Windows Accessibility - Part 7: Hardware Accessories (Power Buttons and Types of Mouse)

I've focussed on software for this series, but there are lots of hardware accessories to help you access your computer. The first group of accessories are power buttons to turn your computer on. Just as I was about to leave college, I was given a tablet called 'GridPad 12' by the 'ACE Centre', and that came with its own power switch port, which I can use to turn the tablet on. This works with radio frequency waves, and needs to be paired with the tablet. I love it because it gives me more independence.

This gave me the idea to look into getting something similar for my computer... I looked into this because I find it difficult to press the main power button on my computer as it's small and right at the top and the tower is vertical. At first, I thought this would really help me, however, my dad and I realised that to set it up, we would have to do a whole re-wire on the motherboard and disconnect the main power button to connect the external switch to the motherboard. At the time, my computer was still under warranty and if we added extra bits, it would invalidate the warranty. For this reason, we decided against it, but I guess we could try now. I would just be worried in case anything went wrong.

If you can't or struggle to use a standard mouse, you can get different styles of mouse. A standard mouse is designed to fit in the average size hand, but you can get smaller mouses. My friend has small hands, so she finds it easier to use a smaller one. My friend's mouse is smaller and thinner compared to a standard mouse.

There are also lots of different styles of trackballs. A trackball is a mouse that stays still on a surface and it has a ball inside that you use to move the cursor around on the computer screen. Usually, a standard mouse costs around £5.00 or less, but, depending on the type of trackball you have, it will cost between £10.49 and £359.50 on Amazon. Some trackballs have the ball to the side, so that you can use your thumb to move it and others have the ball on top. If you get one with the ball on top, you can have one with a scroll wheel or without, but the one with the scroll wheel is more expensive. You can also get one with four buttons, and program each of the four buttons to do different things, for example double-click and drag.

When I first started to use a computer at home and switched from using a standard mouse to a trackball, I had the grey one with the small grey marble-type ball. Although this trackball was ok for what I needed, it wasn't the best because every now and then, I would accidentally kick it or I would get my toes caught under it and it would flip up-side-down. As the ball just rested inside, the ball would come out and roll across the floor... This was quite amusing but frustrating. I would either have to ask someone to put it back in for me, or I'd chase it around the room, grab it with my left hand, hobble back over to my computer, roll the ball onto the side of my computer stand, making sure that it was balanced, move the mouse next to the stand and then carefully roll the ball back into its hole. Assuming that I got all these actions right the first time...

A few years ago, I decided that I would like to try one with a scroll ring. I have never gone back since. One of the great things about the mouse I have now is that where the ball sits, the mouse has two curved areas so it cups the ball. These help to prevent the ball from coming out. You would have to knock it pretty hard in order to make the ball fall out! This is by far the best option for me that I've tried.

If a trackball isn't the right style for you, you can also get joystick mouses.

Like your average wheelchair joystick, you can have a variety of different sized and shaped objects for you to move the joystick around with; such as a 'T' bar, a ball or just a standard control knob. This type of joystick is extremely expensive because it comes from a website that sells disability aids. It has always annoyed me that once you add a label, such as “disability” to an item, the price rockets! I understand that fewer disability items are produced and sold, but a lot of people with disabilities have a low income anyway, so it really isn't fair to place an enormous price on something that could help them.

Another type of mouse that you can get is a mouse touchpad. Laptops have built-in mouse touchpads, but you can buy separate ones. Like all the others, you can plug them into a computer in place or as well as a different mouse. You can also get keyboards with mouse touchpads attached.

The last mouse that I'm going to talk about is a vertical mouse. If your arms and hands aren't affected by disability, your hands will relax onto their side, so technically if you have an ordinary shaped mouse, you will put strain on your wrist when you use it. You can buy up-right mouses to use to keep your wrist in the correct position, and they come in different shapes and sizes. My mum uses one and she loves it!

That's the seventh post over... Join me next week to find out about the different types of keyboards you can have! Oh yes, I almost forgot... Merry Christmas everyone! Have a good one, but stay safe!