Windows 10 for users with disabilities

Windows 10 provides a special service for people with disabilities. Many people don’t even know what we’re talking about. Meanwhile, this is how people with disabilities are called in civilized language. It is for them that the interface contains special features. If a person sees poorly, he can use a magnifying glass; if he hears, he can translate speech into words. And so on.

You will get acquainted with something that can help ordinary people. Initially, these developments are needed to make everyday life easier, but they can be useful in many other cases to absolutely everyone. Let's see what Billy Gates has prepared for people with disabilities, in addition to the eternal opportunity to update to the tenth version of the operating system.

Accessibility features: where to look

There is no need to navigate system menus for a long time. Instead, press the key combination Win + U. And you will immediately see what you need. I would like to note that Windows 10 does a lot for users with disabilities. Take this equipment, which appears as if by magic. Just try just going to the Network Control Center.

For those who have difficulty using the keyboard, it will be useful to pin the necessary snap-in to the Start menu. Two clicks of the mouse, and the desired window is in front of us:

What about the desktop? Unfortunately, you won't be able to pull out the shortcut, but you can resize it if it's hard to hit the target.

Of course, a similar option is available through the Control Panel:

Win + X.
Control Panel.
Special abilities.

What is inside?

You will see several tools that help those who are limited in their abilities to live. If you want, you can also adopt some techniques for working on a PC.

Narrator

After switching on, it comments on any window that is navigated to in the system. It is written that you can quote characters and words entered from the keyboard, but only the first is available. The selected voice can only name letters at the selected speed. To be honest, it's weak. We expected the shell to synthesize speech and read fairy tales, but this is not the case. Only the names of documents, and it’s better not to poke into shortcuts on the desktop at all. What emerges is some kind of barely understandable nonsense.

Honestly, the first impression is – why? That’s right – why is this needed at all? Dictate your password to your neighbors or what? The only chance to read something appears through the context menu. Select the desired paragraph of three words and move the pointer as shown in the screenshot.

Magnifier

This tool allows you to change the scale of a given area. A floating menu appears, on which the size is set as a percentage. We didn’t try to increase it more than 9 times. But it looks amazing. If something is hard to see, be sure to try a screen magnifier.

Now we know what the Calculator looks like up close. It's not very convenient to use, but it's possible. This is what it looks like:

High Contrast

Adjusting the elements of the system allows colorblind people to clearly see an image that they would not normally perceive. It is not a fact that a colorblind person can cope with the task of setting preferences on his own. But, as a last resort, he will ask someone.

Closed captions

Activation of closed subtitles when watching a movie is carried out from the menu of mobile devices. This function is not available in every content, but it is present, for example, on XBox. And where closed subtitles will appear, you can set them to the desired color. Adjust the settings to your liking. The sample is at the top of the window.

Sticky Keys and On-Screen Keyboard

Some people physically cannot hold two keys at once. Therefore, it is difficult for them to use combinations. But if you activate the mode in question, you can remove your finger placed on one key and move it to another for some time. This way the desired combination is obtained.

As for the on-screen keyboard, it allows those who cannot use the usual input method to type words with a mouse (or stylus). In combination with the sticky keys mode, it becomes possible to enter even complex combinations.

Mouse

You can not only change the mouse pointer icon, but also its size. And also - move using the numeric keypad (located on the right when NumLock is on). We would say that this option will also help the system administrator survive when USB ports are blocked, which is sometimes observed on the top ten. So take it into account.

Other options

Options are already available here that will be of interest to many. For example, the ability to remove the desktop background. This makes it much easier to see the mouse pointer against its background. Imitating sound with a light signal helps a person understand that some application requires attention.

Additional bonus for people with disabilities

You, of course, know that it is impossible to upgrade to Windows 10 after July 29th. However, Billy Gates made an exception for people with disabilities (microsoft.com/ru-ru/accessibility/windows10upgrade).

