Can A Mac Be Controlled Exclusively By a Braille Display?

By Helga, 23 December, 2015

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hi all! I have a friend who is deaf and blind, and He is thinking in getting a Mac computer since I told him the great features about it due to the fact that I own one. However,g My concerns and question is, can a Deafblind Braille display user be capable of using a Mac computer successfully? I'm. Just wondering since I understand it requires a lot of interaction with tables and so on in regards of the Mac. These are my concerns since I don't know if there is a way to create some Braille display commands so that he can perform the Mac commands easier without relying on th e computer keyboard. I hope you understand my question guys! Look forward in hearing from you soon! Thanks so much for any suggestions!

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Comments

By Siobhan on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 - 08:20

Hi. Yes, you can create commands to do anything you want I think, I have a Focus 40 blue but it needs a very good cleaning and i'm afraid i'm to gentle with it. anyway I have a friend who is deaf blind and she uses her I think three Macs just fine. I don't knwo how to go about making it easy for your friend, but I do know it can be done. Forgive any spelling mistakes, I haven't had coffee it. :p

By John W. hess on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 - 08:20

Good day. There is a new feature in El Capitan which reduces the amount of interacting with objects that needs to be done. This might help make it easier to work with a Braille display.

By Helga on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 - 08:20

Hi John. So In order to be able to find this new feature so the person could reduce the amount of interaction of tables, do I need to go to VoiceOver utilities right? I'm just wondering. I'm actually still a brand new Mac computer user, so I appreciate any suggestions. I'm thinking in testing this feature so that I can help my friend when he gets his Mac computer! Now he is using an iPhone 6 with his Focus 14 Braille display, and he will like to access skype, email, facebook on his Mac when he gets one. However, when I use it on my Mac the skype app on the Mac requires a lot of interaction with the side bar in order to go to contacts, recents and so on. So one last question, will this new feature reduce the amount of interaction that one will perform on an app of the Mac? For instance, in this case the skype app. Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi Siobhan. This sounds interesting that is possible to create commands for the braille displays. When you said that I need to clean the display, do you mean that I need to change some settings? I'm just wondering. I think if I help my friend create some braille display commands to his Focus 40 Braille display that will definitely help him access and perform the commands successfully on his Mac. Or do you think he should just perform the commands with the Mac keyboards better? Do the cleaning of the display will affect the device? My friend is thinking in purchasing a Focus 40 in order to use it with his Mac next year. It will be great if I can contact your friend, who is deafblind so that I can ask her some questions in how she uses her display on her Mac computer. Do you think I can do that?I will really appreciate it a lot. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks so much!

By Megan on Friday, January 22, 2016 - 08:20

I know that on Windows, if I wanted to do something like control V, I could do that with the Focus14. Is there a way on Mac to simulate a press of the command key, for example? Things like command W to close windows, command Q to quit, etc. It doesn't look like that is something you can assign in the Voiceover utility.
Thanks,
Megan

By Nathan Stocking on Friday, April 22, 2016 - 08:20

There are two reasons that a mac would be ideal for this purpose.
First, the mac has the braille display drivers built in, meaning that you can connect a USB display and have it recognized immediately. On Windows or Linux, some degree of customization would be required (and impossible if speech is not possible), and a mobile solution would have similarly infeasible pairing screens. Therefore, the mac is best.
2. Not only can the keyboard and braille display be used together if desired, but the braille display can be programmed with extra gestures if required. These settings are in the voiceover utility, braille category, under devices. Setting these up without speech is completely accessible; I just disabled my speech and tried it.