Lean more about the Tecla Shield DOS here: http://komodoopenlab.com/tecla/

[Music] Intersection.
Where technology and disability meet.

Because of his cerebral palsy

Christopher has to rely on this expensive

clunky environmental control device if

he wants to be more independent.

For him an iPad was a dream.

Thanks to Tecla Shield and a VoiceOver

hack, Christopher can now access iOS 6,

except for gestures which are a big part

of iOS.

Apple added Switch Control to iOS 7,

and Mac.

So, today I'm going to get Alex

to tell you about how I use

Switch Control in iOS 7.

Take it away Alex!

[Alex gives a raspberry sound]

[Alex laughs] Alex!

Yes. Okay. Okay. I'm not going to spend

too much time showing you how to set up

Switch Control and what all the settings

do. There are great videos out there like

this one from Luis Perez that explain

this in great detail. The link is in the

description below. I want to talk about

how I use Switch Control to do almost

any gesture you can imagine without

actually doing it. You can use more than

one switch, however, I find that it is

simpler to just use one. Providing the

setting is turned on, you can double tap

with the switch to bring up a menu. This

is what makes the Switch Control feature

so great. From here, you can access the

home button, the gestures menu, the device

menu, where you can access things like

multitasking, notification center, control

center, etc. You can also get to the

settings menu, which allows the switch

user to customize settings. The settings

menu also has a button for turning on

Point Mode. Point Mode is a very handy

feature. It allows the switch user to

access apps that are not set up for

VoiceOver. Switch Control is built on

the VoiceOver platform, which is how it

knows how to scan buttons. So, if an app

is not configured for VoiceOver, Point

Mode makes it accessible. Switch Control

is very clever. It knows when you open

an app with no buttons it can recognize.

To automatically switch to Point Mode.

Here you can see me playing The Room, a

game that would have been impossible

for me to access on iOS 6 because it has

no buttons to scan. Point Mode makes this

possible. The room also takes advantage

of all the cool gestures that Switch

Control comes with. First, there are

basic pans to move around the scenes.

Then, there are double taps for focusing

on an object.

Then, there are hold and drags to drag

an object, such as a key.

Finally, there is an awesome gesture

that allows me to turn that key.

When the camera app opens Point Mode is

not automatically switched on because

there are buttons that Switch Control

recognizes. So, this is when the user

has to engage Point Mode manually.

Point Mode is used in the camera app for

focusing on an object.

This is a personal preference, but I also

like to use Point Mode in Safari. I find

that when Switch Control was trying to

scan a web page, it is a bit confusing

to know what it is going to scan next,

because there are so many buttons on a

web page. Point Mode makes it quicker for

me.

Switch Control can support many different

Bluetooth switches, including the Apple

Wireless Keyboard. I use Tecla Shield DOS

set to White Mode. One thing to note

about using this is that the Tecla Shield

DOS sends the signal to iOS when the

switch user releases the switch. This

took me a while to get used to, because

all other switch hardware including the

first generation Tecla Shield sends a

signal as soon as the switch is pressed.

Thanks for that Alex.

I hope you enjoyed this video and found it

helpful.

I'll see you again next time.

This is Christopher and Alex

from Down Under.