by Joe Lonergan

It has been reported that computer tech giant Lenovo is making accessibility improvements to the keyboards on their new laptops.

Lenovo has worked with students with vision impairments from the Governor Moorhead School in America to discover what changes they can make to laptop keyboards to make them easier to use. Their Accessibility Team also worked recently with Vision Ireland staff and service users to discuss how their products could be made more accessible.

Lenovo refers to their minor enhancements as tactile representations. They plan to incorporate tactile representations onto the Insert key, typically located adjacent to the Delete key. The Insert key serves as a modifier key for numerous screen reader users, facilitating various common keystrokes with screen reading software.

Tactile representations will be added to the Function key beside the Windows key, and on the Enter key.

They will be also added to the volume up and down keys. So, as you can see, these tactile markings are put on many of the keys that we would have commonly put bump-ons on over the years.

This is a welcome initiative from Lenovo who have had some input on this from the Microsoft accessibility team. Microsoft themselves have done some great work in this area, recently providing an adaptive kit for some of their laptops which includes stickers and a stand to make them easier to use for different disabilities.

Lenovo is also getting ready to make big announcements about AI in the coming year. They announced several connections at the CES electronics show such as a partnership with the Scott Morgan Foundation and Deep Brain AI which will improve the lives of those with severe disabilities. They demonstrated the hyper-realistic avatar which optimises text prediction and output and helps preserve the voice, personality, and physical mannerisms of someone with a degenerative disease.

2024 could be a big year for Lenovo in the lives of people with disabilities.

Even small changes such as tactile representations will make a big difference to the life of a vision-impaired or blind computer user.