Assistive technologies, such as screen magnification software, are necessary for people with low vision to read documents effectively. If the font cannot be adjusted in any way – either with the magnification software or visual adjustments, documents are impossible to visually read for part of your audience.

Our experts use a variety of assistive technologies to read documents. The magnification and enhancement software our experts use includes MacOS Zoom, Windows Magnifier, or built-in browser zoom functions at varying magnification levels. Screen readers, like VoiceOver and TalkBack, are also used to read aloud document text. Documents should work with all assistive technologies and must be adaptable to various needs.

Assistive technologies interact with the fonts and colours of documents differently, depending on the user's settings. Screen magnification software requires users to constantly tweak the settings, depending on how the document is set up. They will often switch between reading and using assistive technologies as well. For example, in websites and apps, like reading systems, magnification may need to be adjusted when reading a book versus navigating the app when the font is one size and the buttons another. Visual adjustments in these situations, to adjust the font size and colour contrast of the documents, will go a long way in helping our experts read documents and published materials effectively.