Section 1.3: Assistive Technology, Part 4

Common assistive technologies for individuals with physical impairments

There are a number of alternative methods for interacting with the computer when the hands cannot be used:

• Puffsticks and headsticks - sticks or wands that are controlled by mouth or head movements
• Eyetrackers - devices that use eye positions or movements to navigate
• Voice recognition software

There are also devices for people with some hand movement:

• Alternative pointing devices - these can include joysticks or trackballs for navigation
• Alternative keyboards - these may have raised areas that are easier to activate or overlays to help capture finger movements.

A number of these technologies would work with word completion programs to help reduce the number of movements needed.