In general, most people consider the Windows 10 operating system as something ordinary and generally accepted, which is why few people think about the fact that this OS is something more, and it has many more features that can be used even by those people who have different kind of restrictions. It is clear that there are much fewer people with disabilities than those who have everything in order, but in any case, Microsoft does not stop developing a highly specialized area of its operating system so that everyone who needs it can use it.

It is also worth noting that the “ten” is currently one of the operating systems that really works for everyone and always, which allows it to be used everywhere. So, we simply could not leave this software without attention, and now we will tell you everything, explain the main functions that will be interesting to you, as a “special” person.

Colorblind users using Windows 10

One of the few operating systems that can allow itself to be configured in such a way that the color scheme of certain areas of the software looks more realistic and has the most “correct” appearance.

Thanks to fine-tuning the color gamut, a user who has problems with color blindness can no longer feel like a kind of outcast who sees colors familiar to an ordinary person as brighter, sometimes even acidic, which turns time spent at the computer into a real hell for vision. This will no longer happen, since there is a special option that allows you to perform color correction, which turns the recently bright and very acidic colors visible to the colorblind into something pleasantly perceived by vision.

Using Windows 10 by people without limbs

This is another one of the biggest positive aspects of using Windows 10 for disabled people, since the OS has excellent software in the form of a voice assistant named Cortana, which allows you to work fully with the computer without using a mouse and keyboard. Of course, it is worth understanding that at the moment there are some limitations in the work of such a plan, but Microsoft is not going to stop there and wants to continue to develop Cortana so that it only gets better and has maximum opportunities for using it using voice commands.

By the way, working with Cortana is very convenient and if you want, it can be endowed with almost unlimited capabilities on your computer, which will allow the program to run with just your voice: the necessary program, set the correct time, set an alarm, search for the necessary information on the Internet, read texts, etc. So, even if you do not have the physical ability to operate the computer, you can always use voice control.

Using Windows 10 for deaf people

Another rather interesting innovation in the “top ten” is that it has the ability to duplicate all audio: warnings, messages, updates, etc. in the form of visual icons, which are clearly visible even if the PC user is not able to hear any the sounds around him.

Using Windows 10 for blind people

This may seem like a fantasy to some, but in the modern world, even a person who does not have vision can use a computer 100% and Microsoft has done a good job for this. In order for the blind to be able to use a PC, a special keyboard with Braille fonts was developed, and the assistant himself learned to recognize Braille font in any of its manifestations, which allows even blind people to communicate at a distance - using only a computer. By the way, technology here has come so far that it can allow a blind person not only to communicate, but also to read texts in any of their manifestations, and if necessary, the program will even describe the visual features of figures that are in the Office 365 application.

Thus, a person with visual limitations is not alone with himself, but has full opportunities to communicate and do everything on the computer that his friends and relatives do.

Our opinion on the use of Windows 10 by disabled people

In fact, this is exactly what people need who, for one reason or another, have completely lost the ability to hear, see, distinguish colors, use their hands, etc. Exactly Windows 10 for disabled people will allow a once limited person to see a lot of opportunities to develop and not stop for a second, since this operating system is the future, which will allow anyone who expresses their desire to go into it.

Windows 10, like older versions of the system, has additional functionality for people with disabilities. We are talking about various options and programs that make it easier for such users to work with the device. But it was with Windows 10 that developers began regularly updating these accessibility features, offering much more flexible settings.

Windows 10 review for people with disabilities

In the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, many system options have undergone changes. They consist in the fact that a number of accessibility settings have become more detailed:

Differences from the regular version of Windows 10

It is worth understanding that Windows 10 for people with disabilities is not a separate version of the operating system. You will find all the necessary options in each version of Windows, just as the capabilities of a regular system will be present in the version for people with disabilities. But the way to boot this system is significantly different:

Installing Windows 10 for people with disabilities

The process of installing the update to Windows 10 itself is as follows:

