Accessibility

Dustin's mom has limited vision and he got her a Motorola Moto G6 smartphone with apps that can help her read the screen. But she's having trouble answering the phone. Is there a solution that will allow her to simply touch to answer? Leo says that there's a setting in Samsung phones to select any key to answer the phone. There's even an auto-answer option, though Leo's not sure if Moto supports it. Jitterbug's Flip Phone is really easy to use.

John recently got a pair of Unitron hearing aids but he can't take phone calls with them. Leo says that's a limitation of the hearing aids, which may not be A2DP compatible. But the problem is his new Samsung Galaxy S10e mutes intermittently. Leo says to try un-pairing, and then re-pairing. Leo also says this has been a known issue with Samsung phones over time. There's a feature called "Easy Mute" that will need to be disabled, and It's in the settings.

Laura is vision impaired and uses Google's screen reader on her browser and a recent update to Chrome has broken it. But there doesn't seem to be a legacy version of Chrome. What can she do? Leo says that with the latest version of Chrome, she needs to install the ZoomText extension and install it. She can download it here.

Mike got an iPhone from his daughter and wants to know how to use it. Leo says that the first thing he needs to do is remove it from Find my iPhone (using her iCloud password), then wipe it. Once that's done, he can reset the iPhone and insert a new SIM. Here's how - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252

Karen is having issues with Microsoft Office 365 with her new laptop. It's really complicated and hard to read. How can she get her money back? Leo says that she can always write a letter to the president of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, and demand help for accessibility. They have an office for that. She can also tell them she wants a refund. Be nice, but also reference that you talked to Leo Laporte on a national radio show. You can also use Microsoft Office for free, and change the font any way you want.

Kathy is blind and Comcast changed her email settings. She had a friend come over and reconfigure it for her, but there's still errors happening. Leo says that Comcast isn't really supporting POP3 access anymore. They allow it, but they prefer she'd use IMAP. So if her friend set it for POP3, have him come back over and change it to IMAP. One way to check is to use her browser. She can also verify if her email is there. If it is, then she'll know it's IMAP. If they aren't, it's POP.

Charles' wife is bedridden and needs something to keep her occupied. Leo says the iPad is an ideal choice. It has a nice screen and decent speakers. She could stream video and even watch live tv. Then she can switch to playing a game. Leo says it's the ultimate entertainment device. Leo would recommend the 12.9" model.

Fred called last week about helping out people who are blind or have low vision, and he got so many emails from people, he's decided to start a blog to continue his help. His email is drugkingfred@gmail.com (he's a retired pharmacist). Leo says a blog is a great idea because it will be a valuable resource that people will find searching on Google.

Jim is blind and has been using a few products from MaxiAids to help use his computer. One is called the Talking Label Wand that reads a specially formatted label and tells the user what it is.

Bill is disabled and needs help getting his technology to work. Leo says that there are foundations that are dedicated to helping disabled people configure their tech for accessibility. They will also help him get a better price or even have it underwritten. Most computers and mobile devices do have limited voice control. Check out the NationMSSociety.org. There is an article there on living well with MS and it contains a section on accessibility in technology.