[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.