Update your system to the latest version, which is available through the update center. This must be Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1.
You need to download Windows 10 Update Assistant. Previously, it was located on a special page on the official Microsoft website and anyone could download it from there. But at the beginning of 2018, this opportunity became unavailable. You will still have to look for it in unofficial sources.
Previously, the update was available directly on the official Microsoft website, but now you will have to look for it in other sources
After downloading, run the installation file.
Run Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant
Review and accept the license agreement to continue with the installation.
Accept the license agreement to continue installation
Your system will be checked to ensure it meets system requirements. Just wait.
Your computer will be checked to ensure it meets Windows 10 requirements
Once the update is downloaded, you will need to restart your computer. After half an hour, it will restart automatically, so complete all your tasks before then.
Wait until the update is downloaded and ready for installation
Further installation of the update will be performed automatically, without user intervention.

Anyone can use the Windows 10 upgrade method for people with disabilities. No additional checks are performed by Microsoft, so everything remains at the user’s discretion.

Video: An easy way to upgrade to Windows 10 for free

Problems with installing the update and their solutions

Since the installation is performed using the Update Assistant, there may not be many errors during the update. Here are the most common of them:

Despite the fact that the developers have closed the way to officially update to Windows 10 in January of this year, you can still upgrade and get a licensed version of the new operating system for free. To do this, you need to download the update assistant, which was previously used to update users with disabilities for free. Now that you know how to perform this update, the process itself should not be too difficult.

Install Windows 10 legally and for free? people with disabilities

Installing Windows 10 was legal and free, there were many opportunities that were limited in time. Let's say there was a free installation of Windows 10 for those who tested it by installing test builds on their PC. That later, upon completion of testing, the OS was updated to the official non-test version. Then it was legally possible to install the OS, for those who had the previous version of Windows 7, 8, 8.1 installed, of course they had to be non-pirated. This update ended on July 29, 2016. Microsoft, understanding the difficult life of people with disabilities, has provided, as the company itself states, an upgrade to Windows 10 for such people for an indefinite period. Of course, more than one person can use a computer and, accordingly, there can be people who are completely healthy. But by coincidence, they have the same computer. There is no need to specifically prove that the computer you want to upgrade to Windows 10 is used by a disabled person. All you need to do is install, as in all versions, improvement technology for such people. Windows itself, with such technologies, is no different from the one that other people have. It simply adds improved tools that you don’t have to use but work as always. As usual, I will post all the links at the end of the article and a short overview of how to update your OS, legally and for free, to Windows 10.
I sincerely say thank you to Microsoft on behalf of those people who cannot live a full life. Understanding the essence of the circumstances and the previously not the best life of these people, a free build of the latest version of Windows 10 is available to them.
Microsoft has opened an official website for installing the Windows 10 upgrade for the people mentioned above. The site contains a small mention of the above and small instructions for use:
Click on the only button on the update site UPDATE NOW
After you click on the UPDATE NOW button, the download of the Windows 10 update wizard file will begin. After launching it, when the file download is completed.
A window with the terms of the license update will open. Where you are offered Accept or Reject.
How do you decide on your choice? The wizard will start updating the OS. depending on your choice. Next, you just have to wait for the update to finish.
After it was confirmed, your choice fell on accepting the agreement. It will begin checking for compatibility with your Windows 10 computer.
If everything goes well and your computer is compatible with the new OS. 10 the process of downloading the Windows 10 image will begin
After downloading the image, the installation manager will ask you to reboot the computer and will start a counter for half an hour after which the system will reboot itself. During this time, you can close and save the applications on your computer device. If you don’t need that much waiting time, you can click the button: restart now.
After the restart, the process of installing the update to Windows 10 on your system will begin.
The installation manager will notify you when the installation is complete. After the next reboot, you will return to the already installed Windows 10
The actual process of updating your system to Windows 10. It doesn’t matter which system you are updating from 7,8,8.1, the installation process is identical in any case.
I did not rewrite all the features of this version for people with disabilities, just for the sake of example (magnifier, on-screen keyboard, and many others). You will find complete information on the developer’s website just below the link.
Windows 10 S users with disabilities who take advantage of accessibility features will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 S Pro for free, as it offers greater accessibility support.