Copiers That Serve the Able And The Disabled
Photocopiers are fantastic office machines that provide duplicate prints of whatever we need in a beautiful, but cheap way. Despite digital technology expanding in leaps and bounds, people all over the world are using the traditional copiers to do an ever increasing amount of chores to produce top quality work at ever increasing speeds. There is no area that can work well without a copier. It is used extensively in places of education, governments, the medical fields, politics; practically everywhere.
Adaptations made to suit the disabled
Technology advances means that photocopiers have changed rather a lot in the last ten years or so. They are now able to perform many more tasks than just duplicating hard copies of documents like in the past. The improvements in technology mean that many copying machines use a built in hard drive which functions in a different way to some of the older versions. These changes appear to have been good but sometimes they can cause a few problems for disabled users, those in wheelchairs for instance.
Small touch screens have replaced the older easier to identify buttons. These machines can perform so many more functions and so need this screen to display all the options. But a few of these changes mean that some people find them hard to access and difficult to use. A few photocopier manufactures have now come up with ways to help people in wheelchairs to make it easier for them.
There are also voice guidance kits which you can get for people who are blind. Some machines now come with a small speaker attached to the side of the photocopier and there is speech output software that will communicate with the user. Using a number pad, the users can go through a variety of functions with the speech output that guides the blind person. You also get Braille label kits that can also be provided for some devices and makes it easier for them to recognize the buttons.
Problems being addressed by copier manufacturers
There are also automatic document feeders which have been included into the latest technology photocopiers which hold much more paper. Some of the new machines make lifting the feeder very heavy for someone in a wheelchair to do. Some manufacturers have caught onto this and now there are machines that come with an accessibility handle to assist wheelchair users. They can lift the feeder by means of the accessibility handle.
The touch screens are also more difficult for wheelchair bound users to use because they are intended to be viewed from above. They do not have very high contrasts either, making them difficult to see properly, especially if you do not have the best eyesight either. This problem has also been addressed by some photocopier manufacturers. The majority of photocopiers can now be networked. There is software such as the Remote Operators software kit which can be installed onto some copiers. This allows users to access the copier from their computers, where the contrasts and size of the information can be changed to make it easier to read.
Technology has improved vastly over the years and should be readily accessible to all kinds of users, Now that a few photocopier manufactures have realized the needs of disabled people in the workplace, they are adapting to suit the needs of everybody. They are eager to keep up with the latest technology and trends and they want everybody, including the disabled, to benefit too.
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